I recently finished this book and really enjoyed it. Personally, I preferred the book to the movie.
Part of what's so interesting about it is the history of the book itself. The fact that it was written from the point of view of a German soldier is in itself unique, and quite uncommon. Furthermore, it is interesting how controversial a book it was in Germany is that because of its negative portrayal of life as a German Soldier, it was banned and burned, so that the German people would not read it and therefore not have negative opinions about war, and life as a soldier. Instead, the government tried to get the country to be very patriotic and tried to make life as a soldier seem appealing. In addition, in schools, students were taught that they would be better respected if they joined the army and that it was their duty to serve their country. This was the case with Paul Bäumer and his friends. While in school, they were encouraged to join the army by their teacher, and therefore, upon graduating, they immediately enlisted together.
The book is interesting in that it's not about great soldiers who are war heroes. Instead, it tells the story of a group of average soldiers, and focuses more on the conditions which they experience. They don't even use specific events or battles in the book.
Paul and his friends have a lot of trouble adjusting to life at war. In the trenches, their food supply is limited. In addition, they have to get used to the constant bombing and the fact that they could have to fight at any time. They also have to get used to watching other people--including their own friends--get hurt and sometimes die right in front of them. This is clearly very difficult for them, and this difficultly is clear when Paul goes home on leave and can never get comfortable, or used to life back at home.
Overall, this is a great book, that I think would be enjoyed by anyone.
I never read the book or saw the movie but your blog review thingy makes me want to. First off I like war books, and you said this is about war. Second, I like how you described how hard it is for the soldiers to carry out their jobs with friends dieing and bombs constantly going off, which makes me want to read it. And third, Ive never really heard a story about World War Two from a Germans point of view. Like they say, history is made by the winners, and I wouldn't mind seeing what the losers have to say.
ReplyDeleteSo about your blog. I gotta say I like the black red combo. It's a classic and it stands out very much. Oh yea and I like how you give an overview of the book and then describe your feelings. Ive read blogs that are just plain summaries and they suck. So yea yours doesn't suck. Good job!
Mike this is a great post your voice is really coming out. About the book its very interesting that you were able to find out it was banned in germany. THe fact that its not about a war hero is out of the ordinary. does it get deeper into their lives or is it simply about the war? also how bad are the conditions? I cant even begin to imagine anyway it sounds like a great book and hopefully I will get around to reading it in the near future. keep reading great books. pretty much so i can read them. anyway good blog man.
ReplyDeleteIts good to see that you finished the book! As I had mentioned before, this is a book that I have wanted to read for the Global Extra Credit a while back, but unfortunately I couldn't find it anywhere. From the movie we saw in class, it looked really amazing, and very accurate to the facts we learned about the war: such as how it is a stalemate trench warfare for most of the war. The movie was really interesting in the fact that it brought the war to life, and showed all the horrors of it, from the physical, to the mental pain as well. Your blog entries are always interesting so keep up the good work!
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