Book Review – All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

It was a while ago now, back in fall of 2020 that I listened to this book. I listened on audio book and it was a good experience. At the time I was commuting almost an hour a day to and from work and I had lots of down time driving on an easy highway. Audio books are perfect for driving on highway because you can throw it in cruise control and pay attention to the road, as much as you need to, but also pay attention to what you are hearing. I listened to a lot of audio books in my time at that job. I found that the person who is recorded reading the book makes a big difference. Some just simply read the book with no inflections or change in their voice. These were harder to get through and sometimes I wouldn’t be in the mood. Then some are performed with great tone and variance in their voice. That is the difference, some audio books are just read aloud and recorded and some are performed for the listener. These books are usually of the fantasy and fiction genres. Definitely worth listening too.

The author writes from the German perspective of world war 1, the “war to end all wars”. This books is a fiction but no doubt built from the tales of war and possible real life experiences of the author, Erich Maria Remarque. Erich is German and lived throughout WW1 and WW2. This book is a novelized account of a young soldier and his group of fellow soldiers over the course of several years of the war. Over 200 pages these young men become grizzled veterans. There are light accounts of camaraderie and brotherhood entrenched with accounts of the brutalities of war. There is no triumph in this story as we know through history how World War 1 ended. This story provides a rare glimpse into minds and perspective of a defeated nation.

The book is brief and detailed in it’s execution. The Author doesn’t really waste too much time world building or developing the characters, and this is deliberate. As mentioned previously this story is told from the perspective of the German army and so the story has an “inevitability” factor. You know what is coming but the Author manages to make you curious how these characters and their situation will end up. The characters are presented as young men or even boys. There are no hero characters, no antagonists or protagonists. The author drives home that these aren’t extraordinay men but just normal humans learning how to maintain and survive as they grow together through out the book. This makes the inevitable losses all that much more impactful. With the harsh details provided it’s easy to imagine how terribly this world event left so many people on both sides. Neither side thought they were bad, both sides thought they were in convicted in what they were doing, but couldn’t tell each other why.

I liked the quick pace and details of the battles. There wasn’t too much gore or graphic details but there was definitely enough to really drive home the hell that those men had to endure. While war is not a positive subject, I do find it extremely fascinating. World conflicts in general. I liked this book because it’s not often you get a story that you know basically how it ends up, because it’s told from the “losing” side of history. Although make no mistake in those massive world conflicts back then nobody truly won..

There wasn’t anything I really didn’t like about the book. I could say I didn’t like the ending but that can carry so many things with it. You will have to read the story for yourself and I encourage you to do so. It is hard subject matter and it is supposed to make you feel something, which is why it is an all time classic that is recommended and honored today as great literature. In my opinion modern authors lack the language and overall tone of Authors of the past.

It’s to be noted and I’d like to talk about it. I don’t know why I am so fascinated with warfare and conflict? It’s not like a creepy obsession or anything I simply cannot fathom the sheer numbers that go into massive scale conflicts. Even the most current war in Iraq and the Middle East. I mean we waste soooooo much fucking money on the military every year. I can’t imagine what the full cost of the war was for 20 years. Like full cost including all the corrupt and illegal money. The old wars fascinate me because in my opinion all the rich and smart people of the world realized back then that whole countries can be built and ultimately controlled by a constant state of warfare or conflict. Also LOTS of money can be gained and extorted from the conflicts on both sides. I don’t know why I find it so fascinating and kinda terrifying. Those massive conflicts only happened a short time ago in the grand timeline of life, yet the current generations are just enough removed that they can’t realize how different our lives could have been if a couple of past events had turned out only a little bit differently.

Super interesting for sure. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in warfare or war stories of the classic wars. There is enough detail in the book to learn some facts but not a slog with a bunch of military terminology and descriptions of basic duties. Hope you found this review helpful and let me know if you read or listen to “All Quiet on the Western Front”.