Rating: 
Summary: Sensless Wars
Review: This book presents the cruelty of war. It presents it from another point of view, usually we see the side of the american soldiers, the germans are the bad guys. Here we see that a soldier is just a person with the same fears and feelings no matter on what side he is. Young german boys that are not even out of high school, they haven't started to experience life, are encouraged by their teachers and parents to enroll to go to the front they even call them cowards if they don't. Once they are faced with the real war they realize that their elders didn't have an idea of what they were sending them into. Sometimes one wants to stop reading because it becomes so descriptive of the terrors of war that one wants to close the book and forget about it, but one comes back and keeps on reading hoping that maybe the situation will become better for them, but it doesn't and one knows only when a soldier dies it will be better because even if he gets out of it alive he is marked by it for the rest of his live. I like how the soldiers bonded and became good friends. I also liked the part when the narrator felt sorry for the Russians and helped them, because he knew what they were going through. I think that all world leaders should be required to read books like this, if they have never been in the front, because maybe by knowing what it is like they would think twice before they send innocent people to kill or br killed in a war.
Rating:
Summary: The best and realistic war novel ever written
Review: "Erich M. Remarque sure has made many people world-wide know, imagine and feel the agony of war as a soldier, like Paul Bäumer and his friends, after being taught at school how countries grow with hard work, duty, culture and progress. In the story Paul and his close related friends are twenty years old who enlisted to the German army of World War I. They fought for their country, not knowing the reason of the war. In it, they feel all the pain of seeing friends being shot besides them in a trench, or inclusive being wounded and the next day are enlisted to fight in the front line. Later in the story, Remarque makes the main character face the return to home for fourteen days, making him see that his generation has no normal social life between civilization. Paul later realizes how war would take little by little his poor life. He looses his friends one by one, while starting to know a little of some others, but never he would have know how much he lost until all his true friends are gone. Never he will have the same bow of friendship with other people like he had with his friends, his "brothers" that gave him advice and where always there to help him. One of the best parts is almost at the end of the story, where Paul is sent to the front with his friends, and with new and very young, untrained recruits. In there, Remarque describes everything so perfectly and detailed that you feel you are Paul, seeing how the new recruits fall like flies and all you can do is try to teach them how to use the hand-grenades and when to take cover. Later, when they come back, you are badly hurt as well as a friend of yours and later you are taken to the hospital. Later in the hospital you see and feel the agony of the really bad injured. The screaming at night, the suffering of others. All you can do is wait and see if you are sent to the "Dead Room", home or...back to the front line. Remarque is a great war writer that can capture the attention of anyone easily and don't let you stop reading it until the end."
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: A Rare Light to Escape from the War
Review: In some way, All Quiet on the Western Front lacks the spark and depth that establishes War and Peace as the ultimate combat novel. Yet when one scrutinizes the common features of warfare, it is not so difficult to realize that war reflects so much darkness in humanity that there is nothing extraordinary about it. In this sweeping tale set in WWI, the author promulgates nothing bombastic as the narrator hastily jots down the face of death he perceives in motion. The story is able to transcend nationality and politics; Paul Baumer, a German soldier (who could very well been an English one, a French one, a Russian one) fresh out of highschool, sees himself in his enemies and vice versa. He enlists with a vague conviction to serve and be glorified, and as his classmates and he wake up to the dusty reality of war, the freshness of youth quickly evaporates. No more bubbles of ideal, bubbles of anything as Paul finds all that his formal life was based on shattered and dissolved in the trenches. The brutality of war does not destroy Paul and his classmates essentially although