[Sudbue] All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - 3 Stars

[Nicole]

My three star rating should not be taken as an indication of how good this book actually is, just my general liking of it. Obviously this book is a classic for a reason and I do appreciate both its historical and literary merit. I listened to this one vs. reading a copy and I do think that was my mistake; this book requires and deserves one's full attention.

Told from the perspective of a German soldier in the trenches during WWI, this book is condemnation of the brutality of wars. In my personal opinion, this especially hits home with WWI which I already view as mostly pointless. I've not read a lot of books on the The Great War and was not aware of how brutal it was, with the poison gases used by both sides, men with flame throwers, shelling, knife and bayonet fighting, etc.

The author's success with this story is in his experiences and his honesty. As a once German soldier who fought in the trenches, he is able to tell a true war story without use of metaphor or false glory - the results are vivid and horrible as the conclusions are heart breaking.

"...for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony--"

Would recommend, highly suggest reading over listening.

[Joanne]

I have been trying to get to the book all year-without success. I still have 2 months to do it, and hopefully I will!

[Nicole]

If I hadn’t landed on it for Subdue, I may never have gotten to it to be honest. And it’s such a short book, it’s a shame that even the short ones are hard to get to sometimes.