book data
8037 ratings, 3.83 average rating, 613 reviews
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published
September 29th 1996
(first published 1928)
by Fawcett Books
binding
Paperback, 304 pages
isbn
0449911497
(isbn13: 9780449911495)
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
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avg 3.83
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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 anyt...more
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Read in November, 2006
recommends it for:
Anyone who has seen war firsthand
This book is short, but a must-have read for those understanding the humanity of war. While I cannot even imagine fighting deep in the trenches of WWI, braving shell shock and constant, brazen assaults on my front lines, I can sincerely identify with his feelings as a two-tour veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
All military differences aside (at least this guy knew what his enemy looked like), the deep feelings when you lose one of your own are still dead on--even after all these years. Alon...more
All military differences aside (at least this guy knew what his enemy looked like), the deep feelings when you lose one of your own are still dead on--even after all these years. Alon...more
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3 comments
Read in September, 2008
recommended to Joy by:
Maryrecommends it for: everyone
It says right on this cover that it's the greatest war novel of all time.
I agree even though I have not read them all.
Among the reasons why I loved the writing along with the character was the concept of food and/or the event of eating. They're getting shot at, shells are exploding, and the guy is flipping the last of his pancakes to go with the huge score of a roasted pig. They found food and said pig in an evacuated French village and set up a comfy home between bomb blasts.
So what doe...more
I agree even though I have not read them all.
Among the reasons why I loved the writing along with the character was the concept of food and/or the event of eating. They're getting shot at, shells are exploding, and the guy is flipping the last of his pancakes to go with the huge score of a roasted pig. They found food and said pig in an evacuated French village and set up a comfy home between bomb blasts.
So what doe...more
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recommends it for:
EVERYONE
‘The greatest war novel of all time’ is a huge understatement, possibly even an insult to Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. It is more than just a great war novel – it is maybe truly the greatest novel ever, period. War is the obvious main theme, but it must not be read as a war novel to fully understand the powerful message hidden behind the actions of war in this novel.
Paul Baumer, the protagonist of this novel is pretty much your typical German nineteen year ol...more
Paul Baumer, the protagonist of this novel is pretty much your typical German nineteen year ol...more
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Read in May, 2008
A high school standard but I can't imagine I would have understood this fully in high school and I'm glad nobody assigned it to me then. A gruelingly painful, mournful book. The writing is resolutely unpretentious and yet incredibly effective in its descriptions both of battle and of states of mind. I'm not really sure how he pulls it off. The portrait of a man feeling irredeemably divorced from his past and his future is heartbreakingly vivid. If literature is meant to offer us experiences that...more
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Read in March, 2005
recommended to Mika by:
I found it on my own. recommends it for: everyone
This book shows you a different side of war. Instead of the books that show you have great or how noble war is this book does not. This book tries to show how teens the same age as me were more or less tricked into fighting a war they didn't even believe in. Unlike world war two, World War one did not really have a reason to begin. (basically ww1 started when countries made pacts with each other to fight with each other. This with the arms race that had been going on, as well as each country so...more
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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
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1 comment
recommends it for:
anyone
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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ETA - just sniffed out the film - 1930 and all that! Banned Books
Because All Quiet on the Western Front offered a gruesome portrayal of a war lost by the Germans, it infuriated Adolph Hitler, who ordered the book banned and destroyed throughout Germany. Many critics, however, consider it the best antiwar novel ever written.
The French banned it until 1962 - that must have something to do with Vichy and De Gaulle (the gall of it)
---
It's about time I read this - and it is Re...more
Because All Quiet on the Western Front offered a gruesome portrayal of a war lost by the Germans, it infuriated Adolph Hitler, who ordered the book banned and destroyed throughout Germany. Many critics, however, consider it the best antiwar novel ever written.
The French banned it until 1962 - that must have something to do with Vichy and De Gaulle (the gall of it)
---
It's about time I read this - and it is Re...more
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Read in November, 1993
recommended to Angela by:
it's in the canonrecommends it for: everyone
No one who hasn't experienced war can know war... However, in our society, soldiers self-select (volunteer) so that those who experience war from America tend toward an idealism that approves of war as a general-use tool. This book depicts war in all its horror; it gives a compelling case for how senseless wars, and even strategic wars, are inherently and wholly destructive. War should only be engaged in when it will demonstrably prevent more loss of life than it will create.
