Reviews

An interesting book, at points intense, dull, moving, surprising, bloody, and repetitive. I am glad I read it, not particularly for any information it bestowed upon me about the war (there's not much), but more for giving me the flavor of what WWI was like from a first-person perspective. Particularly, the first-person perspective of a person who DIDN'T feel like it was the war to end all wars: in fact, he expresses chagrin at the very idea that war would end, because he considers it an essential proving ground for the things he values.

On the other hand, I probably could have got this idea just fine if I'd stopped 1/3 of the way through. It's all kind of the same from beginning to end: you could skip ahead 100 pages and be fine.

Some recurring themes:

(1) The author's views on what separates officers from common soldiers, or gentlemen from men
(2) The author's respect for the English as civilized enemies
(3) The author's appreciation of jam
(5) The author rushing into things that get him shot (spoiler alert--this happens like 15 times)

btbenner's review against another edition

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4.0

An excellent memoir of war and one of the more vivid and visual accounts of combat I've read. Jünger conveys so well the nature of the very unique, very different sort of fighting that was the Great War.

dharma_piper's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

theflagisraised's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

ekmartin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense

5.0

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