#ATCFBookClub All Quiet On The Western Front
All Quiet On The Western Front #ATCFBookClub Study guide:
Discussion on Vance Crowe's YouTube page at 7:30 pm Tuesday February 4.
Anyone is welcome to join the book club- this will be the first time we have held it on YouTube live so we will be learning as we go. Below is a list of questions to get you thinking before the book club begins.
Book Expectations:
What did you think a book about WWI would be like?
What did you know about trench warfare and where this story took place?
How did it feel to be on the side of the Germans?
At what point did you begin to realize how dark the book was going to get?
Characters:
Which characters stick out to you the most?
Are there any of the comrades that you had negative feelings toward?
Were there any actions they took (stealing chickens, visiting women illegally, beating up Himmelstoss etc.) that you didn’t understand, or made you think less of them?
Which deaths were the most difficult for you to witness?
Adversaries:
Between the teacher Kantorek and the petty tyrant Himmelstoss which was more grating to you?
When Himmelstoss was moved to the war front; how did you feel about him when he cowered in the bunker and Paul Baumer throws him out calling Himmeltoss a coward?
Moments in battle:
Out of dozens of fighting scenes which ones left the biggest impression on you?
How clearly were you willing to imagine the horror?
How did you feel about the new recruits that came in.
Crossing back towards the German line after getting lost, what did you think of that scene?
Time away from the battlefield
Have you ever been as distant from your family as he was on leave? How did you feel during that time home?
What was your impression of the way his father and mother treated him?
The men disobeyed commanders to visit the women; if they had been caught, what “should” have happened to them?
Katczinsky kept “finding” food- what do you think his secret was?
One-liners
Look back through the book, do you have any parts that are underlined that stood out to you?
It is interesting to note that when Hitler came to power 6 years after the book was written, it was declared unpatriotic and outlawed. Later Erich Maria Remarque’s sister was beheaded by the German government after he had fled with his (ex) wife to Switzerland and later the US.
