Rating: 
Summary: Best War Novel of All Time
Review: This novel kept me interested throughout the course of the plot. War novels do not usually attract me, however this fascinated me in a way that no other has done before. Erich Maria Remarque paints a realistic painting of WWI and the struggles that very young men overcame in this time of death. It is a compelling story of a late teenager who thought joining the army would be a great idea, and along with others whom he has known throughout grade school, discovers he was terribly mistaken. It's horrific, uplifting, and even humorous, and has a breath-taking conclusion. I highly suggest you read this.
Rating: 
Summary: All-Powerful about the Western Front
Review: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is not the story of military strategy, or a tale concerned with the mass movement of armies and people. It is not a novel about the higher view of war, the way it is seen by governments and generals. It is, in fact, the story of one man caught up in a war that he doesn't even seem to fully comprehend. He and his friends are battered and wounded, and simply trying to survive each day as it comes. The book is powerful and memorable. Erich Maria Remarque shows us what war is like, and shows us a tale of people trying to stay alive, but becoming more and more alienated from the regular world they left behind.The story is gritty, dirty and depressing. It probably isn't exactly explaining what life was like for the German soldiers during WWI, but my guess is that it comes extremely close. The men have trouble finding food, they are ordered around by sadistic officers, they are cold, and hungry - and there's a war going on, the nature of which means that literally at any second they could be killed or horribly maimed. The book focuses on the death associated with the war, but it also spends a lot of time going over the suffering and the pain. Remarque tells us of the soldiers wounded, of those slowly dying in no-man's land with no hope of being rescued or of dying a clean death. The lucky ones are the ones who die quickly; the unlucky are in agony for days or weeks. There really isn't much of a plot, which would certainly seem to be in keeping with the way an average solider would view the war. The narrative bounces us around from the front lines, to the rear camps, to civilian villages in a sequence as random as it would have appeared to anyone involved in the war. We can't see the reasoning behind any individual movement, and neither can our protagonist. They are concerned only with the moment, the simple things that will keep them alive and as comfortable as possible. Their occasional contacts with home and with civilian life highlight how different they have become and the difficulties the survivors will face when they attempt to reintegrate themselves with their old lives. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is a book that everyone should read, just so that the story of the average soldier is always carried on. Even as television brings cursory and unrepresentative images of the battlefield to regular citizens, it is vital that everyone fully understands the horror that war is. I can't say that this was a pleasant read, but it was a book that I found difficult to put down.
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Summary: John McCance
Review: All Quiet on the Western Front should not only be recognizied as the greatest war novels, but also as one of the greatest novels. While reading, I found myself connecting with the book on so many different levels. First, Remarque's writing is amazing. I found myself stopping during the novel just to realize how great of a book I was reading. Additionally, in the age we live in now, I found that this book changed my entire perspective on war. In the novel Kantorek really illustrates how society glorifies war, something that they have never experienced before. Additionally, I realized how the war torn Paul and his friends' lives apart; they were at the age of twenty, an age where the decisions you make will dictate the life you will live. By going to war, Paul lost the person who he was, and realized that the only stablity in his life was the war. This message is so powerful, and I can't begin to emphasize how moving it really was. I've read some pretty good books in my life, but none have impacted me the way this book did. It showed me how horrible war really is, and how it is near impossible to rationalize taking part in such an event. I hope I can convince the people that have not read All Quiet on the Western Front to read it. Even though I'm not a fan of war novels, I the images Remarque painted still linger in my mind. It is truly one of the most powerful and greatest novels that you can read.
Rating:
Summary: Frightening and tragic
Review: Erich Maria Remarque's masterpiece about a group of friends engulfed in the horrors of trench warfare in the First World War is a shocking portrayal of the terrible nature of war in the trenches and a grim reminder of the human cost of waging war. The story begins with a group of young soldiers rejoicing at their good fortune in receiving double rations. Soon afterwards, the reason for the soldiers' feast is revealed: half of their unit was wiped out in their last trip up the line. The story continues in this vein, relating both the good times and bad times experienced by the men, creating a stark contrast between moments of sheer terror and close friendship. One thing that this book has going for it is that it doesn't read like an anti-war book. There are no diatribes against the powers that be or the evils of man, just the lives of seven young men who marched off to what they thought would be the glory of war. They live normal soldier lives and ask normal soldier questions. As you read the stories of Paul Baumer and his friends, you begin to see how men can describe their time in fighting as some of the best and worst times of their lives, how soldiers bond and find good times in the midst of the horrors of war. As his friends fall one by one, Baumer begins to see that these good times are soon to be no more, and the only thing he will have left is loneliness and the war. This is the central theme in the book: that war drains young men of their humanity and destroys them, even if they are not killed by bullets or bombs. This is a great book. The combat sequences are shockingly vivid, and the friendship between the soldiers and the experiences they share are beautifully tragic in light of the terror the young men face. After reading this book, I don't think I'll ever watch war movies or read books about war in the same way again.
Rating:
Summary: Timeless Theme
Review: I am a high school teacher. I (every couple of years or so) assign this book to be read by my high school history classes. They for the most part like it.
Here are a few things to keep in mind while reading the book:
1. It starts out a little slow. The last several chapters (Chapter 11 especially) are beautifully written with excellent word choices and allusions. I often have students read Chapter 11 aloud in class. It reinforces the concept of the "Lost Generation."
2. The writer, Remarque, was a newspaper reporter. If you are expecting flowery language, you won't find it here. It is very "matter of fact."
3. The themes are timeless. There is a strong anti-education theme in it as well, although a bit subtle. A good debate to have is whether or not this is an anti-war book or more of an anti-authority book.
