All Quiet on the Western Front

304 pages

Published Dec. 24, 1993 by Random House Publishing Group.

ISBN:
978-0-449-21394-0
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OCLC Number:
28978928

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4 stars (5 reviews)

This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I. These young men become enthusiastic soldiers, but their world of duty, culture, and progress breaks into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.

Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the hatred that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another... if only he can come out of the war alive.

48 editions

Dulce et Decorum est

3 stars

A powerful anti-war novel in which Remarque immerses the reader in the meat-grinder of WW1, and all the horrors of trench warfare, both hideous and banal.

We read how the war happens to the narrator, Paul. How he cannot escape its clutches, how he & his comrades become so very important to each other. How the impossible to understand, must be experienced to be understood.

Throughout, Remarque makes damned sure the reader comprehends the old lie: dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, and then the sickening realisation of what the title means.

Review of 'All Quiet on the Western Front' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Good lordt. What a book. I’m some ways it’s hard to believe this is 95 years old. In other ways it’s easy to believe. Nothing had changed. Humans are humans. War is horrible. Aside from the setting or technology this book could’ve been written about prehistoric tribal warfare or the seemingly inevitable WWIII.

Not sure why I haven’t heard more about this other than “there’s a movie adaptation”. This should be required reading in school.

Review of 'All Quiet on the Western Front' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

4 1/2 stars
Yeah, I liked this. I can see why this is a classic and why it has withstood the test of time. I'm sure it was controversial back in the day because it was kind of gritty and risque'. I'm not one for war stories so the fact that I read this and was engaged until the end is a testament to the authors ability to tell it "like it is" without sugar-coating or sentimentality which would render it corny. And we all know I have an adversion to corny.

So yeah, force yourself out of your comfort zone occasionally and read something you aren't exactly drawn towards. There is a lot of classic literature out there and it's almost always worthy of your reading time. Go for it.

avatar for kweerious

rated it

3 stars