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Daniel Ford

Mrs. Munoz-Matheny

English 10, Period 2

7 February 2019

All Quiet on the Western ​Front Book Review

All Quiet on the Western Front ​is a book written by Erich Maria Remarque in the late

1920’s. This book is a classic war story that gives brutally vivid pictures of the World War I, the

soldiers, the battlefield, and the internal struggle of men. ​All Quiet on the Western Front​ is an

amazing, praiseworthy book that should be considered the best war novel of all time. The book

follows a young soldier named Paul Baumer though his years in the German army and his tragic

chase for quiet on the front. The book very clearly and precisely highlights the struggles both

externally and internally of a soldier. In one passage it describes the horror of the battlefield,

“We see men living with their skulls blown open; we see soldiers run with their two feet cut

off”(134). And yet in another instance, while Paul is on rest watching a Russian prison camp, he

describes the “abyss”(194). He is describing this moral argument with war that nags away at him

as he tries to push it away in order to keep fighting. This book has grand humor, horrifying

terror, calm senic scenes, and chaotic battlefields, but the most interesting setting and feel of the

book is when Paul is simply in his thoughts, struggling with this morality. This book is amazing

at showing what it really means to be a soldier during the war. It puts great perspective on the

damage to a generation. It shows clearly the kind of real effect war can have on every person, on

or off of the battlefield. The themes of war, morality, generations, death, and chance. This book
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is simply outstanding. It should, and will, continue to be a war novel classic and a true piece of

artwork to remind us of the consequences of a tragedy like World War I.