While this genre of book may not be a personal favorite, I feel that it is one that a well-read, culturally literate person should read at some point in his education.
Rating:
Summary: This will stay with you a long time...
Review: I had to read this book for class and at first I was reluctant. Once I got into it I found it to be an amazing story or war. Don't buy the cliff notes, read the book!
Rating:
Summary: All Quiet on the Western Front, A Call For Life And Humanity
Review: I loved this book. In a world tainted by selfless desires and greed 'All Quiet on the Western Front' reveals the dark side of warfare that has existed since the practice was concieved. Through Paul's journey into the battlefields of WW1 you quickly learn to unlearn everything that was taught to you about war in the glorious sense. Although this book is fiction you begin to expand your view of the world as it relates to this violence that has gone on for centuries right under our noses. After reading this book you get a deeper sense of humanity as a whole and you realize how equal each of us our. In one very interesting scene Paul stabs a man that jumps into his foxhole during battle. The man isn't killed instantly but Paul feels deep regret as the man slowy dies over the course of the night. He reads he man's wallet and letters and realizes this man is just like him and he had no right to kill him. This book is very important to unity among all human. This book should be distributed and read everywhere so that people will live in a deeper harmony with each other and that war will always be the very very last option to solve a conflict.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Novels of All Time
Review: I never suspected that when I began reading All Quiet for my 10th grade History class, it would completely revolutionize my perspective on war. This novel flawlessly captures the confusion, bitterness, futility, and hopeless loss of human life on the battlefield. At the same time Remarque eliminates the false perception that war is glorious and honorable. The way in which the author accomplishes this is, in my opinion, without a single flaw. Written through the narrative of a young German soldier, Paul Baumer, this book succeeds in revealing an entirely new perspective to the reader. To an American reader, Baumer is "the enemy" since he is a German soldier in WWI. But through the expression of Baumer's thoughts and emotions, one quickly realizes the harsh commonality between soldiers of both sides, and the inevitable futility of war, with scores of men dying for a few inches of dirt. The images are intense and painful- choking in poison gas, trembling with fear of being shelled, and the eternal loss of faith in life itself once one has been forced to kill and be killed namelessly, facelessly, and heartlessly. The impact it has on the reader is beyond words- one has to read this book to understand the reasons why war is not all what we have been led to believe. I have never been a fan of war novels, but this book goes beyond being just another war novel. Besides offering a revolutionary new perspective on the grim truth about war, it taught me much about the sanctity of saftey, peace, freedom, and life. Although I could never truly feel what soldiers undergo physically and emotionally in war, this book is as close as one can get. All Quiet on the Western Front is a truly phenomenal novel, and I feel that everyone should read this book. It will change the way you think.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Engaging
Review: I read this book because of the fascination I first encountered when reading about Hemingway and the post-WW1 "Lost Generation." From history classes and other literature I knew that World War 1 was a horrible bloody war, the likes of which were previously unknown. I knew this was the case both on the front and for those suffering behind the lines too. But I was not prepared for such gritty, disturbing tales of the front as they are told first-hand by the narrator of this novel.
I am not going to summarize the plot in this review. Instead I will concentrate on why this book continues to be important, regardless that nearly a century has past since it was written. War nowadays is just as atrocious and horrible as it ever was. It some ways it has gotten better, and in others worse. Sure today's weaponry is more surgical and precise, but the bombs are also way bigger. We who sit behind the lines really have no idea what is is like to be that person who experiences battle first hand, to breath bullets and piss explosions. If anything, all we civilians know is a body count, which is basically to say how our own side is doing. Sadly, barely anybody cares about the other guys.
This book is written from the German perspective, but it is not about a struggle to belonging to any one group or nation. It is a universal tale of inhuman man-to-man carnage, and what that does to the soul of those involved in such a hopeless mess. It is sickening. At times I literally felt queasy from the atrocities described in gruesome detail. Soldiers on all sides could not help but be destroyed physically, mentally, and spiritually by this war of wars, this war to end all wars, although it could be any war. Perhaps most disheartening is that the soldiers didn't even know what they are fighting for; they only understand the basic tenet that they must kill or be killed. As a result these men who fought are estranged from life, deflated and ruined. There are no heroes in this sad story; everyone looses.
With America currently involved in a war based on specious-at-best intelligence and half of the American population actually supporting such an endeavor, this book is at least as applicable now as it has ever been. Every war supporter, especially those who have never fought in a war themselves, should read this to understand what they are supporting on the micro-level. If after reading it anybody can continue to support war - except as an absolute last resort - then I will be very surprised.
Rating:
Summary: Trenches and circles of hell.
Review: I recently found my [very] old high school copy of this book, and I remembered writing a very appreciative report about it for my eleventh grade English class. Not having anything else convenient to read along my subway ride to work, I started reading it again, after 31 years. And now I remember why my eleventh grade report was so glowing. Erich Maria Remarque's ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT grabs you by the throat and stomach and doesn't let go, as you are drawn into the blood- and mud-soaked trenches of World War One. Young Paul Baumer, the protagonist, is at first proud and fearless, as he prepares to make a man of himself in the German army. This bravado doesn't last too long. Each battle grows more and more fierce, until this book becomes an unrelenting apocalypse of graves yielding up their dead in mortar attacks. As Paul moves through the trenches, they are nothing less than Dante's circles of the Inferno. It doesn't take Paul too long to discover that wars are fought not for ideals but for old men hungry for power, and will let the young men of their nations die for that hunger. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT has earned its reputation not just as a great war novel but as a great critique of humanity's follies and cruelties. This is a powerful book.
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