Total Page : 162
Publisher : CreateSpace
Publication Date : 2009 02 20
>> no catch a must read classic
I was a bit afraid that a 70 y o novel focused on portraying the violence of the dirty war would be diluted by what we re fed every day through the medias but I now can see why the first person narrative through the eyes of an 18 y o german who struggles to understand and accept he has to live like an animal to survive is still a classic today How at 18 war youth and adulthood are already behind him the non sense of it all the loneliness the realization that if hierarchy didn t exist war wouldn t have taken place and for him to realize he could never go back to a normal life after the horror of the trenches are only few of the ideas you carry with you after having turned the last page Best war book ever after Catch 22 Could be
>> Great book from teenage point of view
HLW2
Best student in Lit Class
All Quiet on the Western Front
308 words
I thought All Quiet on the Western Front was quite an amazing book I am a teenager and usually we boys don t really care about books or poetry This book however really got a hold of me because of how much it relates to teenage guys All guys like to have power either when they re messing around with their friends or at school They like to be the top dog They like to think they got swag or rep The army is the biggest way to brag and say yeah what about it I m in the army don t mess with me The book shows us that it s not at all fun and glory Almost everything about it is awful and horrible to the human body In WWI there were a lot of new machines and their main goal was to kill the enemy so thousands of people died or were injured The ones who were lucky to survive were scarred for life Even though we boys think it s cool to kill people in video games this book really drew a picture in my mind that gave me second thoughts The book is told from a German point of view in the war This gives it a twist I think because in the middle of the book you start to chear for the Germans which was unexpected for me because I am an American The story goes through the life of a young boy who wants to be part of the Great War It really got a hold of me when he was in a ditch and he was hand fighting with a French soldier I couldn t even imagine battling over my life with another person who just wants to live through this hell and go home to his family This book really meant a lot to me and every teenager should read this
>> Brilliant and moving
I had read this as an older teen and sorta liked it sorta could leave it Re reading it again as an adult I don t know maybe one has to be a certain age this time around I was deeply affected by the melancholy and spirit in the book It is a novel of heart felt camaderie of young men who strive to do their duty then begin to question the root of their suffering and sacrifice In the simple words of a soldier the question is asked why Why all these mortal wounds this wrenching parting from family this utterly displaced and decimated generation why are we asked to do this and why do we not resist The voice is of a quiet and reflective young man from a poor family who has enlisted at the urging of his teachers and is trying to stay alive through the horrors of trench warfare
Other writers have written sad/funny accounts of military training and of war But no one else has yet in my opinion matched Remarque for the immediacy of the portrait he draws the subtle humor the deep yet understated sorrow This soldier s impatience with the civilians while on home leave his bond with his ailing mother his need for quiet and silence all are brilliantly written He demonstrates how life and death are a virtual game of chance in a soldier s life in face of which idealism is long gone Written from a young German soldiers point of view it has considerably reduced the knot of suspicion I have carried in my heart about the axis for over 3 decades I hope this is required reading for all recruits and later for generals alike
