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All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque, A.W. Wheen Yeah ! My first 5 star read of 2014. Excellent- A mesmerizing and vivid account of war.


I bought this novel as an audio book for $2.95 on Audible's daily deal and firstly I have to say the narrator was excellent but after a few pages I realized I just had to have the physical book as the writing was so beautiful I needed to have the book in my hand and re-read some of the wonderfully constructed sentances.

This is a story about Paul, a young German soldier who goes to war along with some of his comrades to fight for his country. Through Paul's eyes we travel with him on his journey to witness the horrors of warfare and experience the physochical struggles of these young men whose hopes and dreams are forever shattered. There were times I felt I was in the trench with Paul and I could feel the muck and the rats and the lice. What a wonderful writer that can make you feel you are part of the story and portray such spectacular sense of time and place.
The story is told simply and yet powerfully and one memorable sentence follows another and had me re -reading paragraphs just to enjoy the writing. The most vivid and memorable scene for me was when Paul went on leave home. it was wonderfully written and very real.

Books like this stay with me for a long long time. Another book [b:A Long Long Way|379087|A Long Long Way|Sebastian Barry|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388286097s/379087.jpg|368906] by[a:Sebastian Barry|79510|Sebastian Barry|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1244646365p2/79510.jpg] made a similar impression on me.

There are wonderful quotes in this book and the following is a favorite of mine.

" Equal rations, equal pay, war's forgotten in a day"

This novel is not for everybody as some people don't want to read war novels. But it is a short book and readers who like to read about war will certainly find this novel is extremely well written. Its a book that takes you to war and throws you into the trenches whether you like it or not.

A well deserved 5 stars.