The thrilling wartime novel that inspired Wolfgang Petersen's Academy Award-nominated, blockbuster film! Written by an actual survivor of Germany'...
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Sep 14, 2011
Eleonore Rigby
rated it: 
„Jedes Wort dieses Buches ist wahr“.
der Kriegsberichterstatter Lothar-Günther Buchheim erzählt in diesem überaus detailreichen Roman von einem U-Boot, der U96 - seiner Feindfahrt und das Wichtigste eines solchen Gefährtes: seiner Mannschaft. 25 Jahre hat er gebraucht, um all die Einzelheiten aufzuschreiben und sie haargenau wieder zu geben, so, wie er es damals erlebt hat. Ihm geht es um extreme Genauigkeit, damit man verstehen kann, wie es damals in so einem U-Boot zuging.
Buch More...
der Kriegsberichterstatter Lothar-Günther Buchheim erzählt in diesem überaus detailreichen Roman von einem U-Boot, der U96 - seiner Feindfahrt und das Wichtigste eines solchen Gefährtes: seiner Mannschaft. 25 Jahre hat er gebraucht, um all die Einzelheiten aufzuschreiben und sie haargenau wieder zu geben, so, wie er es damals erlebt hat. Ihm geht es um extreme Genauigkeit, damit man verstehen kann, wie es damals in so einem U-Boot zuging.
Buch More...
Jul 30, 2011
El
rated it:
I don't remember how old I was when I saw this movie on TV, but I do recall how I felt. It terrified the piss out of me. But I couldn't look away. I'm not even sure if I saw the whole movie from beginning to end or if the bits I watched just made such an impression on me it feels now in retrospect like I watched it for hours, though I know in reality it couldn't possibly have been that way because of the circumstances surrounding how and when I saw it. It doesn't really matter. I don't ever
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Jun 20, 2011
Atlantic
rated it:
Потрясающая книга, детально описавающая жизнь немецких подвоников во время второй мировой войны. При этом в качестве основных противников гитлеровских войск выступают американцы (Томми), что позволят смотреть на их противостояние с нейтральной стороны.
Книга раскрывает практически все сценарии жизни подводной лодки: проводы с военной базы, путь до места назначения, маневрирование в поисках целей, аттака и т.д. В каждом из них передаются не только технические особенности управления лодко More...
Книга раскрывает практически все сценарии жизни подводной лодки: проводы с военной базы, путь до места назначения, маневрирование в поисках целей, аттака и т.д. В каждом из них передаются не только технические особенности управления лодко More...
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Aug 02, 2011
Ian
rated it: 
Buchheim has an illustrative style which in other writers can be very tiresome - but somehow in this book it serves to highlight the extreme psychological stress of life on a WW2 U-boat - the claustrophobia, helplessness under fire, the total reliance on the split-second judgements of one man, the 30 year old commander they call 'The Old Man'. The only recourse for an individual trapped in this hell is to withdraw into an internal reality in which past events, opportunities taken and opportuni
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Dec 31, 2011
Herb
rated it:
I have a hard time reading novels from the German perspective on WWII. They usually all contain the same type of apologist rhetoric ("Nazi's suck! We're just fighting for the Fatherland, We don't really hate the Jews, Why I have a Jewish friend/I slept with a Jewish girl once blah-blah-blah", etc.). It's generally expressed in the first few pages so the reader knows that *these boys* are ok. It's grating every time I read it. Das Boot is no different. Having said that, this was a good,
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Apr 02, 2010
Mark
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Based on actual experience as a naval war reporter on a U-boat in World War II, this novel is an excellent portrayal of the mind-numbing claustrophobic boredom mixed in with a few moments of sheer terror, where everyone is almost entirely helpless as the Captain tries to maneuver the boat to survival. I felt like I was along for the ride. Though the author clearly survived the voyage, I was still nonetheless sold that the submarine would surely be destroyed; the men must have felt the situation
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Oct 08, 2009
JabBeRwoCkY
rated it:
I love this book. I saw the mini-serie on t.v, and immediately wanted to read the book. I bought the german version of the book and it was much more interesting than the movie, although I have to say that the english version of the book, it's rubbish.Why?? the translator sucks!! it is a pity because us, as readers have confidence in the translator or interpreter, and I'm not talking about changing the idea of the autor ,but missing dialogues or complete segments which the german version had. Any
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Jul 27, 2011
DoctorM
rated it:
I hadn't thought about this book in years, although I recall the film version vividly--- a movie that made me seriously claustrophobic for a while...
The German Navy sent approximately 1200 U-boats to sea during WW-2. If memory serves, 780-odd were lost. "Das Boot" catches that--- the tension, the fear, the knowledge of being undersea, the chaos of actual combat, the oil-slicked, stifling atmosphere of the narrow and crowded submarines.
One of the best war novel More...
The German Navy sent approximately 1200 U-boats to sea during WW-2. If memory serves, 780-odd were lost. "Das Boot" catches that--- the tension, the fear, the knowledge of being undersea, the chaos of actual combat, the oil-slicked, stifling atmosphere of the narrow and crowded submarines.
