101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion

An excellent commentary on war in general based on the experiences of a young World War I soldier.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I don’t know how anyone could read this classic and still view war as a noble defense of homeland, or soldiers as heroic figures. This vivid account of a young soldier in the trenches of WWI powerfully conveys the brutal, capricious violence of war, the gratuitous cruelty of officers drunk on power, bodies and minds irreparably broken, the lives senselessly cut short, the absolute futility of it all. This confirmed my pacifist stance and my opinion that war is immoral.

Well, this does not look like it was a popular choice. I suspect that many of us have already read this when we were still in school, so maybe people were not up for a re-read.

What is our February book?

I will send a reminder out today.

I think the stark ending is one of the most powerful and memorable in all of literature.