Doug Frattini’s Reviews > All Quiet on the Western Front > Status Update

Once again, All Quiet on the Western Front remains satisfying while reinventing its message and story a multitude of times. A gripping war story is great, but one that manages to retain suspense and intrigue through rural villages and hospital trains is amazing. I've had a hard time putting the book down nearing the final act, and it's consistent diversity of story is guaranteed to keep me reading to the very end.

Reaching the approximate middle section of the book, I continue to deeply enjoy and engage with the author's writing, as his piece remains excellent, while the subject of which he writes is just as consistent and focused as it is evolving and developing. It amazes me just how well the story of this young soldier can be a gripping account of what war truly is, while simultaneously developing into a polished narrative.

As I have read further into this book, it has only become more fascinating and more dark. Where I began astonished at how young the main character's friends were when they joined the war, I am now reading and thinking about how young they were when they died beside him. I am greatly enjoying my reading of the book, and so far love the increasingly relevant theme of children being sent to fight other men's war.