One of the best war novel More...
Oct 18, 2008
Rod
rated it:
I probably wouldn’t have read this book if I hadn’t seen the film. A novel concerning a patrol of U96, it is told from the viewpoint of a naval war reporter, which isn’t surprising since that’s what the author was. He was a member of the crew for the voyage he describes and, given the amount of detail, he couldn’t have written the book otherwise. He took a large number of photographs and kept a journal during the voyage. Nonetheless, the book is a novel.
Buchheim uses a number of tec More...
Buchheim uses a number of tec More...
Jul 29, 2011
Neil
rated it: 
I've read the book and seen the film, I found them both a long drawn out yawn. Parts of this book are exciting, but there is a lot of boring chapters.
This story is very over rated. On top of which, the man pictured on the front cover bears a striking resemblance to an MEO I myself have sailed with and particularly detested, perhaps this was a bad omen.
This story is very over rated. On top of which, the man pictured on the front cover bears a striking resemblance to an MEO I myself have sailed with and particularly detested, perhaps this was a bad omen.
Jan 24, 2012
Wombat
rated it:
Despite the fact that pretty much nothing happens for 160 pages, this is a very readable book. The English translation freaks a bit here and there, but by the end you feel as if you've been through it all with these characters you slowly grow to care about.
Oct 27, 2010
Simon
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After reading this, I'm not surprised that three-quarters of the men serving on German submarines during the Second World War never made it back alive! It sounds like absolute hell. This is a great book, though, a fictionalised first-hand account of a single patrol of a German U-Boat, written by someone who actually served on one. Sheer, mind-numbing terror seems to have been almost constant on these patrols, and Buchheim really makes you feel that you're trapped in the narrow confines of the U-
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Feb 17, 2009
Christan
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One of my favorite "war books," this harrowing story of German u-boat warfare holds you firmly in it's grasp. After all the suffering endured and given, the ending has an abrupt, apocryphal feel.
Mar 01, 2010
Mark
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I love this book. The movie's great too, one of few flicks that seem to do the book justice when you've read it first.
This is one I read 3-4 times, starting in High Schoo
This is one I read 3-4 times, starting in High Schoo
May 12, 2009
Sue
rated it:
If you're familiar with the German film, you'll find it was fairly true to the book, although of course this will provide more much of the thoughts and feelings of the men.
Dec 28, 2011
As a huge fan of the movie, I was most worried about this. But the author is very talented & I am gaining insight into U-boat life I wasn't expecting at all.
May 29, 2011
Vasha7
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My journal entry. This was a book that absorbed me fully and lingered in my mind after reading.
Sep 04, 2011
Lclawson
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Holy crap, this book made me want to smoke unfiltered cigarettes and drink stale coffee. Like always, the book is far better than the movie.
Aug 02, 2011
Ellen
rated it:
Good WW II. Book about German U Boat..amazing detail ...enduring time spent on the boat..very tight quarters....by the way, movie is great
Dec 29, 2007
Maureen
rated it:
Took me six months but I finally finished. Reading the original German was probably a little ambitious because a lot of the book was lost on me, though I did read some fantastic descriptive passages and learn a lot of dirty slang. In comparison to the movie, the book spends a lot more time on the dead time (Gammeln) when they don't see any ships or have anything to do but watch the leather of their shoes rot, and a lot more time inside the head of the narrator. The movie is still extremely faith
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Feb 01, 2011
John
rated it:
Great book, its very good, and really shows what its like to be a German Navy Submariner.
Aug 01, 2011
If you love novels about war and the men who fight in it to no avail, this is the book for you. It is stunning and gut-wrenching
Oct 25, 2009
Meg
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The movie based on this book is my favorite so when I found that the book was available (and someone bought it for me as a gift) I jumped at it. The book, written by a war correspondent, was a fictionalized account on his many travels aboard german submarines. It was wonderfully descriptive and I appreciated the insight that we got on the daily grind that these sailors had to deal with, and the back story on Leutnant Werner and the Old Man. I was also glad that the movie stayed fairly true to th
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Feb 12, 2012
Sarah
rated it:
THE best book about war, of all time.
I cannot sum up the brilliance of this book in one review.
I cannot sum up the brilliance of this book in one review.
Jul 29, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
For me this was just too clogged with confusing technical details. I couldn't get into it.
Feb 03, 2010
Mister
rated it:
Claustrophobic, dull with routine, party on shore leave like you may die. Live in desperation on the submarine.
Das Boot shows all of those from the perspective of some chump stuck on a U-Boat during WW2. He observes and notes all the madcap action that goes on, joining in on it as he sees fit. By the end, he's experienced some of the worst the world has to offer, and this is only his first voyage on a U-Boat.
Das Boot shows all of those from the perspective of some chump stuck on a U-Boat during WW2. He observes and notes all the madcap action that goes on, joining in on it as he sees fit. By the end, he's experienced some of the worst the world has to offer, and this is only his first voyage on a U-Boat.