the undertone of the story becomes cloudier, but that is the mere shadow of Paul's development as an individual--eroding away in the acidity of confusion. Even though he declares that one loses Selfhood in a war, Paul does emerge with a less acute sense of nationhood. Indeed, he is alone, on the Western Front, puzzled by the purpose of sacrifices made by millions of youth--on both sides. Remarque does not employ melodious voices and profound concepts to demean warfare on a grander, spiritual scale; instead, the down-to-earth sentences, glide loutishly like a young man of twenty into readers' understanding. Gawky Muller, flirtatious Leer, clear-headed Albert, and weathered Kat stand out as faceless as possible, what a mural they paint with their muddy cheeks and bold laughs, one feels at once the connection to these lads, it's their commonality that evokes and kindles. The transition these men make from students, peasants, postmen to "butchers" is so gradual and tender that so many harsh scenes turn to overwhelming tear-jerkers. Tolstoy touched sympathy with his grand focal point--high above what common men saw behind the bloody veil; well, Remarque led us through that bloody veil, sparing no details. And their pain and anguish are transmitted so simplistically that they produce such thundering effect on the heart; after all, scars never need any decorations, the rawness of cruelty and human weakness lay bare in the trenches that overlook a western front that may never quiet. War is always a difficult subject to fictionalize because it fastens extensive strings on humanity in countless ways. Remarque plucks only one string and watches it vibrate, the node is naive and plain, but it echoes in everyone's heart because the flame of life burns in all of us. And this flame keeps Paul groping in the deep trenches for an exit, but he himself has long vanished in the narrow tunnel towards light. All his beliefs fuse into reality, his facade into bestiality, and his morals into the emptiness of ignorance. This is a very emotional work that keeps one pondering long afterwards, long after the echoes of aeroplanes, bayonets, rifles, hand grenades die away. We readers understand how crucial a role this warfare will forever play in these soldiers' future. The specter of warfare will always be there to haunt humanity; the beasts released during the war may never tire and the men remain forever tattered by the period without morality and understanding. Such is the vicarious pain.
Rating:
Summary: A True Classic
Review: This 1929 anti-war classic may be the top novel of the 20th Century. Unlike most so-called classics, it's immensely readable, realistic, and concise. ReMarque was a German veteran of the Great War (World War I), and he vividly recreates the horror, fear, comradeship, and carnage of the trenches. Narrator Paul Baumer (the author in disguise) enthusiastically enlists in the Kaiser's army, grows disillusioned at the slaughter, then concludes that soldiers on both sides are helpless victims in a pointless conflict. When his friend Leer falls, he asks,"What good is it now that he was such a good mathematician in school?" Indeed. No wonder the Nazi's banned this book, and then ReMarque, when they took over Germany in 1933.
Rating:
Summary: excellent, gripping, moving
Review: I am very pleased to see that this book seems to be as popular in the U.S. as in German speaking areas, where it is often read at school. Published ten years after the war ended it was one of the first books to deal with it and immediately became a best-seller. During the Nazi-era it was regarded as "polluting the honour of German soldiers" and burned in public. The content of the book has been discribed by many of the 169 reviewers; suffice it to say that it gives a realistic description of the lives of those who were 19-21 at the time of the war. In this Remarque succeeds as well as Vera Britain, who's "Testament of Youth" is an interesting account from the other side. Remarque's sequel "Der Weg zurück" is also highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Amazing
Review: 'All Quiet on the Western Front' is truly an amazing novel of war, despair, and youth destroyed by circumstance. Much more than simply a story set in the trenches of World War One, it is a graphic illustration of a young man's journey from optimism to anguish. The author is truly a master of the written word and even the translation into English cannot diminish his literary skill. If anyone wishes to have a better understanding of the generation that served and bled in the holocaust of the trenches this novel will deliver. A rare blend of story, character, and language make 'All Quiet on the Western Front' truly a timeless classic.
