All Quiet on the Western Front

   All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is a historical fiction novel covering the first world war. The story is seen through the eyes of Paul Bäumer, a young solider in the German army, who volunteered the military with his school class after hearing the 'patriotic' speeches of his teacher, Kantorek.  As a solider in the German army himself, Remarque takes the reader through a soldiers experience through the war.  Along with Paul, and his friends, Kat, Kropp, Müller (and more), the novel narrates the soldiers emotional, mental, and physical, stress while fighting along the Western Front as the war unfolds and its eventual end.  

    I first learned about All Quiet on the Western Front after hearing about the novel during the WW I unit in World History last year. That being said, I picked up this book around late July and it was definitely  worth the read. Remarque's writing really makes the reader feel for the soldiers throughout the book and it was hard to put down. The novel has a more sad and serious tone, but it brings such a powerful messaging throughout it. Remarque's intention throughout the novel was not to tell a story of as if it was an adventure but to tell the story of the generation of men that was impacted and as he writes who were destroyed by the war. Following the journey of Paul and his fellow comrades on the Western Front and through the shelling and the trenches and even briefly to the civilian world expanded my view surrounding the topic of war making this book worthwhile. 

    I highly recommend reading All Quiet on the Western Front as the novel is full of great characters as well as deeply constructed themes and descriptions that takes the reader through a war that was burdening for so many.