The Road Back [Paperback]

Erich Maria Remarque (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 1998

THE ROAD BACK

After four grueling years the Great War has finally ended. Now Ernst and the few men left from his company cannot help wondering what will become of them. The town they departed as eager young men seems colder, their homes smaller, the reasons their comrades had to die even more inexplicable.

For Ernst and his friends, the road back to peace is more treacherous than they ever imagined. Suffering food shortages, political unrest, and a broken heart,  Ernst undergoes a crisis that teaches him what there is to live for--and what he has that no one can ever take away.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

From the Inside Flap

THE ROAD BACK

After four grueling years the Great War has finally ended. Now Ernst and the few men left from his company cannot help wondering what will become of them. The town they departed as eager young men seems colder, their homes smaller, the reasons their comrades had to die even more inexplicable.

For Ernst and his friends, the road back to peace is more treacherous than they ever imagined. Suffering food shortages, political unrest, and a broken heart,  Ernst undergoes a crisis that teaches him what there is to live for--and what he has that no one can ever take away.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449912469
• ISBN-13: 978-0449912461
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #486,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Remarque nailed it early on..., November 8, 2002

By 

Scott Swindle (Iraq) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road Back (Paperback)

There seems to be a plethora of both novels and non-fiction books now about the ravages of war and its aftermath, describing both the physical and emotional scars, now that the world has gone through World War II, Vietnam, and scores of other wars. However, when Remarque was writing, there was very little literature of this sort. He nailed it early on, when the Allies were still celebrating their triumphs after the War to End All Wars, and no one outside Germany really cared what happened there. In the West, even today, we have been conditioned to think of Germany during the World Wars as an army of emotionless automatons who blindly followed orders and suffered no moral apprehension. This novel, and others by Remarque, show this to be untrue. The Germans died, cried, loved, lost, and suffered, both physically and emotionally, as much as any soldier of any army. This is the fitting sequel to "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Paul Baumer even gets a passing mention as the protagonists remember lost comrades), and while it lacks the grit and guts of Remarque's wartime novel, it shows the sense of loss, grief, and hopelessness felt by many on both sides after the Great War, and other wars as well.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Gem!, March 25, 2001

By 

Alina Popkova "AP" (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road Back (Paperback)

A wonderful mix of poetic and politics, idealism and romanticism, beautiful scenery and horrible flashbacks. You are never completely sure what is going to happen and you are not allowed to be led by any single event in the novel except life itself. Remarque hits on our own senses and emotions and gives us a rare opportunity to follow the affairs and thoughts of another being. Amazing

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Soldiers Dream..., August 2, 2000

By 

Eugene Gerzhoy (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road Back (Paperback)

The Road Back, sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front, is a incredibly touching story of comrades returning from years at war to a society that neither wants to accept nor help them in their search for a meaningful life after war. This lost generation goes through life seeing no more purpose in living.

Remarque's incredible descriptive style leads the reader through turmoil in Germany, from food shortages, to political unrest, suicide, and murder, and yet at the same time he makes pauses to simply show some of the beauty left in the world. The characters are incredible and after putting down the book I felt that I had bonded with people I had only known for a couple of hundred pages and yet had been through so much with. Follow the comrades through tough times and their realizations about their own meanings of life.