Week 2: All Quiet on the Western Front

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All quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque

(This is not the edition I read; it's just the paperback cover I wish I owned to add to my collection.)

This novel is one I avoided reading for a long time, but since we're currently studying World War I in school, I figured it was about time.  It is simply an account of life on the front for a young German soldier, and it is very, very sad.

I always hate reading about WWI because it seems to me to have been such a particularly pointless and horrible war.  As far as I can tell, this is a very honest portrayal of just what it was like in the trenches; nothing is glossed over or made polite.  It's a book everyone should read, but it isn't exactly fun.

Comments

  1. Our Westmoreland SchoolJanuary 14, 2010 at 6:22 AM

    I'm on a WWII kick for some reason. I might pick this up though. It seems that WWI gets lost in the shuffle pretty often.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  2. JeanJanuary 14, 2010 at 7:25 AM

    I agree--WWI seems to have been overshadowed by its younger sibling war. I wonder if maybe that's partly because WWII is easier to turn into a good vs. evil story. (And also we have short memories.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. JeanJanuary 14, 2010 at 7:27 AM

    But since WWI pretty much kicked off the 20th century and shaped the modern world, I don't think we can afford to forget about it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. stephanieJanuary 15, 2010 at 9:42 PM

    I just read this one for week 2. It isn't an cheerful read, but it's written beautifully, and the message is so important for us to remember. You're right in saying that it's a book everyone should read.

    ReplyDelete

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