All Quiet on the Western Front

Rating:
Summary: Cruelness of War
Review: The latest book that I have read is "All Quiet on the Western Front"; this is a book telling about a boy name Paul and his whole classmates going into the First World War. Erich Remarque the author of the book had also experience through the painful and cruelness of World War I. The story started out with passion, all the students wanted to go to the front line and have some action. They were called "Iron Youth", meaning the hope of the country. But the war was totally different from what they thought...
This book allowed me to see some of the truth that the government had concealed during the war, the government didn't want the families at home to know the truth about the front line so more people will join the army. Once people joined the army, there is no way back home, accept losing a part of your body. War is not a game we play; it's not like some movies that everyone fighting with passion and for love, it's just a painful death. Because of the technology advance before the war, more nasty killing weapons were invented and used in war, more unpleasant sights came to war, and I think this is why some soldiers that came back from war won't speak for a long time.
Even though that wars are over and peace comes, the soldiers that survive through war might still have their life, but their heart might been killed during the war.
People that had live through warfare like grandmother and grandfather the first generation of the family, they would always say that war is terrible and wants us to avoid it. But some modem teenagers might think that war is cool the cool guns and action. These ideals might come from the computer games we play. The author wanted people to know that war is terrible, so people in the future won't easily go on the same steps as what they did.

Rating:
Summary: REALISTIC and HORRIFYING
Review: ¡§All quiet on the Western Front¡¨ by Erich Maria Remarque is a classic book about WW1 written from the viewpoint of a young German soldier in the trenches. The story tells how a group of young friends go off to the front persuaded to fight for their country by their school master. But this war has no glory just drudgery, and by the time the book ends all seven friends are dead. What they see everyday is mud and corpses, the food rations are not enough and the soldiers find it hard to survive. Yet, once they go onto the battle field, they cannot see the future, it is unpredictable; they never know what is happening next. But they do know that they will probably die very soon.

In the book, the soldiers face different missions and problems everyday. They are brave, not afraid to die, and they strive to defend their country. They spend all their time on the battle field; they merely remember the wonderful memories that they have before they go onto the war. And they worry about how to survive when the war ends; what and where are they going to do? The comrades discuss this problem over and over again. The main character, Paul, realizes that it will be impossible for him to go back to his old life. When he goes home on leave he finds he no longer fits in and even lies about the harsh reality of war. He doesn¡¦t want to worry his mother who is sick with cancer. Paul feels alienated from his parents, sister and even the friends who aren¡¦t fighting. The only good thing about this war is the special friendship between Paul and Kat and the others. By the end of the book, Paul¡¦s friends are his real family.

After reading the book, I realized how terrifying a modern war can be. War can change a person, the inner side of oneself, personality and their outer appearance. A war is not just a quick skirmish, it won¡¦t end in a few days, and it might last for few years.

I enjoyed this book, because of the main character, Paul, one of the comrades; he brings me into the story, into the realistic, bloody and ruthless scene of a war which had poisonous gas attacks and modern weapons. I now understand why people in twentieth century hated wars.

Rating:
Summary: Freshmen Fears Begone!
Review: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, who himself fought in the "Great War" or World War I on the German side. Remarque, who had written All Quiet on the Western Front from a fictional view that the usual autobiographical view, probably wanted to show life in war from a different stand, as a young one as seen in Paul Bäumer. Another thing that appealed to me was that this book was written in a German point-of-view, the losers of the war. Most people (especially Americans) think that the Germans were heartless, evil people but as it is clearly shown, the Germans faced worse troubles. All Quiet on the Western Front should be crowned king of all war novels because of it through and sometimes graphic detail of the honest truth about war. All Quiet on the Western Front in reality is an anti-war novel because it tells the truth about the war. As the reader reads All Quiet on the Western Front you realize that the soldiers are not fighting for their country but for their own survival. Paul realizes that he is not the only one fighting for survival. His "enemies" are also in same predicament somewhat. In Chapter Nine, Paul instantly strikes a French man with a knife and then the next second regrets what he done. At that specific moment he realizes that there is not much of a difference between him and the man he killed. At one point in the novel, Kaczinsky (Kat) says, "War is war." when Paul tells him of what he did to the French soldier which means the Kat understands what Paul is going through and shows him that war is not as glorious as it looks. Kat proves in that one three word sentence what Erich Maria Remarque tries to prove in the whole novel.

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: _All Quiet on the Western Front_ is a realistic look at the life of soldiers in a modern mechanized army at war. Parts of the narrative can seem a bit dull mostly in the beginning of the novel. Much of the novel though are passages of very passionate accounts of a soldier's experience that more then make up for the dull parts of the novel.
One of the great qualities about this novel is the fact that we learn more about the emotions and life outside of combat as we do about the specifics of how the characters fought. This creates a very good view of the total picture of the soldier's lives not just a glorified version of their exploits as many war novels portray.
Another great aspect of this novel is the disconnect between the reality of the front lines and what civilians and solders that aren't and never have been on the front lines perceive as the reality. The novel also shows how difficult it is for the solders to relate to people who have never been on the front even their own families. This book shows why war is so horrible for the people who have to fight them.

