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Summary: FORGOTTEN SOLDIER BY GUY SAJER
Review: I COULD'NT PUT THE BOOK DOWN, SAJER PUT ME THERE WITH HIM MENTALLY AND IN THE FLESH. THE BOOK FLOWED VERY WELL.PEOPLE CAN'T HAVE ENOUGH RESPECT FOR A HUMAN BEING PUT THROUGH A WAR.
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Summary: so true...
Review: Amazingly, this is the story of my father. He was a reluctant draftee in 1939, not a party member. My mother did not allow my sister to joint the BDM (the girls equivalent of the 'Hitler Youth'). He ended up as a supply driver in the Ukraine of all places. So when I picked up the book sometime ago, I was riveted to it until I finished reading. This book is the macro account of all his micro anecdotes.
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Summary: First read this book 30 years ago
Review: and I still remember it. Along with just a handfull of books I've read over the years, this one stays in my mind. While time has diminished some of the details, Mr Sajer's experiences as a foot soldier in the German army during WW2 have stayed with me in a very vivid way. If you are looking to read a book that can give you honest insight into what it must really be like to be a soldier during wartime and in battle, this is really the only book you need to read. I've just ordered a copy of the reprinted edition as I long ago gave away my original copy. Don't hesitate, buy a copy for yourself.
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Summary: The war first hand...
Review: I never developed a feeling for Guy; I never developed a liking or a compassion for him. He tells me of all of these perilous situations that he finds himself in, of the horrors all around him, and still I feel no compassion or feelings of concern welling up inside of me.
It is almost as if the very centre of Guy is dead, that it died somewhere in Russia, that the blood all around him has drowned his compassion and along with it yours.
When Guy talks of his mother it is somehow hollow, his girlfriend in Berlin is never revisited after the war, his closest friend Hals never looked up again afterwards. Not of them seem to matter or have any importance.
The scenes of carnage and death are brought to life in a lifeless way. The pure scale of the dead is set before your eyes in page after page of descriptions of long forgotten and unheard of battles. Where men are pushed into front lines or selected to form a rear guard defence to allow the retreating soldiers more time; and you become aware that they too will join the lists of the dead. There are thousands of heroes on these pages, thousands of acts of true heroism are hinted at, but all the heroes and all those that witnessed there acts seem to be dead, to have been churned into the mud of Russia.
When Guy directly fights the Russians in a battle he has no obvious compassion for the lives he is taking, only caring about the lives of those immediately next to him. And even these people he seems unable to care for in the orthodox sense, seems unable to be warm and open with. He speaks of killing hundreds, thousands of Russians and it seems to mean nothing to him.
Guy is French, he is involved in a war where the people he is fighting alongside often view him with contempt and those on the opposing side hate him with a greater vigour for his collaboration. HE seems like the loneliest man in the world.Guy is a teenager, 16 when he joins the German army, he may not have physically died in Russia, but I think that most of his soul did. At times this book reminds me of "Lord of the Flies" when the ship's captain lands on the beach and sees these people who are trying to kill each other as oddly dressed schoolboys who have been cast away on a desert island. I feel that Guy is one such boy; only every one accepts he is a man and allows him to play the role. He is a boy killing other boys and old men. The whole world he inhabits seems to be killing each other, the whole world seems mad.
When Guy is demobbed and sent back to France at the end of the war, it is as if not the real pain begins, the struggling with himself for the rest of his life I reckon the fact that this book manages to be both alive in it's scenes and yet dead at its core is the reason that it is a great book. It is ambiguous about the rights and wrongs of Germany, ambiguous about taking so many lives.
At the end of the book you can feel the horrors of the war, yet are not left with any answers or clear insight, just a heavy upset about how miserable and dirty it all is.
A 5 star book.
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Summary: Life on the Russian Front
Review: I have read a lot of personal accounts of Americans in Europe and even a Russian in the East. I wanted something different, and this was different. It was eye opening to see how the German Army functioned. Sajer story is amazing, you will never forget it once you read it. I would reccomend it to everyone.
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Summary: I've read a ton of WWII books and this is still the best
Review: I've been reading just about any book I can get my hands on about
WWII (only the European theater, not Pacific) for over 40 years now and IMO Sajer's "Forgotten Soldier" is still the #1 best read
about WWII. All this .... about whether it's 100% factual or not is such .... It's powerful, moving and reads as something that very clearly did truely happen to Sajer. Minor details recalled years later may be off slightly but that matters not a whit in a book as compelling and well told as "Forgotten Soldier" is. If you have any interest at all in the subject of WWII then you *must* read and own this book. I re-read it every few years and find it just as powerful on the 20th read as on the first. Superlative!
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Summary: The face of war
Review: The picture on the cover of this book wordlessly conveys the same message as the text itself. It is the face of a boy, really, but a boy that has seen the hell of infantry combat. It is a face that knows hunger, thirst, cold, heat, and fear beyond description. Sajer's story is of such a boy.
Guy Sajer enlisted in the Wehrmacht at age seventeen and spent time in both a supply unit and in the elite Gross Deutschland Division. He soldiered on the Eastern Front from 1942 until 1945. He tells the story of a young man seeking glory and comradeship. However, he finds an earthly hell. In one memorable passage, Sajer describes the terror and near-madness that go with enduring an artillery barrage. Later in the book, Sajer, who has been promoted to corporal, is given a detail of men to lead. He knows that he is inadeqauate to the task, and the depiction of a helpless, frightened young man who cannot gather the wits to decide on a proper course of action is both pathetic and heart-breaking.
War is not a crucible in which men are formed; rather, war is a demolition yard, where humanity is stripped away, and only the barest of animal instincts are left to us. This book should be required reading for all of those who, with no experience themselves, would send other men and women off to kill and die.
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Summary: Great book! Recommended for students and history buffs!
Review: My World War Two history professor required us to read this book for his class. Needless to say, I was blown away with the gory details (no pun intended) of war. Before reading this, I thought everyone who fought for the Nazis held Nazi ideology. This book proved me wrong. A non-Nazi soldier (Guy Sajer) is trust into the reality of war; disease, combat, and pathetic political ideology were among the many dangers of war and Sajer endured every one of them or otherwise, he wouldn't have written this book. Wisked away from his family and his girlfriend Paula, Sajer begins his journey into manhood as a young teenager nearing his twenties being forced to fight a man's war. To me, this book is to World War two as Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage" is to the American Civil War. The typical, uneducated lad of sixteen wanting to be patriotic and finding out how REALLY patriotic he is by enlisting in the army. I'm glad my professor required me to read this. It really opened up my eyes to the horrors of warfare and made me realize how good I have it here at home with my family.
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Summary: Changes the way you view life
Review: This book is thoroughly amazing. For me, it was a book I could not put down and left me thinking about it for days afterwards. EVERYONE should read this book. This story should be told to anyone who thinks there is glory in war.
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Summary: I cried when I finished this book
Review: I grew up hating the Nazis. I never saw combat when I was in the army. But I have a desire to see life as it really is; and war is a reality. I know that life is a mishmosh of the delicious, the blah, the horrible, and the disgusting. Heck, I can't seem to say in a few words what I am trying to express about this book. I would not have wanted to leave this earth without having read this book. I think it should be required reading in high school so that when young everyone gets an idea of what war is really like. I don't believe a better book could be written about this subject than this one. He may have remembered some details incorrectly, but who cares. It isn't a happy book. I felt like I had been run through the mill every time I had read a few pages. But I felt like I learned more about what life is all about - more than I can enumerate. I cannot say more than that I feel this book is of inestimable value.
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