All Quiet on the Western Front

published	March 12th 1987 by Ballantine Books
first published	1928
binding	Mass Market Paperback
isbn	0449213943 (isbn13: 9780449213940)
pages	304
description	Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have l...more [close] Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other--if only he can come out of the war alive. "The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first trank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW [close]
date added	03-16-07 edit book

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Stephanie rated it:

(review of isbn 0826416535)

02/29/08

bookshelves: english-12

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Everyone

After reading All Quiet on the Western Front (written by Erich Maria Remarque), I feel very differently towards World War One particularly, but also to war in general. Prior to reading this book, I had no desire to know of the horrors that take place in a time of war. However, this book, though very graphic at times, has shown me many new insights on war. I always imagined the horrors of war to be things visible to the eye; physical wounds. But by the end of this book, I see that the horrors tha...more After reading All Quiet on the Western Front (written by Erich Maria Remarque), I feel very differently towards World War One particularly, but also to war in general. Prior to reading this book, I had no desire to know of the horrors that take place in a time of war. However, this book, though very graphic at times, has shown me many new insights on war. I always imagined the horrors of war to be things visible to the eye; physical wounds. But by the end of this book, I see that the horrors that take place in the minds of the soldiers that fight in the war are so much more terrifying. War not only has the capability to destroy bodies, countries and populations but also to destroy hope, ways of thinking and purpose in life.
All Quiet on the Western Front follows the story of Paul, a German soldier. His journey in the war as a 20 year old healthy young man starts off strong, with a very brave and nationalistic mindset. Friends on every side and plenty of rations add to his excitement of being on the front line fighting for his country. However, this sort of thinking is very short-lived. By the end of the first chapter, and after the death of one of his friends, Paul insightfully reflects “Youth! We are none of us more than twenty years old. But young? Youth? That is long ago. We are old folk” (18). The amount of sorrow these young men must endure shows in this quote. A common understanding about “old folk” is that they have seen and experienced many things, including much hardship. By likening themselves to “old folk”, Paul gives readers an understanding of how hard life on the front lines is. There is another quote that is probably the most telling of all of how distorted a soldier’s view of life can become because of war. Paul says,
“I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. I see that the keenest of brains in the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more refined and enduring. And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things; all my generation is experiencing them with me…Our knowledge of life is limited to death” (173).
Paul’s view of life is entirely without purpose or hope. He has seen so much in the short time he has been in the war, so much so that he has forgotten everything of life before the war. His life has become nothing “but despair, death [and] fear…” I had not realized before I read this book the lasting affects of war on not only a soldier’s body, but in their minds. All Quiet on the Western Front is very eye-opening, fantastically written, and although gory at parts, an overall incredible and gripping read.
Paul also makes a very interesting thought when he says, “And men will not understand us…now it will return to its old occupations, and the war will be forgotten…” (190). This is one of Paul’s closing remarks in this book. It seems that the author is alluding to Remembrance/Veteran’s Day. That is a step that society has taken to ensure that this sacrifice will not be forgotten. I know that the next time Remembrance Day comes around, I will think of it differently. Now that I understand a little bit better what the soldiers really and truly endured by going to war, and how terrible it was for them to do so, I’m sure I will be more grateful for their sacrifice.
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Fenixbird rated it:

11/17/07

bookshelves: requiredschoolreading

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in November, 2006

recommends it for: ALL! Truths of war...

Rough translation from the German. Remarque's writing is very deep, and he gives rich characterizations. "All Quiet" made me get to know most of these soldiers rather intimately, for war if nothing else, reminds us of the very basic passion each of us feels for being granted another day or another moment alive. However, a lot the "flow" I believe was lost in this translation. [My essay is below] This book depicts the tragic waste of WWI aka The Great War...never knew anyth...more Rough translation from the German. Remarque's writing is very deep, and he gives rich characterizations. "All Quiet" made me get to know most of these soldiers rather intimately, for war if nothing else, reminds us of the very basic passion each of us feels for being granted another day or another moment alive. However, a lot the "flow" I believe was lost in this translation. [My essay is below] This book depicts the tragic waste of WWI aka The Great War...never knew anything about it really beforehand (except that it started over a dispute in Austria?? Who shot whom?)

[Note: I am renting the movie taken from this fiction novel. If YOU are also a war buff like myself, I recommend these films: "Joyeaux Noel (Merry Christmas)" (World War I) and "The Pianist" (World War II) Somehow their music themes belonged on the silver screen!

[From my essay on this book: "What was most moving of this literary work was the immediacy each solder faced. In particular when faced with the impending death of a fellow soldier, it became clear that each person’s needs were not their first priority but a clear second as they expressed empathy and compassion through extreme valor in trying to keep their wounded comrades alive when on the battlefield-- and as they face what might be their own demise.

A soldier’s perspective certainly moved this reader to retain her belief in pacifism. As "All Quiet" illustrates, there is no apparent glory in war, but rather as Remarque depicts this day-to-day acknowledgment of necessity, sheer robotic conformity and determination to meet that struggle, one has to feel admiration for these young soldiers’ incredible heart in battle. These soldiers, most of them barely more than boys, have their complete outlook changed by the war. Louis Kronenberger aptly expressed:

“It almost certainly had no such fascination for these soldiers; yet All Quiet remains, essentially, a document of men who--however else their lives were disrupted--could endure war simply as war. . .It is about youngsters who were half-puzzled over what it all meant: who were not driven to mental torture because they could not endure what they knew or check their imaginations at what they saw. They sit around, half shrewd, half näive, and speculate now and again....But there is no sense of terrible knowledge, of moral responsibility.” Source: Louis Kronenberger, "War's Horror as German Private Saw It," in The New York Times Book Review, (© 1929 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), June 2, 1929, p. 5.

This writer shares Mr. Kronenberger’s view of the soldiers lacking remorse or a sense of moral responsibility. The young age of the soldiers naturally makes them more programmable to the mechanics of battle and partially as a result of this does change the youths’ outlook on their future. Paul Baumer’s thoughts while he is on leave show how his emotions are juxtaposed between the reality of war and the now seemingly strange hopefulness and familiarity of home and family.

“I bite into my pillow. I grasp the iron rods of my bed
with my fists. I ought never to have come here. Out
there I was indifferent and often hopeless—I will never
be able to be so again. I was a soldier, and now I am
nothing but an agony for myself, for my mother, for
everything that is so comfortless and without end.

I ought never to have come on leave.” Excerpt, pp. 184-5)
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