Rating: 
Summary: All Quiet On the Western Front: A realistic War Novel
Review: This book was probably one of the most realistic war novels ever written. There were many aspects to review, but the most simple are plainly what I liked and disliked about the book. I disliked the fact that so much of the book explained the psycological things going on in Paul Baumer's (the main character, a german soldier) mind. There was a very long and boring stretch in the book explaining how a soldier's mind can affect whether he lives or dies. A thing I liked in the book was that it had so much description. When wounded and in the hospital, Paul Baumer explained how everything looked, felt, smelled, and even sounded like. This was very realistic but sometimes very disgusting. Another thing I liked in the book was Paul Baumer's role in the book. He was very courageous and never had a boring role. In reading _All Quiet On the Western Front_, I learned something very important. Although many people think war is glorious and exciting, this book completely shows the other side. It shows the horror and agony of war. It depicts war realisticlly which is not the way many people think of it.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding my father (what this book means to me)
Review: My father, who is my hero and my best friend, was a drafted infantryman on the demilitarized zone (I don't quite know why they call it that) in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. After reading this book, I believe that he should have a chestful of Purple Hearts for what he experienced. If a person you love has experienced combat, you will be doing them a favor by reading this book. Our Vietnam vets also are a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war, as Remarque's dedication so eloquently states. What I learned from this book is that there is no such thing as an unwounded soldier. I wept as I read this book, and I am grateful that my generation has not had to experience a war.
Rating:
Summary: Not to Quiet on the Western Front
Review: All Quiet on the Western front is about a German boy named Paul Baumer. Paul Baumer and his friends are enlisted in the german Army in World War 1. They are enthusiastic about becoming soldiers but after the first bombardment in the trenches they snap. The war lasts for years but Paul still asks himself the same question: why are all my friends getting shot around me but I am still alive? All Quiet on the Western Front describes the physical and psychological drain a war has on a person. This book is not for people who do not like the horrors of war
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever written
Review: Clearly, this is one of the best books ever written. I only wish that I could read German better so that I can read it in its orginal language. The movie (original, 1930) is also superb. Skip the remake (1979).
Rating: 
Summary: It Spoke Loud
Review: It's ironic that, in our viewpoint, two of the bad guys (German soldiers) have penned two of the most remarkable, realistic and poignant first person accounts of the horror of war. One of the authors is Guy Sajer, who wrote "The Forgotten Soldier," a true account of a Nazi foot soldier fighting on the Eastern Front in Russia in World War 11. The other is Erich Maria Remarque, author of the novel "All Quiet on the Western Front," where the setting is the trench warfare of World War One. "All Quiet" was a pacesetter, a bold and honest account of the uncounted horrors of the battlefield as experienced by a young man. Written in a simple but poetic way, it follows the soldier from training camp, to the terror of the battlefield, to the hospital, and to home on leave among civilians. It's a journey of a universal soldier who inevitably loses his comrades, his sense of self, and any semblance of youthful innocence to the vulgarity of war. "All Quiet on the Western Front" deserves its status of a classic. Again, I also suggest "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer, which is even more vivid and touching. And, another outstanding novel of war by an American writer: "The Thin Red Line" by James Jones.
Rating:
Summary: This is war
Review: The story of 20-year old Paul Baumer, a German solider in WWI. The story is told in two levels: on the one hand, we are told the events and situations of the war; on the other, the confused inner world of Paul's mind, his perplexity before the destructive phenomenon of war, which not only destroys buildings and bodies, but also the dreams, illusions and hopes of a whole generation that jumped directly from school to battlefield; from life to death; from peacefulness to utter destruction. This unencouraging novel tells the story of war from the inside. There's no strategy, no politics, only the meaningless daily deaths of thousands of young men who, in the words of Remarque, could have been friends if they had not been told they were enemies. This book is very well written. It's not sentimental, but sensitive. It's not a cheesy pro-peace lecture, but the truth about war. It is not an exaggeration to say that it will hit your guts and close your throat.
Rating:
Summary: remarkable portrait of war
Review: An outstanding book depicting WWI from a common soldier's perspective. It is an extremely well written and eloquent indictment of war. All the more powerful because it is the story of a German soldier (for me and others in the U.S., he was on the other side), but I viewed him and his story no differently from how I would have viewed the story of a French, British, or American soldier. That, of course, is part of the point Remarque is making here. Aside from their uniforms, the common soldiers in this war were essentially the same; they probably would have been friends if they hadn't been told that they were enemies and if they weren't simply trying to survive. But a handful of men running these countries decided for some reason that they had to go to war. Thus, the book also has led me to question the attitudes of soldiers in more contemporary conflicts. So many disputes today, in contrast to that portrayed by Remarque, seem to involve deeply-held hatreds among the people (e.g., the middle east, India and Pakistan). I wonder now whether the nature of these conflicts is different from those in WWI, or whether they are all the same from most soldiers' perspectives. Finally, I read this novel after reading John Keegan's recent history of WWI. Keegan's book has many flaws, in my opinion, one of which is the lack of insight into the common soldiers' perspective. Remarque provides that insight brilliantly.
