It tells the story of some German teenagers serving in the army in WWI.
It is brilliantly written, and I often have to put it down because I find much of the description of battle and of the trenches to be so disturbing.
The author, Erich Maria Remarque, himself was forced to serve in the German army in WW1, and lived through many terrible things, such as the ones he describes.
I am finding it to be a very moving, yet very disturbing book. I believe that it is meant to be disturbing, as it begins with:
I did a bit of research on the book and found a website dedicated to it:This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will simply try to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.
www.bwdd.com/allquiet/
I find it interesting that the Nazis banned this book, and wanted it to be publicly burned, and also stripped the author of his German citizenship.
