All Quiet on the Western Front

By Erich Maria Remarque

Book Overview

'There is a whistling sound behind us. Shells pass overhead and explode in a sheet of flame a hundred meters away.' When Paul B umer and his classmates join the army, nothing has prepared them for the death and destruction that they witness. Machine guns, huge artillery shells and poison gas create a nightmare world for these young men and their older comrades. For months and years attack is followed by counter-attack. Will any of Paul's friends survive long enough to return to their families and loved ones? Will there be a place for them at home, when peace finally comes? Can any of these soldiers make sense of the massive conflict in which they are involved?

Real Reads are accessible texts designed to support the literacy development of primary and lower secondary age children while introducing them to the riches of our international literary heritage. Each book is a retelling of a work of great literature from one of the world's greatest cultures, fitted into a 64-page book, making classic stories, dramas and histories available to intelligent young readers as a bridge to the full texts, to language students wanting access to other cultures, and to adult readers who are unlikely ever to read the original versions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1906230668
• ISBN13: 9781906230661
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: Real Reads
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

You are there

Erich Maria Remarque did an excellent job with his story. Being in a “first-person” view gave you the feeling that you were there. Adding to this, he is a very good writer. Not being in the Great War, I can only imagine the technology of the time and trust in old war movies. Also, this is a foreign culture in a foreign time. People there tended to trust and respect their elders unquestioningly. Being of the Vietnam era, I could relate to the parts about the different personalities and some of the war situations and attitudes. I could appreciate the river crossing at night and the defending of the deserted town. I even liked the cat that they befriended in the story. In Vietnam, we had a dog named “Followme”, which was one of the few that did not end up in a stewpot. I could even feel the anxiety of not fighting and just waiting for action. The only major difference is the question of do you want the people to be behind you to push you on or cheer you on, or do the same job with people who are indifferent or not supportive? Anyway, even with the graphic description of the actual battle, it is more of a description of war, not a reason to sue for peace at any cost. The story is more of a "don't let someone pull the wool over your eyes," with the talk of the glory of war. A movie with that theme is "The Americanization of Emily" (1964). Also, don't let the Authority blindly lead you into the army with the condos, as in "Private Benjamin" (1980). This is not the end but the key statement that pretty much sums it up: "He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front."