M.C.'s review

All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/355697.All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="All Quiet on the Western Front" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174044948m/355697.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/355697.All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">All Quiet on the Western Front</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4116.Erich_Maria_Remarque">Erich Maria Remarque</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7996580?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>Before reading "All Quiet on the Western Front," "The Good War" was the one of the few war-related texts that I could actually connect with, because most of the people featured in "The Good War" started out as ordinary citizens who led the average American life.  While I read their stories, I thought about how my own life is like a vehicle and that I'm the driver--I'm the one responsible for staying on course while deciding about where I want to go rather than swerving off and colliding into other people. Then, I thought, what if these other people living along side me, driving their own vehicles of life, were drunk? Should I pull over and tell them to stop? Am I drunk as well?
<br/>
<br/>Then came "All Quiet on the Western Front." I first heard about the book after overhearing a conversion while sitting in the Subway. At that moment, the two men seemed fascinated by a scene in the book portraying a dying horse. When I picked up a copy of the book, I did not expect to read about wounded horses with their entrails dangling.Though that was not the moment that I find most memorable, rather, it was when the narrator realized that those he was fighting were no less human than he was, no less of a brother, a son, or a loved one. Then, when the combat was over, one would walk away free, while the other would sit there dying as his loved ones wonder whether he was alive or dead--or, if they were sure that he was dead,they would be wondering how he died and hope that he died the least painful way.
<br/>
<br/>It was after reading "All Quiet on the Western Front" that I began to see that so much potentials went to waste because of those who have mishaps in their life when they drunkenly goes off course and decides to start wars with other people. Everyone is at least a bystander on one occasion, and it seems that it is up to them to at least stay clear. When you're driving alongside those who are drunk, then I guess you should not go right on and follow them. The narrator didn't--he woke up from the onslaught of killing and saw how all along he had been killing humanity itself by bringing an end to other fellow peoples. 
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/399735?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

M.C.'s review
rating:

bookshelves: 2007---2008
status: Read in October, 2007

Before reading "All Quiet on the Western Front," "The Good War" was the one of the few war-related texts that I could actually connect with, because most of the people featured in "The Good War" started out as ordinary citizens who led the average American life. While I read their stories, I thought about how my own life is like a vehicle and that I'm the driver--I'm the one responsible for staying on course while deciding about where I want to go rather than swerving off and colliding into other people. Then, I thought, what if these other people living along side me, driving their own vehicles of life, were drunk? Should I pull over and tell them to stop? Am I drunk as well?

Then came "All Quiet on the Western Front." I first heard about the book after overhearing a conversion while sitting in the Subway. At that moment, the two men seemed fascinated by a scene in the book portraying a dying horse. When I picked up a copy of the book, I did...more Before reading "All Quiet on the Western Front," "The Good War" was the one of the few war-related texts that I could actually connect with, because most of the people featured in "The Good War" started out as ordinary citizens who led the average American life. While I read their stories, I thought about how my own life is like a vehicle and that I'm the driver--I'm the one responsible for staying on course while deciding about where I want to go rather than swerving off and colliding into other people. Then, I thought, what if these other people living along side me, driving their own vehicles of life, were drunk? Should I pull over and tell them to stop? Am I drunk as well?

Then came "All Quiet on the Western Front." I first heard about the book after overhearing a conversion while sitting in the Subway. At that moment, the two men seemed fascinated by a scene in the book portraying a dying horse. When I picked up a copy of the book, I did not expect to read about wounded horses with their entrails dangling.Though that was not the moment that I find most memorable, rather, it was when the narrator realized that those he was fighting were no less human than he was, no less of a brother, a son, or a loved one. Then, when the combat was over, one would walk away free, while the other would sit there dying as his loved ones wonder whether he was alive or dead--or, if they were sure that he was dead,they would be wondering how he died and hope that he died the least painful way.

It was after reading "All Quiet on the Western Front" that I began to see that so much potentials went to waste because of those who have mishaps in their life when they drunkenly goes off course and decides to start wars with other people. Everyone is at least a bystander on one occasion, and it seems that it is up to them to at least stay clear. When you're driving alongside those who are drunk, then I guess you should not go right on and follow them. The narrator didn't--he woke up from the onslaught of killing and saw how all along he had been killing humanity itself by bringing an end to other fellow peoples. ...less

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