Customer Reviews

All Quiet on the Western Front

5 star:		(248)
4 star:		(71)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Like many others here I was incredibly impressed with this remarkably genuine and frank story of the horrors of war. Trapped in a series of trips back and forth to the front and the incredible difference from the world he once knew, the young Paul Baumer spirals further and further from hope. As his friends fall around him, his isolation and sense of vulnerability drives him towards what seems like an inevitable end.

Fantastically paced, filled with the horrors and little joys of life on the edge of life. Very highly recommended. More than a little Das Boot in this wartime slice of life from an earlier era.

Erich Maria Remarque did a great job with his story. Being first person in view gave you the feeling that you were there. To add to this he is a very good writer.

Not being in the Great War, I can only imagine the technology of the time and trust in old war movies. Also this is a foreign culture in a foreign time. People there had a tendency to trust and respect their elders unquestionably.

Being of the Vietnam era I could however relate to the parts about the different personalities and some of the war situations and attitudes. I could appreciate the river crossing at night and the defending of the deserted town. I even liked the cat that they befriended in the story. We had a dog that was named Followme, which was one of the few that did not end up in a pot. I even could feel the anxiety of not fighting and just waiting for action. The only major difference is the question of do you want the people to be behind you to push you on or cheer you on, or doing the same job with people that are indifferent or not supportive?

Anyway even with the graphic description of the actual battle is more of a description of war, not a reason to sue for peace at any cost. The story is more of a, "don't let someone pull the wool over your eyes," with the talk of the glory of war. A movie with that theme is "The Americanization of Emily" (1964)". Also don't let Authority blindly lead you into the army with the condos as in, "Private Benjamin" (1980).

This is not the end but the key statement that pretty much sums it up, "He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the western Front."

This novel gives such an incredible description of trench warfare. The Great War killed more soldiers then any other war. The conditions that these people endured is almost beyond human comprehension. In one chapter, the main character endures three days of an allied artillery bombardment. They are located in a dugout. Remarque details the mental torture of clinging to life in the underground, while shells are exploding over head. These are details that only someone that experienced the war, would be able to describe in such a vivid recollection.
Remarque also stresses the comradery, that the soldiers develop in the trenches. Everywhere there is death and destruction, but the soldiers form a bond of friendship, that can only be made in warfare.
Bottom line; this is an outstanding overview of life in the trenches.

The novel All Quiet on the Western Front depicts the battle of the Germans during World War I. It is narrated by Paul Baumer, a twenty year old German, and reveals the events that take place during he and his comrades lives as they fight the war. Unfortunately, the young men soon have to deal with combat wounds, killed friends, and despair. The men are frequently presented with so many indicences of death before they have even really begun to live their lives.

This novel tells the story of World War I from the German perspective. Although the Germans were thought of as the "enemies" to almost half of the world during the war, I did not see them as such as I was reading this novel. Instead, they just seemed like regular soliders that did not really have a choice about their involvement in the war. They felt no real glory for being soliders and their only desire was to remain alive.

One of the key themes that I though was apparent in the novel is that war is an inhumanity for both sides; there are really no "good and bad" guys when it comes to the soliders that are fighting. All soliders are just fighting and killing because they do not have a choice to do otherwise. This theme can be seen by Paul's willingness to give food to Russian prisoners, and the gulit that he feels after taking the life of an ally solider.

I found the writing style of Remarque appealing. Although I cannot tell how much of the style of the novel was lost in translation, I can say that I found the English translation very straightforward and unadorned. Yet, the sentences still had a certain charm to them and were never banal (as I have often found Hemmingway's to be). Remarque's style reminded me a little of Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. But All Quiet on the Western Front is by far the better book. Its prose flows freely and it is quite a page turner.

If you are at all interested in war stories, I would reccommend reading All Quiet on the Western Front. I warn you that it is by not means an uplifting book and that it can be very graphic at times. But if you would like to experience a first hand account of World War I from the German side then you should read this book. It is the anti-war book for all wars.

Okay, to start off, this book has many good battle scenes, that are well described in lurid detail. I've noticed that some people have said in reviews that this book is extremely "sick" because of the how the author describes the battle scenes and the story in general. For one thing, you can't sugar coat a war. That basically means that if you want to write a good story about one of the most horrible wars in history, you have to include the horror of it. And yes, the main character, Paul, was obviously completely shell-shocked, or nuts, as some people might call him. When you are about as nuts as Paul was, then you actually might want death to come. This actually has and still does happen with soldiers that fight in wars, such as World War 1 and Vietnam. Anyway, I was amazed and enchanted by how this author, I can't spell his name, put his thoughts when he himself was fighting in the war through this main character. I swear, I could never dream of writing down such distinct thoughts and actally making sense of them. I took off one star because at times, this book got pretty boring. But still, buy this book, which is definitely the greatest war novel ever.

There is ambivalence in Remarque's 'anti-war' stance. As much as there is condemnation of the incompetence and war mongering of the officer class, there is praise for the comradeship, courage and sacrifice of the common soldier. This ambivalence was reflected in the reaction of later generations of Germans. Some have seen him as unpatriotic, others as being justly critical of a corrupt regime that betrayed and misled the nation's brave youth. It may have done as much to prepare Germany for World War II as it did to deter it. Whatever your view, this work is a fascinating primary historical source. We learn, for example, that the German troops laughed when they first saw tanks, though they soon learned to take them seriously. Also of interest is the reference to trenching tools being more effective than bayonets in hand-to-hand combat. The book is full of insights like that.

The enemy in the narrative is usually the French. For a view from the other side, "Under Fire" by Henri Barbusse is highly recommended. Barbusse is a better writer than Remarque and it is a pity that his great work seems to have become sadly neglected in recent times.

I was assigned to read this book in 9th grade, and was absolutely amazed by it, one of the few books i have bothered to read multiple times, one of my two favorite books (that and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, how ironic...). Though, being a translation, the syntax and vocabulary of the book aren't sophisticated, the ideas presented are, Remarque does an incredible job of depicting life at the front in WWI, and the characterization is excellent. The back cover is misleading, portraying the novel as the stereotypical war novel, whether or not that stereotype is deserving; the book does not focus on Paul "holding tight to a single vow.........if only he can get out of the war alive." it illustrates life in the trenches, and shows the way humans adjust to such harsh conditions, the true feeling one gets from reading the novel is not recreatable in a synopsis. When i first read the book, it took me until halfway through the novel to appreciate it, but when i reread it, the beginning is just as incredible as the end.

This is a very good book and I would recomend it to anyone espically in this time where our country is at war. It delivers a powerful messages about the harsh realities of war, a subject people should deffiantly be educated on.

Paul Baumer, the main character of All Quiet on the Western Front tells the story of how he and some friends come face to face with the horrors of war. While they are there they get bombed with war tanks, air planes machine guns and gas. Some people are even lucky to survive the blasts from them

I read this as a child and have never forgotten it. Extraordinary powerful book about the consequences of war.