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: Another Subjective Review
Review: I'm not a big fan of war novels, and was required to read this for a class. That said I'm thrilled that I did. One really cant say enough about this book. The visceral emotion poured into every page makes this one of the most engaging reads in any genre. One could easily make the argument that this is more a story about people in a tough situation than a story about war. The book is devoid of all the irritating termonology that is littered through out lesser war novels.

Be warned however, the book does get pretty gruesome at times and if you're a person who needs a good PLOT to enjoy a book, than you may be better off skipping this, because there really isn't one. It's just things that happen to this character and his thoughts on life, and death and love and war and people. That's it. But that's enough. I loved it.

Rating:
Summary: One of the great anti-war novels
Review: At one time or another, almost every high school student was assigned Erich Maria Remarque's seminal anti-war novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" to read as part of a school reading list or English assignment. While many of us have a vague recollection of this tale of German private Paul Baumer and his comrades in the midst of World War I (then called the Great War), it doesn't hurt to return to this novel years later and revisit one of the more haunting depictions of war.

I personally picked up "All Quiet on the Western Front" again more than ten years after I last read it. I vaguely remembered, but as I started reading, it began to come back to me. Names like Himmelstoss and Kantorek came forth from my memory. Tjaden, Muller, and Kat also return to the forefront. I remembered the bond that these men had (though, not so much Kantorek, and certainly not Himmelstoss). Yet, I found it difficult to get energized by the story during its first 100 or so pages. Perhaps it was because the true horrors weren't being depicted yet, only the doldrums of daily life in the German Army on the front lines. It may also be because I know that the end result of this war was futility that ended up leading to an even greater and more devastating war 20 years later. Despite this, I was determined to push forward and slowly found my engrossed the journey of these young men from jovial, idealistic youths to battle-weary war veterans before they were even out of their teens. As I read further, the horror and depression of the midnight mortar attacks and repeated mustard gas assaults began their toll on me the reader. I began to empathize with the hopelessness and despair these men felt as more of their close friends began to die and the futility of their struggle became obvious. Reading about the deaths of the comrades was terribly excruciating, but necessary. Few were lucky enough to die instantly in battle. Most had to deal with horrific battle wounds which they survived. Perhaps a leg was amputated, or a portion of one's chest was missing, or one developed a terrible infection from the less than hygienic medical stations. One thing was for certain; the propaganda-laden 'glory' of being a soldier had all but evaporated.

Remarque's skilled story telling brings the reader along this journey honestly. There are no out of place jolts designed to sensationalize this story. It is an accurate and gripping tale of the horrors of war that you don't get to see or read about on CNN or in the newspapers. People believing in the glory of war and aggression as the means to solve all problems would be well-served to read "All Quiet on the Western Front" many times over.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliance
Review: Many novels that are critically acclaimed lack the substance, meaning or enjoyment that goes hand in hand into making a truly great piece of literature. Yet Remarque's novel 'All Quiet on the Western Front' is both thoroughly enjoyable and totally gripping. The creative depths of the characters are astounding and captivating to say the least, making them completely unforgettable.

Although some critics may say that the actual plot is unimaginative or uninspiring, they neglect that simple fact that this novel was never meant to be a thriller, but a glimpse into the life of those who served during the war. Towards the end of the book the narrator (Paul Baumer) appears to grasp the futility of the entire conflict, the significance of which highlights the fact that the real enemies were not in the trench opposing them, but those in the upper echelons of society who were forcing millions to suffer in a hellish torment that was the Great War.

If you are unsure whether you will enjoy this book all I can say is read it and find out! After all this book is just as valid today as it ever was, if not more so now.

Rating:
Summary: beautifully written book by Erich Maria Remarque
Review: All Quiet on the Western Front is a story told by 19 year old Paul Baumer from Germany about his experiences during World War I. Some images the book gives you are horrifying, but there's also some comical relief in it. The book is bluntly realistic and the best war book I've read so far.


As Erich Maria Remarque wrote on the first page, "This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war."

Rating:
Summary: War and its Pointlessness
Review: To any reasonable person, war can only be regarded as complete and utter horror. It is a situation where one group of trained individuals is trying as hard as humanly possible to kill another like minded group. It is a case of the ends justifying the means.

Erich Maria Remarque has truly succeeded in bringing some of the horror of war to the written page. In this regard, he has succeeded where many others have failed.

Remarque's work is a classic. It covers the war experiences of Paul Baumer who is fighting for the German fatherland during the Fist World War. In this context, the work is unique as most novels tell the tale from the Allied side. Yet despite this fact, the work transcends loyalties. War is often futile in a broad sense. In an immediate sense, decision making is often chaotic with terrible consequences for the foot soldiers baring the brunt of any onslaught.

I would recommend "All Quiet on the Western Front" to all readers. Although it was written at the conclusion of World War I, its relevance is undiminished by time. It is a timeless work whose message still strikes a chord in the current day and will probably do so for centuries to come.