ALL QUIET ON THEWESTERN FRONT We all tell our kids that books are a way of sending readers on wonderful adventures in far away places that will make them feel like anything is possible. When kids grow up, they learn the harsh truth: there are those writers who publish books that will make them sad enough to cry. The new book being released here in the states from German writer Eric Maria Re-marque, All Quiet on the Western Front, is one of the worst things any good, patriotic Ameri-can can read. The book tells the horrific story of a German soldier in The Great War as all his friends die, and he faces horrible hardships until at the war’s end, he feels that his generation will be very changed by this. The soldier, Paul Baumer, even returns home, but realizes he doesn’t belong there anymore. I ask of the people who are bringing this book to the wonderful United States: what are you thinking? Nobody wants to think of these horrific things that happened in a war that is over. The American public is working hard to move past this war, and now people are trying to shove the horrible memories back in our faces. Your time is much better spent going to the movies or the horse track, so you don’t have to reopen still healing wounds when it comes to the war.

And another thought: Americans don’t want to hear about how horrible things were for our enemy. This book could be harmful to American support for any future military effort, as people will be to attached to enemy soldiers. This book is sad, out of touch with American feelings, and even a threat to future American safety.

No matter how well this book uses literary devices to convey its point (it doesn’t use them anyway, only the depiction of horrific tragedies that represent nothing), there is no getting around the fact that it is an un-American message; one that belongs with the Germans so they can feel sorry for their own people all they want. With that, the Germans will be smarter next time they want to create an enemy out of America. In the end, as I have made clear, I do not recommend this book at all. It simply brings sadness, and makes any reader think there’s no hope for anything in the world or its future.

BOOK REVIEW