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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.
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