Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Im Westen nichts Neues by Erich Maria Remarque

68 reviews

carlytenille's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Ok this was better than I thought it would be. I read this after I heard about the movie and I don't regret it. Paul is a younger German soldier on the front lines of WW1 who struggles to understand the horrors of war and the trenches. The story is centered around Paul and his 7 classmates. This book, while very serious and somber, reads like a diary. Everything feels past tense but also like it happened a few hours ago not a few years ago. There's almost no dialogue and huge chunks of exposition or philosophical thoughts. This combined with the long chapters made it a difficult read. It's very slow and there isn't a ton of action. It's definitely geared towards history nerds and as someone who likes history but prefers english this was a hard read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

berratrixie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

no denying that it's not only one of the best war-related novels but also one of the best books of all time in general. i read it in the original german version, and the way remarque uses language, metaphors or mental imagery to drive a point home is astonishing. it's a book that i've returned to several times after feeling like i didn't really appreciate or look into it well enough the first time i read it. every single re-read was more uncomfortable, moving, spine-chilling than the last.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bokslukaren's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

2.0

While I usually go for and appreciate war books that clearly talk about the most prominent side of war (i.e. the ugly and brutal side), I didn't like this one because of the writing. Perhaps it's a masterpiece in its original language, and perhaps it's the translation which is lacking, but nonetheless the book isn't, in my opinion, worth being a classic or a must-read because of the cut up storytelling, multiple changes of writing style, incorrect grammar, and the strange dialogue which feels unfinished. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

abiofpellinor's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Alcohol, and Classism

lilygrace1113's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

desertdreamsanddarkthemes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

andrew_joseph's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Incredibly deep and philisophical, this story really encapsulates the life of a soldier during WWI. I wasn’t expecting such strong commentary on how hopeless this generation of men sent off to war would become compared to their peer generations.

I’ve read a lot of history and war, and I liked this coming from the German perspective. It humanized them in a way I haven’t previously appreciated. War then (and now) are fought by those that it has nothing to do with it and you can tell the author had a sense of wanting to communicate that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, and War

maxbirkey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Suicide attempt, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content and Suicide attempt