Lance
Contains spoilers
Such an important book. I think the biggest takeaway I got from this, aside from how war is never supposed to be glamorized, is empathy. Remarque has such a tremendous respect for everyone involved in the novel, specifically the working class. He's quick to point out that the most affected one of all are the downtrodden, the ones only used as pawns for other people to abuse. It also helps that the way he writes women feels so honest—no misogyny, just writing them as people. One of my favorite parts is during Paul's time away from the front, when he sees the Russian prison. Remarque holds such a grip on keeping the humanity, even at times when you feel as though there isn't any.The next part is just overindulgent, and probably rude on my part, so I'll just put it in spoilers: Kat and Paul have the most intense romantic (non-romantic) chemistry I've ever seen. With my modern sensibilities, it's easy to think that it's subtly queer, but it's genuinely such a great depiction of brotherhood and genuine love and respect they have for each other.
I wanted to throw this book across the room after I've finished reading.
I loved how full circle it becomes and I do love the twist. It's just so frustrating. It's funny, I was pretty bored at times with this and I had trouble reading it at first. Then it became engrossing and I couldn't take my eyes off it. It's interesting just how meaningful the mundane stuff can be. 4/5 will not read again.
One thing I'd like to point out is that people seem to equate this as to those cringey PETA posts when it's never really about eating animal meat in the first place. We get one mention of vegans and never again. It's about class, power structure and capitalism; a depraved eat-or-be-eaten hellscape maximized.
I'm not the same person after reading this 😭 do authors get off on making people cry so fuckin hard