Besides, the ...more
Besides, the ...more
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Book Title: All Quiet on the Western Front
Author: Erich Maria Remarque
Page: 20
Question # : 2
I started reading this story expecting a great sorrow and sadness because some people who read the story told me a little about it. The story did not remind me of another one or a movie, but I actually started reading two novels about war at the same time so I started comparing them. The other story I started reading is Saving Private Ryan. Let me also say that this story reminded me of my lif...more
Author: Erich Maria Remarque
Page: 20
Question # : 2
I started reading this story expecting a great sorrow and sadness because some people who read the story told me a little about it. The story did not remind me of another one or a movie, but I actually started reading two novels about war at the same time so I started comparing them. The other story I started reading is Saving Private Ryan. Let me also say that this story reminded me of my lif...more
Read in November, 2008
What a sad, but relevant book. /Paul Baumer, the narrator, of the story is only 19 as the story begins, he is already considers himself a "veteran" of war. You hear the pain, despair, etc. in Paul's voice from the beginning of the book and you understand that there is no glory, no honor, etc. to war. What the war brings is only the slaughter of youth in the wake of fatuous remarks from those not themselves involved:
Yes, that's the way they think, these hundred thousand Kantoreks...more
Yes, that's the way they think, these hundred thousand Kantoreks...more
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Recently reread this WWI story told by a young, German narrator. I got a lot more out of this reading than I did in high school, when I didn't have enough perspective or life experience to fully grasp the sacrifices he describes.
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Read in January, 1982
recommended to Charles by:
I didrecommends it for: Everyone
All Quiet on the Western Front
So much for the glorious war!
I reread this book whenever I start believing fools.
So much for the glorious war!
I reread this book whenever I start believing fools.
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Read in November, 2008
I read this years ago in school and decided to revisit it since my daughter is now reading it in school. It's better the second time around, but I still have trouble keeping with it. I find myself reading it in between other books.
I will admit that I have a whole different perspective on Paul's observations. Not just because I'm older and have experienced more than just high school, but because my oldest daughter has shared some of her experiences after serving for a year in Iraq. War ...more
I will admit that I have a whole different perspective on Paul's observations. Not just because I'm older and have experienced more than just high school, but because my oldest daughter has shared some of her experiences after serving for a year in Iraq. War ...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
those interested in Iraq/ current events/teachers
This is a great war novel--although far from the "greatest" account as the book jacket promises. I teach this novel as a required summer reading selection to honors high school sophomores in a large, urban school setting. Members of my department thought that AQWF would have some currency with the kids, given the realities of the Iraq war and the fact that many of them choose the military as a means for obtaining a college education. Maybe it's because the novel is so unrelentlessl...more
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Read in October, 1997
recommends it for:
everyone
I read this novel in high school, with my AP class and it was one of the first books that I had read with real war in it. It is appropriate now that it was my first true war novel because it paved the way for me to understand what truly goes through their minds on the battlefield. Since it's been almost 11 years since I've read it, I cannot recall in detail what it was about, except that it was the journey of a young enlistee who went into the war sold on the propaganda of glory and manhood pa...more
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Read in October, 2008
When I finished this book I felt a strange desire to write about it. It started out as a review but turned into something else. A lot of what I wrote is more about my personal experiences and reflections than about the book itself. Because of that, I debated whether to even post this. I'm not in the habit of posting reviews (this is one of my first and it's not even really a review). But I decided I might as well. Just a warning-- it's a bit of an essay. So proceed at your own risk.
What I wr...more
What I wr...more
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Read in September, 2008
Over-rated...
Although this is an intriguing book, I feel that it has been historically over-rated. It is more a series of vignettes describing in detail, events of the war (one could almost say pornographically; but this is admittedly a little harsh): there are scenes of wounded horses screaming, hospital with agonizing amputations, soldiers struggling in the mud…
All of this seems to be pure descriptive; almost like biographical journalistic anecdotes – and none are lengthy. Th...more
Although this is an intriguing book, I feel that it has been historically over-rated. It is more a series of vignettes describing in detail, events of the war (one could almost say pornographically; but this is admittedly a little harsh): there are scenes of wounded horses screaming, hospital with agonizing amputations, soldiers struggling in the mud…
All of this seems to be pure descriptive; almost like biographical journalistic anecdotes – and none are lengthy. Th...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
everyone should read this book
All the way throughout school, they never told us to read this book. Perhaps if they had, we'd have been given a better education about WW1 and what life was like in the trenches.
Every school pupil should read this in history class rather then waste time scribbling meaningless lesson notes into exercise books.
The English translation at least is beautiful, graceful - it does not need to go into girsly detail - but the horrors of trench warfare are more real and more terrible in this book...more
Every school pupil should read this in history class rather then waste time scribbling meaningless lesson notes into exercise books.
The English translation at least is beautiful, graceful - it does not need to go into girsly detail - but the horrors of trench warfare are more real and more terrible in this book...more
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