ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT by Erich Maria Remarque

All Quiet on the Western Front is, in many senses, a novelization of author Erich Maria Remarque's experiences in World War I. The story concerns Paul Baumer, a volunteer infantryman, and his and his friends' experiences on the front, in battle, and on leave.

I was immediately leery because the book is written in the continuous present tense. This generally means disaster, but Remarque pulls it off astonishingly well. Indeed, the novel is better in the present tense than it would be in the past.

Depictions of war are graphic, brutal, and visceral. Remarque does an excellent job in drawing the reader into the world of the soldier. A prominent and key theme is how war changes these men, and what it does to them. The novel also underscores the fickleness of war – anyone can die, at any time, and the average soldier has nothing against the average soldier on the other side.

While the story may seem plotless at times, or as though it is moving in circles, as some have complained, the novel is short enough that it does not have a negative impact. And, again, the nature of a soldier in war is often so tedious and circular.

All Quiet on the Western Front is an anti-war novel, a fact which has received much attention. But how could such a frank and graphic depiction of war be anything but?

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara

The Killer Angels is Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Battle of Gettysburg, which was the turning point in the Civil War.

The narrative shifts among numerous commanding officers on both sides, with Longstreet and Chamberlain receiving the bulk of the attention. Shaara does a fantastic job of taking the reader inside the heads of these officers (and clearly differentiating among them personality-wise), and of showing the reader the emotions, the tactics and the chaos involved in war. He also does a solid job of incorporating background facts into the text (although some information is glaringly repetitious) without long and boring expository paragraphs, which occur only rarely.

Particularly early on, Shaara gets bogged down in his officers' rambling internal monologues. He also has the annoying tendency to put "he thought" in the middle of a passage that is already clearly monologue. For example: "Lee signed orders. I do too much myself. He was thinking: retreat is not even an option."

The biggest problem with The Killer Angels is Shaara's writing style, which is incredibly distracting. He piles on the sentence fragments with no regard for human life. Most egregious is the manner in which he puts periods in the middle of sentences. For example: "That hill will be a very strong position. Once it is fortified." Writers are taught that "he said" is preferable to "he shouted", "he whined", etc. But they're all better than Shaara's frequently-used "he gloomed".

Shaara's word choice in his imagery is often questionable, perhaps striving and failing to reach literary heights. He also overuses the word "handsome", particularly when describing characters. Never have there been so many "handsome" and "beautiful" men running around a battlefield.

All told, The Killer Angels is a well-researched, interesting read about one of the pivotal moments in U.S. history. It's not just for war buffs, although they will get more out of it than the average reader. It is unfortunate, though, that Shaara's writing idiosyncrasies are so off-putting.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

BLACK LIKE ME by John Howard Griffin

Originally published in 1961, Black Like Me is the account of how white journalist John Howard Griffin had his skin medically darkened and traveled through the Deep South as a black man in an attempt to explain the hardships black people in the South faced. It also covers the backlash against the publication of his story.

Black Like Me is a concise, fast and engaging read. The reader is often able to see things through Griffin's eyes, even as Griffin tries to see things through the eyes of others. He does an excellent job communicating the cultures of fear and despair he encountered. The entire account of his travels as a black man is riveting.

If there is any nit-picking to be done, let it be for this: at times, particularly early on, Griffin's descriptions of mundane, everyday objects and details seem forced and do not aid the narrative.

While today's racial tensions are much less overt (and much less publicized), Black Like Me still has quite a bit to say about the universal elements of human nature and the culture of racism.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a fourteenth century alliterative poem of unknown authorship. English has evolved to such an extent that translation is necessary for anyone other than a dedicated scholar to read and appreciate the work. This review is of the Brian Stone translation. The poem is a combination of Arthurian legend and regional folklore, most notably the Irish tale of Cuchullain, and features a prominently Christian theme.

Gawain is traditionally viewed as the most virtuous of knights (and as the most powerful in some traditions, before that position was usurped by Lancelot), and a great deal of the novel deals with his various temptations, particularly by the lady (shades of Morgan le Fay). The action and the story are good, although the author does get a little carried away in the middle with all the hunting.

Stone does a lovely job of translating, keeping the tone and theme unified while maintaining alliterative lines. I am generally not a fan of poetry, but this held my attention. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an engaging read for fans of medieval or Arthurian literature.

RECOMMENDED