All Quiet on the Western Front

When I first opened this book, I thought it would use old fashioned words, a book that I could not make head or tail of. But this book was very different, oh so very different. This book was full of such emotion that it became a powerful force that blew me away with its words.

I like how this book did not just focus on the events that happened, but on the emotions that Paul felt throughout the book. He explained everything in such detail, solely focused on the spiraling tunnel of deep emotions. When someone died, Paul did not explain in great detail how they died, but on what it did to affect everyone, and what it does as a whole. Mostly the death of a companion was just accepted, as in that danger, as it was inevitable.

He explained on how reminding yourself of the death of your friends, made it harder on the people still alive. He said that even in the worst of times, jokes were made, and laughter was about, otherwise everyone was empty shells. But in the end, this fate was to fall on them, as they whole existence just faded away.

I love how Paul describe how that remembering his past life was like remembering a dream he once had. He said that it would be impossible to settle back into a normal routine once the war was over, and it was believable. When he came back on leave, he was surrounded by faces who once knew him, but didn't anymore. The war changed him, so that it was impossible to go back home. Even if he did survive, parts of himself would of been destroyed, and lost forever.

This book is about a war that destroyed an entire generation, focused on a sole individual in the midst of it all. This book makes you feel the raw power of the horror of the war that was meant to end them all. This book gives you an insight into what truly happened.