All Quiet on the Western Front is a story about the hardships of war, specifically the First World War. While the story centers on one character, Paul, the plot jumps around and the chapters do not flow to tell one single story. This technique of writing adds to the book because it creates the feeling of chaos similar to the chaos of war. The reader doesn't really know everything that's going on just as Paul doesn't know.
This novel has an interesting twist because it is told from the German point of view. As citizens of the United States, the Germans would have been the "bad guys" to us. The German soldiers had no personal grudges against the French or English, yet they were "patriotically" killing them every day. The book leaves you with the feeling that war only reflects the view of a few powerful people.
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