All Quiet on the Western Front
Ratings356
Average rating4.1
Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful and enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other - if only he can come out of the war alive.
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I'm wavering between 3 and 4 stars again; I'll just go with 4. I can't say I really enjoyed this. It was so bleak and depressing, only moments when that wasn't so. It was prettily written though. I am glad I read it, but won't again at least for a long while.
This book is best understood in its quotes.
“We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial—I believe we are lost.” (p123)
“But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. It was that abstraction I stabbed. But now, for the first time, I see that you are a man like me.” (p223)
This book reminded me of Steinbeck's The Moon Is Down. It gave an interesting and what I perceive to be a realistic account of the German experience of WWI. I'm glad to have finally read this classic book!
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