Why am I passionate about this?
I am the child of Holocaust survivors who chose not to talk about it. The effects were clear and stark – my mother crying out with nightmares, my father doing everything in his power not to be noticed by authorities – but I was not allowed to know their sources. Though my lottery number was 76, I missed going to Vietnam by a year as the draft ended; I watched so many of my peers come back either damaged or at least profoundly changed. I never wish I experienced war in all its hellaciousness, but from early adolescence, I have wondered how I would have acted.
Henry's book list on novels that describe what war does to young men
Why did Henry love this book?
I first read this in high school and remember thinking that it was good but not as good as its reputation implied. In retrospect, I think that because I was young and in school, I strongly identified with the main characters, especially Paul, as a thoughtful, introspective, and idealistic young man. What he learns from veterans and then through experience, and what those lessons provoke in him made sense, but at no more on an intellectual level.
Even though I have never served in combat, re-reading it years later, I could now understand how life events, especially such traumatic ones, will cause everlasting changes and damage.
11 authors picked All Quiet on the Western Front as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
The story is told by a young 'unknown soldier' in the trenches of Flanders during the First World War. Through his eyes we see all the realities of war; under fire, on patrol, waiting in the trenches, at home on leave, and in hospitals and dressing stations. Although there are vividly described incidents which remain in mind, there is no sense of adventure here, only the feeling of youth betrayed and a deceptively simple indictment of war - of any war - told for a whole generation of victims.