Book Notes, Summary and Review: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

As a full-time National Serviceman (NSF) in Singapore, I found Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front to be both deeply profound yet strangely relatable.

Remarque sets down in simple terms how World War I had destroyed young private Paul Baumer, stripping him of all hope for a future worth living for. Throughout the novel, Paul witnessed the loss of many of his comrades, grappled with the dire reality of his ailing mother back at home and came to terms with the absurdity of war.

Youth

Possibly the most poignant yet relatable part of the book was Paul's age.

He was twenty-year-old — just like me.

Even when being bombarded by flying shells, Paul meditates on the purpose of his life. He ponders about what he would do after the war ends. More notably, like most youths in this stage of their life, Paul is trying to make sense of the world.

But Paul subsequently becomes cynical and embittered by his experiences at the warfront. Having seen how his comrades' lives extinguish before his eyes, Paul acknowledges how he is "not youth any longer". He no longer wants to take the world by storm. Not only because the war had made him weary and burnt out, but also because it had made him "shoot [life and the world] to pieces" just when he had begun to love them.

Despair, desolation and death are now the only things twenty-year-old Paul knows of life after his gruesome experiences in war. Paul knows that after the war, as much as he would like to, he'll never be able to revert back to his former self.

War has changed him completely.

Family

As much as the effects of war could be felt in the frontlines, it too could be felt back at home.

When Paul revisits his family, he discovers his family is struggling to put food on the table because food had became more scarce in war time. Worse still, Paul finds out that his mother has cancer and they may not have enough money to cover her operation. Nevertheless Paul's family still makes him feel at home. They warmly welcome him back home and prepare a feast for him.

The greatest love demonstrated towards Paul could be felt by his mother. Few words were exchanged between his mother and himself. Yet as a reader, you could feel the incredible connection that they shared with one another. Like from how Paul's mother would call him her "dear boy"; how she had kept the only jar of whortleberries for months just for him; or how despite her illness, she had painstakingly procured two wool undergarments by waiting, walking and begging — just so she can keep her "dear boy" warm.

This sense of familial love was also expressed between Paul and his comrades. Take, for instance, when Paul and Katczinsky were roasting a goose together. As Paul describes, they are simply "two men, two minute sparks of life" who sit on the edge of "the circle of death". Nothing is said between them. Nothing needs to. They feel in unison and are so intimate that they don't need to speak, a sign of the close comradery shared between Paul and his fellow soldiers.

Concluding message

I don't think I would have appreciated this novel as much, if had I read it prior to my enlistment.

Firstly, because such large-scale human suffering would have been inconceivable to me back then; war only seemed to appear in films and video games. Studying History in high school, and reading other war fiction novels, helped me to gain a clearer insight on the reality of war. This made the book more impactful and imaginable for me.

Also because during my time in the army, albeit a tamer one, I also meditated on the same questions as Paul did. I thought about: my life's trajectory, my past experiences before becoming a full-time soldier, my outlook on the future and other similar questions. I saw parts of myself in twenty-year-old Paul.

I'm thankful to have read such a brilliant piece of literature at such an apt point in my life. Definitely worth revisiting this novel, if you had a nasty experience with it before.

Perhaps, you just needed the right headspace to enjoy this novel.