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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Oh, what a powerful book. Terrible, frightening and so gruesome, it's hard to imagine that people really did have to live through this and that the Great War was not the last.
Join a book group, they said. It will be fun! they said. Tell me why I'm depressed and staring at the wall.
Back here because an hour later I have had a horrifying realisation aboutPaul's death. When the narrator tells us he died quickly and peacefully he's probably lying in the same way that Paul lies about Kemerich's death being fast and painless to Kemmerich's mother. I'll go back to my wall now.
Back here because an hour later I have had a horrifying realisation about
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This shit is absolutely heart breaking as a work of fiction and as a period piece. If you ever encounter someone who thinks war is swag My Little Dark Age playing over boys in uniform having a ball, quote any passage from this book. Absolutely my favorite commentary and story on World War One I’ve ever consumed. Its messages are so intricately weaved into the story and dialogue. Excellent read.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Very well written. Good detail of a German soldier's life on the front during WWI. It has its ups but mostly downs. Good read but depressing.
Another reading of a classic I had somehow missed this was less upbeat than the last one (Wind in the Willows) which is... not a shock. Still, the Wind in the Willows shows an idealized British countryside and culture of the sort to be utterly swept aside by the war captured by Remarque in his story of the lost generation of Germany and the bloody pointless war.
The most telling line for me in the book was towards the end when Paul comments that the Germans were losing the war, but they didn't _lose_ they were the better soldiers just unable to compete with their oppositions superior manpower, technology and resources. That struck me as the same sort of Lost Cause civil war apologea claptrap that leads to more deaths later (which is quite literally did in this case a few years after the book was published). That your side was the one signing the surrender papers means that your side LOST. Great generals study logistics and losing a way because of logistics means you lost the god damn war, not that you get to valorize how great your soldiers were.
The most telling line for me in the book was towards the end when Paul comments that the Germans were losing the war, but they didn't _lose_ they were the better soldiers just unable to compete with their oppositions superior manpower, technology and resources. That struck me as the same sort of Lost Cause civil war apologea claptrap that leads to more deaths later (which is quite literally did in this case a few years after the book was published). That your side was the one signing the surrender papers means that your side LOST. Great generals study logistics and losing a way because of logistics means you lost the god damn war, not that you get to valorize how great your soldiers were.