Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book but not "The only book on war"
Review: First off, yes its an ubelievable book on a horrible war. But it isn't the "only real book on the reality of war". This was simply one account of a pretty far reaching conflict. To say it is the only book anybody should ever read about for the reality of war is kind of overstating the issue a bit. Not all infantry soldiers had an experience like Guy Sajer but their books can be equally meaningful. I have read a book James Mcpherson's "For Cause and Comrades" and the diary entries taken from those combat soldiers didnt sound remotely like Guy Sajer at all. Still an excellent book.
Rating: 
Summary: A 'Painful' read.
Review: I read this book a few years ago, when I was in the USAF, and thought it should be 'required' reading for all US military personel. The only reason I gave this book a four and not a five; it's almost literally painful to read, especially when Sajer describes fighting in the freezing Russian winter. This is a horrendous book to take on, nothing to be taken lightly. I also read that the actors in the film "Saving Pvt. Ryan" read this book.
Rating:
Summary: As close as it gets...
Review: I have read this book several times, and it's more difficult to put down each time. Guy Sajer brings the reader into the battle field with a startling realism that I have never felt from any other book of any kind. A must read for any person interested World War II.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Soul Shaking
Review: As a lover of history, I've read many books on WWII, but I've never read anything as brutally honest and compelling as The Forgotten Soldier. Sajer lived through the horror of the Eastern Front, and even more, he had the gift to tell us about it. It's not a series of war stories, or a soldiers telling of his great exploits; it's a decent into hell with a young, innocent man as the guide and his words will move anyone who has a heart. When he tells you of the terrible Russian winters, you will fill the chill in your bones. When he talks of hiding in a hole while artillery shells churn the ground all around, you will get a glimpse of how the rabbit must feel just as the wolf takes it from its hole. Sajer doesn't tell you just about the hopes and fears of men in war. He takes you to a level where men were afraid to hope, afraid to dream, even afraid to pray lest God take from them the nothing they had left.To quote from the book, "My companions sat huddled on their ragged pallets without talking...they were dreaming in the heavy silence...dreaming of the deliverance which must be near at hand... they were dreaming, staring from their dark sockets with mad, transparent eyes, and it was understood that no one would speak. They were dreaming, and so that the war wouldn't catch them at it, they tried to hide it." "I was still alive, and was afraid somebody might notice. I had given everything else I had: my feelings, my anguish, my sorrow, my fear. I had also forgotten Paula, and, so that I wouldn't still seem too rich, I had forgotten that I was too young. ...I still had a spark of live, which I kept hidden. One must no longer ask anything of anybody. Even if God heard our prayers, whatever we received would be consumed....I was afraid to ask too much, afraid that the least desire might seem like a demand." In his book he says, "Only the victors have stories to tell. We, the vanquished, were all cowards and weaklings, whose memories, fears, and enthusiasms should not be remembered." Then he proves this assertion wrong by telling one of the greatest war stories of all time. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: the forgotten soldier
Review: I have read this book several times. I can say without exageration that this is the most harrowing, most disturbing and moving account of infantry combat I have ever read. No other book that has crossed my desk has had such a profound affect on my attitude twords war and combat. Guy Sajer has a style of writting that, while plain, has tremendous impact. His descriptions of combat, of the cold, the mutilated bodies, the fear, the endless Russian steppe and accounts of armor attacks are very graphic and forceful. There is little diolouge in the book. It is almost entirely descriptive. It is not for the faint of heart or for those who are easily discouraged. It is shocking, bleak and, due to the subject matter, depressing. Sajers' ability to describe people, places, and combat transports you directly to the Russian Front... and leaves you there. I can say without exageration that this is the best book on WW2 combat I have ever read in my entire life. If you had to read only one book on war make it this one!!
Rating:
Summary: The best personal memoir of WWII
Review: I also first read this book several years ago and still pick it up from time to time to read passages I have marked which are particularly vivid. What the other reviewers have not mentioned is that the English version is actually a spectacular translation of the French original. Sajer was a citizen soldier, fought the war, but suffered the additional indignity of being on the losing side. Sajer writes his story in chronological order, only stepping outside the times twice to discuss the nature of war from hindsight. In one of these short essay-like passages he admonishes even the reader: "Too many people learn about war with no inconvenience to themselves. They read about Verdun or Stalingrad without comprehension, sitting in a comfortable armchair, with their feet beside the fire, preparing to go about their business the next day, as usual. One should really read such accounts under compulsion, in discomfort, considering oneself fortunate not to be describing the events in a letter home, writing from a hole in the mud. One should read about war in the worst circumstances, when everything is going badly, remembering the torments of peace are trivial..." In sum, this book is an amazingly perfect piece of writing.
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch
Review: I read this book several months ago and still find myself thinking about it. I've become sort of a student of military history and have read dozens of books, both historical and personal. While this book doesn't provide much of a historical or political overview of the war, it provides the the most in-depth, detailed exposure of a front line soldier's hell I have ever read. It is must read for students and politicians!
Rating:
Summary: The Forgotten Soldier
Review: Excellent! I never wanted to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Best Autobiographical Accounts of WWII
Review: This is without a doubt the most heart wrenching account of a common soldiers life that any reader could lay their eyes on. It is the personal account of a young franco german who inlists in the german wermacht and after his basic training spends almost the whole of the rest of the war on the eastern front. Luckily enough for the author he was able to surrender to the allies or we might not be honored with his harrowing personal account. There is some pretty intense controversey as to the validity of this story among millitary historians regarding many of the technical aspects of Guy Sajers' tale prompting many to wonder if it is true at all. DON'T LET THIS DISUADE YOU! Reminding me of Papilion,the famous tale of the prison escapee from the French penal colonies in South America, The Forgotten Soldier brims with a personal feeling that stems from seeing such horror and suffering that it could be nothing but true technical aspects aside. You can nearly feel the cold of Russia and the mud in his boots as the shell fragments fly by. Much like All Quiet on the Western Front it should be required reading in all schools.
Rating:
Summary: growing up in war
Review: I have never liked reading or writing, but i feel so much respect for Guy Sajer after reading his book twice that I feel I owe it to him to write this. Somtimes when i sit and think about the book the Forgotten Soldier I feel as though I am the only person in the world who really understood it in the way Guy Sajer intended. This is the story of a young man who is thrown into a war that he should never have had to see. Not for any political reason but for the sheer fact that no human-being should ever have had to be exposed to such horrors. This book is the truth about War, yet it is also the story of a young man. He is insecure just like any other teenager and he even falls in love. The things that he sees on the battlefeild are the backdrop of his coming of age. This is war in all of its brutallity seen through the eyes of a young man who in todays world would be leading what would seem like a so much more innocent existance. Perhaps it is because i am the same age as Sajer was in the book that I feel this way, but if it is any consolation I think he should know that he reached at least one person in his tragic tale.
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