Reviews

A Time to Love and a Time to Die by Erich Maria Remarque

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tumormozgowicz's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

2beenough's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

hobbitfreddie's review against another edition

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4.0

After reading Mr. Remarque's All Quiet and The Road Back (probably my favorite books) he quickly became my favorite author. And so I'm now trying to read all his works, this is my third work of his I've read. While I liked the former more, this still has Mr. Remarque's excellent writing. Philosphical, beautiful yet haunting, and just a good book to chew on.

I really like the moral grayness of the characters. It's in the POV of a Nazi soldier during WW2. Yet, there is alot of complexity to the more antagonistic characters. There are definetly some people who are straight up villains however. Graeber himself is complex, he's not totally blindly patriotic, but he's not completely moral. It was a bit odd, because I couldn't really grasp what his character was supposed to be, but by the end it all makes sense.

The romance is also quite nice, it's very sweet, and Elisabeth, the love interest, doesn't just feel like a trope or a blank slate. There's substance to the relationship.

Now the classic philopsphy and exestentialsim. I think this one takes after the road back's character focused exestentialism. So if one read and liked that book they'll probably like this one. There's some good exestentialism sprinkled in, and is always a treat to see. And it's not just all anti-war or hope themes, there's more. So it's like a repeat of all quiet. There's stuff about love, duty, etc. Typical Remarque stuff.
Anyways yeah read this book.