Rating:
Summary: Best War Book I've Ever Read
Review: In a simple understatement, the message that All Quiet on the Western Front carries is that war is bad. This may sound very trite, and universally known, but one truly cannot realize how bad war is until one can experience it or is told by a gripping novel. Erich Maria Remarque can be easily identified as an amazing writer, and deserves this honor. I have learned many things about war, and the men who fight them, but the one thing that I learned the best is war is bad. People in general have a morbid fascination with death, and because of this, war is an appealing topic. This is way, I believe, that war carries such a mystic and glorious overtone, but this is totally unfounded. I don't believe that there aren't heroes, but I do think that after reading this book I can describe a better picture of war then a classic WWII with John Wayne. War is simply men of different nations coming together to kill each other under false pretences. The poor soldiers who sacrifice their lives are there only because they have to. The true "bad guys" are in fact the leaders of all the countries, not the men of their countries. It is often said that the other man that one was fighting, could have just as easily been a friend; unfortunately, they were enemies due to the brainwashing of boot camp. The conditioning of soldiers can better be described as brainwashing all of the soldiers. They are told things such as the enemy eats babies, and rape cattle, but this is cheep ploy to distract them from the larger picture. This picture is that they have no reason to fight against these foreigners, except for the fact that their commanding officer ordered them. While for others this may be a good reason, I believe that it is inhuman to change a man in this way, because it only scars and damages the better side of that man. The leaders themselves should fight to resolve these conflicts, other than sending away thousands of men they hardly know. The book points this out wonderfully when it describes Paul's relationship with the Russian prisoners. After learning a little about them, Paul realizes that the Russians are very similar him, except that they speak another language. One can realize just how bad things are, when many of the soldiers admit to not knowing why they're fighting, and that they're risking their lives because someone told them to not because they believe in the cause. Men cannot be used a pawns on the battlefield, because this is not Chess it is real life and people die. However, it often turns out that the leaders of the country are cowardly, and feel that they must let others die to prove their supremacy. The one thing that I liked the most about the book was the detail. I have thought about war before, and was fascinated but wasn't sure of what it was about. This is why I watched war movies and read books, but this is definitely the best book on war that I have ever read. While most books or movies show that the characters are fighting because they support their nation's cause, this book points out that they are only fighting to save themselves and to save their friends. Friendship is a very strong bond in war, and it is important to one's survival, All Quiet on the Western Front shows the importance of relationships and how close they became. This detail to every attention makes the story wrap around the reader, as if they were actually there experiencing it for themselves. I am a firm believe that good art should not be tampered with, and it is under this opinion that I feel that nothing in the book should be changed. I feel that it has a perfect amount of factual information and opinions. It would be a travesty to change the book, because anything that is changed would take away from the story, no matter how carefully it is done. The "expert" that I discussed this, Ed Kelly, also feels the same way that I do. Clichés are not always good to quote, and often hurt, but I feel that "If it's not broken, don't fix it" fits perfectly in this situation. If the book can be read and enjoyed by millions, then that should be a good indicator that there's nothing wrong with it. War is a horrible act that turns young men with promising lives into cold-blooded killers. These men aren't evil in their heart, but they are faced with the situation of either fighting to survive or to die, and after being given a gun, I think that most men would choose to fight just by basic instinct. War corrupts the mind and the soul, and it nearly ruins one's life if they actually survive long enough to try to have a civilized life. This book reveals the shocking truth about what happens in the front, and in a small way, it even ruins our innocence when we realize that our countries to this because of political problems. Simply stated, war is wrong and is never justifiable, all it does is wreak havoc on the soldiers and their families that is a crime against humanity.
Rating: 
Summary: Greatest War Novel of All Time? I Think Not!
Review: This book has been called the greatest war novel of all time. It was good, but almost every Tom Clancy book is better. Red Storm Rising, which is solely about World War III, is a much better war novel that All quiet on the Western Front. You might say, "Red Storm Rising is about a fictional war." Fine, but what about all of the excellent books about the Holocaust? All Quiet is a good book, but not the greatest war novel of all time.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever written.
Review: First of all I am german, therefore it might be hard for me express what I want to say but I'll try. All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the best attempts to show people that have never experienced a war what war really means, how people suffer, how the everyday life of a soldier actually looks like. What I also like is how, Remarque tries to show how every single human being reacts to governmental propaganda, why we can't be immune to the feeling that lies within propaganda, or what would you do if everybody would tell you that you have to fight for your country back then, when there was no TV, no radio? Also I liked the book because it gives you a slight historical background, even though it is rather about the everyday life of a soldier than about historical facts. After all, I would recommend everbody to read this book - it is really a great book, also easy to read through.
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