You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by mohammad_sabir
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
5.0
All Quiet on the Western Front has permanently changed how I view war.
War is hell. That message was repeated many times to me in my life. I believed it, but the message - it felt distant. People kill each other in war, entire nations are ruined by it and the survivors struggle long after it has ended - this I knew, but I felt like an outsider that did not truly understand these people's suffering. This book changed that. Through its vivid imagery of the hell that soldiers go through in war, of how it robs them of their individuality and turns them into mindless killing machines, of their deplorable conditions and how they can never truly go back, this book showed how horrible war truly is. It isn't all gloomy, of course - soldiers also develop a sense of camaraderie amongst each other and find many unlikely friends, and there is considerable musing about wars and emperors and orders and prisoners as well - but the book fundamentally still is about the horrors of war. Chapter 9, the part with Paul and the French soldier, was deeply, truly moving and undoubtedly my favourite.
The book is not a traditional narrative but a collection of vignettes in chronological order, and is written in first person and present tense. Regarding the characters, there isn't much to say - read and discover yourself. Kat was undoubtedly my favourite, and I very much liked his dynamic with Paul. The book truly shines in its descriptions of the horrors of war and how it traumatises the soldiers.
Overall, a must read for everyone, especially for those who do not know or understand how terrible war is.
And, if you're worried about it, I did not find the book gory at all. Sure, there's a few lines here and there, but they aren't overly detailed. The book is quite mild when it comes to gore, according to me at least, so don't let that stop you from reading it.
War is hell. That message was repeated many times to me in my life. I believed it, but the message - it felt distant. People kill each other in war, entire nations are ruined by it and the survivors struggle long after it has ended - this I knew, but I felt like an outsider that did not truly understand these people's suffering. This book changed that. Through its vivid imagery of the hell that soldiers go through in war, of how it robs them of their individuality and turns them into mindless killing machines, of their deplorable conditions and how they can never truly go back, this book showed how horrible war truly is. It isn't all gloomy, of course - soldiers also develop a sense of camaraderie amongst each other and find many unlikely friends, and there is considerable musing about wars and emperors and orders and prisoners as well - but the book fundamentally still is about the horrors of war. Chapter 9, the part with Paul and the French soldier, was deeply, truly moving and undoubtedly my favourite.
The book is not a traditional narrative but a collection of vignettes in chronological order, and is written in first person and present tense. Regarding the characters, there isn't much to say - read and discover yourself. Kat was undoubtedly my favourite, and I very much liked his dynamic with Paul. The book truly shines in its descriptions of the horrors of war and how it traumatises the soldiers.
Overall, a must read for everyone, especially for those who do not know or understand how terrible war is.
And, if you're worried about it, I did not find the book gory at all. Sure, there's a few lines here and there, but they aren't overly detailed. The book is quite mild when it comes to gore, according to me at least, so don't let that stop you from reading it.