All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel

Erich Maria Remarque

Sep 2013 · All Quiet on the Western Front Book 1 · Sold by Random House

About this ebook

The masterpiece of the German experience during World War I, considered by many the greatest war novel of all time—with an Oscar–winning film adaptation now streaming on Netflix.
 
“[Erich Maria Remarque] is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank.”—The New York Times Book Review

I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. . . .

This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I. They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.

Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principle of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another . . .  if only he can come out of the war alive.

Ratings and reviews

This book honestly changed so many of the views I had prior to reading it. It opened up my eyes to many events that happen everyday. It changed how I viewed war completely. All Quiet is try a stellar book, and one of the very few I've enjoyed in high school. I became so connected to the characters in the book. Erich uses some amazing connotations throughout that make the story and characters real and deep. Highly RECOMMEND.

This book is a classic and should be read in every school in America. It gives an amazing insight on the struggles of a World War One soldier and his friends through one of the most terrible wars ever fought.

When I came to the final pages, once I read the last words, it felt as if gravity itself had shifted, I lost all my balance, a rush came, a rush of something I still do not know, whether a emotional feeling or otherwise, this book has an unforgettable effect on me. It will always have an everlasting effect on me... Highly, highly recommend reading.

About the author

Erich Maria Remarque, who was born in Germany, was drafted into the German army during World War I. Through the hazardous years following the war he worked at many occupations: schoolteacher, small-town drama critic, race-car driver, editor of a sports magazine. His first novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, was published in Germany in 1928. A brilliant success, selling more than a million copies, it was the first of many literary triumphs. When the Nazis came to power, Remarque left Germany for Switzerland. He rejected all attempts to persuade him to return, and as a result he lost his German citizenship, his books were burned, and his films banned. He went to the United States in 1938 and became a citizen in 1947. He later lived in Switzerland with his second wife, the actress Paulette Goddard. He died in September 1970.