All Quiet on the Western Front

Books Are Original
by Erich Maria Remarque | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0449213943 Global Overview for this book
Registered by gypsysmom of Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on 8/19/2015
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by gypsysmom from Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Wednesday, August 19, 2015
This book is on the 1001 Books to Read Before you Die list and it has been given great reviews. I found it at Poor Michael's Bookstore in Onanole MB this week. If you are ever visiting Riding Mountain National Park a trip to Poor Michael's is a must for their great coffee and outstanding selection of books.

Journal Entry 2 by gypsysmom at Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Friday, July 1, 2016
The front cover of this book has a red runner across it on which is written The GREATEST WAR NOVEL of ALL TIME. Now we've all seen instances of hyperbole on books that the pages inside cannot live up to. In this case though I am inclined to say that it is richly deserved. I have read quite a few books set in World War I and some of them have been superb but this one seems in a class by itself.

Paul is a young German soldier. He has been fighting for 2 years when the book starts and he is only 20 years old. A group of boys from his school were convinced to enlist when war was declared by their school master. Two years later only Paul and two others from his class survive. They and a handful of men from their basic training have formed a tight knit group. They go up to the front as a unit and, with luck, they come back from the front without lethal injuries. But as time goes on the group gets smaller and smaller. The soldiers are expected to fight unremittingly even though they have poor rations, threadbare clothes, not enough ammunition and are infested with lice. At page 283 the author sums it up as follows:
Shells, gas clouds and flotillas of tanks -- shattering, corroding, death.
Dysentery, influenza, typhus --scalding, choking, death.
Trenches, hospitals, the common grave -- there are no other possibilities.


This is possibly the first account I have read from the point of view of a German in World War I. The author was himself in combat in the war and was wounded five times. I think this explains why this book is so moving and engrossing. It is clear from how he writes that he is opposed to war. In fact, during World War II he moved to the United States and stayed for the duration. I can only imagine the despair he must have felt to have another war start knowing the loss of life that was going to be experienced.

Journal Entry 3 by gypsysmom at Anavet Lodge in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Saturday, July 2, 2016

Released 7 yrs ago (7/2/2016 UTC) at Anavet Lodge in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book with another about WWI on the sign for the Lodge. This release is for the Secret Sunset Mission for July 1, 2016 which was chosen to commemorate the centenary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme.

When you find a BookCrossing book it is yours to do with what you like. You can read it and keep it or pass it on or if you don't think it is your kind of book pass it on to someone who might like it or release it in a spot for someone else to find like you just did. Whatever you choose it would be great if you could write a short note letting us know what new adventures the book is on.

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.