All Quiet on the Western Front was supposedly the most-sold novel in the first half of the last century, and deservedly so. It tells the story of Paul Bäumer, a 19 year old boy, in the first world war and the tragedy of his generation - the Lost Generation. Remarque's prose is accessible and engaging, the war scenes that are so candidly and graphicly described scarring and ugly.
At the time, it was revolutionary for its honesty and its anti-war sentiment, other novels in the genre like Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel ranged from being far less critical of the great war to romanticising it. For this reason the Nazi Party in Germany banned All Quiet on the Western Front - and for exactly this reason, this book is now as important and relevant as it was when it was published in the 1920s.

Great book but a sad read. This book’s portrayal of the senselessness and horror of war make it read like a warning to those who might seek its glory. This is a second reading, the first being when I was in high school. It makes me wonder if it was assigned then to possibly demonstrate to young people why war was wrong. But if that were the case, not many have heeded the message, because nations and religions continue to force young people to fight to this day.

Tragic and beautiful. I’m not gonna go full history nerd here so I’ll just say it’s a shame American schools don’t give much attention to WWI because this is something that should be taught in schools. I tend to avoid reading much historical fiction as it takes true talent and skill to write that genre well but this book as sparked an interest for me.

I read a fair amount of fiction set in war, and any list of my favorite books will include selections from this genre. We learn so much about people when they are in extremis, and we learn about those not at the front as well, what they are willing to subject their young (mostly) men to for the opportunity to be a part of a shared goal, what twisted rationalizations they will make. In this instance we are speaking of German soldiers, and certainly the hideousness of the reason for the fight makes it worse. Life though is not black and white, and though others might fight for more noble goals, they do so by committing vile actions and allowing their soldiers to endure things no human should endure. We must look at our choices. How is it possible there is not a way to compete that makes more sense? I guess the answer is that we cannot change this unless all the players agree -- as soon as one bullet is fired we all lose our humanity -- and we are never ever going to all agree not to use what might exists. As Vonnegut said about anti-war books, " “Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?" Until we humans annihilate ourselves there will always be war and glaciers.

This book is perfect in its hideousness. In plain and honest language Remarque takes us through events that make it seem that separating boys from their humanity was the point of the war rather than a side effect. Then he takes us to scenes where those same boys are just boys who love their mother and deal with their physical and romantic longings (and then shows us how those moments of purity are undermined by naked survival instinct.) This is one of those rare books I believe that all should read (and in this genre I would absolutely include Matterhorn and The Things They Carried and likely one or two others.) Ironically this book about Nazi German (thanks James, that should have said German) soldiers reveals to us how much alike we all are in some terrible ways.

Bazı kitaplar vardır hani, "ne çabuk bitti?" dersiniz. Batı Cephesinde Yeni Bir Şey Yok da onlardan biri.

Okurken kendinizi kaptıracağınız, hikayeyi yaşayıp içinizde hissedeceğiniz kurgulardan. Askeri tarihin romansal anlatımla bize sunulduğu eseri okumakta neden bu kadar geç kalmışım diye sordum kendime...

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Ölmeden mutlaka okuyun!

Possibly the saddest book I have read, and I found it difficult to read for that reason although the writing is limpid. From the outset, the narrator has an assured "voice" and the reader is drawn to perceive events as he experiences them and to feel the pain, the cameraderie and the senselessness of the fighting as if he were there. And it is a man's world, this war in the trenches, women are peripheral - objects of desire like the hungry French girls, or pitiful objects of remorse as his sick mother. The book provides no answer to the question of why the war was fought but accurately highlights the enormous waste and brutalization of the innocent. In this case, the young soldiers themselves are victims at the same time as being the instruments of the war machine. The ending appears inevitable and it is difficult to conceive how soldiers, especially of the narrator's generation, were able to return to any type of normal civilian life. Overall, a powerful book which provides strong grounds for profound reflection in a context where conflicts continue to erupt.