Rating:
Summary: A Different Perspective on Remarque's Masterpiece
Review: Few words of praise can be used in describing such a profound piece of literature that has remained in circulation successfully since its first publication [English version] in 1929. It has been reviewed internationally over the years with such descriptions as "... the greatest of all war books...", "... a great document...", "... a powerful work of art..." , and has been hailed with the such recommendations as the following "It should be distributed by the millions and read in every school". There remains little else that can be said in praise of "All Quiet on the Western Front" that has not been said already. Thus, the following review is presented under the given premises that it is both a great story and work of art. It has been written from personal experience of having read it (four times) and with the purpose of adding a new perspective to support the claims that have exalted it in its seven decades of circulation. NOTE: This review refers specifically to "All Quiet on the Western Front" as translated by A. W. Wheen and not the actual "Im Westen Nichts Neues" by Erich Maria Remarque. From the opening words of the preface: "This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure..." it is evident that "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a story that breaks away from the traditional standards of the war story. The phrase "...least of all an adventure..." presents the book as antithesis to the banal theme that recurs in its genre. (Some American W.W.II novels tend to be notorious in this aspect.) It is the frankness presented in the preface and carried throughout the story that gives it so much appeal to the discriminating reader. The story is told through the first-person perspective of its protagonist, Paul Baümer - a young German soldier of around twenty who, like so many of his generation, voluntarily left the high school classroom and the world he knew in order to fight in the Great War. It is through his narration as the disillusioned youth who forces himself to endure the daily fight to survive in the war he once believed in, which gives the story its depth and character. The reader feels for Paul and all that befalls him; s/he finds him/herself being able to relate to the experiences conveyed through the story. The personal level of the narration is such that without the superficial details, particularly the characters' names, it could be a story told from either side of the war; hence, its international acclaim. In style, "All Quiet on the Western Front" does not follow a concrete plot line, but rather is presented as a series of excerpts from Paul's experiences. The story resembles a diary in format as it includes not only descriptions of combat, but also of how the protagonist feels as he witnesses first-hand the mayhem and slaughter around him. However, the narration does not focus on the battlefield alone; a great deal of the story centralises on Paul Baümer himself, his interests, his friends, and the comradeship he has forged with his group leader Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinky - a bond so intimate, and so unlikely to have formed in circumstances outside the war, that he describes it as "...a more complete communion with one another than even lovers have" (Chapter 5). Like the comradeship forged amidst the destruction of the battlefield, many events in the story give hope to the protagonist that all has not been lost in the war. It is this minute and fragile bit of hope that gives Paul the strength to carry on and allows him to grow. For, what it is that gives "All Quiet on the Western Front" its greatest appeal is that it is a story of personal growth set against the background of the human race's most deplorable manifestations of its folly: war. EPILOGUE I was first introduced to the story "All Quiet on the Western Front" through the 1930 movie (Directed by Lewis Milestone) watched in a Grade 10 History class. It was two years later at the age of seventeen that I read the book for the first time. For myself, the book had great appeal, as there were so many aspects of the protagonist, Paul Baümer, to which I could relate. Unlike the protagonists found in other war novels I had read, Paul had the appeal of being frank, thoughtful, and - prior to his entry in the war - artistic. He is not presented as the dominant leader of a gang of "caricature" soldiers, but rather as the figure of an average student - one awakened to the world of the humanities, and both fascinated by, and in love with, life - a more realistic portrayal of a young man in war. His narration is at a personal level and told in a mixture of academic eloquence and the base vocabulary of the field. The personal growth of the protagonist is what has led me to read the story over and over again. I like to compare myself with Paul as time progresses for me, while he remains perpetually in the time frame of the book. For this reason, although I recommend "All Quiet on the Western Front" to all readers, I recommend it primarily to readers of either sex between the ages of 16 and 22 years.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ
Review: I personally think this book realistically depicted the war. The feelings after reading this book is undescribably touched; it helps you appreciate and treasure life more.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent Book!
Review: I have never read a novel a true to reality as All Quiet on the Western Front. It exposed war for what it truly is--brutal, savage, and unrelenting. If this was required reading for every high school student, then our world would be a much better place. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book!
|
