Time To Love and A Time to Die [Paperback]

Erich Maria Remarque (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 1998

After two years at the Russian front, Ernst Graeber finally receives three weeks' leave. But since leaves have been canceled before, he decides not to write his parents, fearing he would just raise their hopes.

Then, when Graeber arrives home, he finds his house bombed to ruin and his parents nowhere in sight. Nobody knows if they are dead or alive. As his leave draws to a close, Graeber reaches out to Elisabeth, a childhood friend. Like him, she is imprisoned in a world she did not create. But in a time of war, love seems a world away. And sometimes, temporary comfort can lead to something unexpected and redeeming. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

After two years at the Russian front, Ernst Graeber finally receives three weeks' leave. But since leaves have been canceled before, he decides not to write his parents, fearing he would just raise their hopes.

Then, when Graeber arrives home, he finds his house bombed to ruin and his parents nowhere in sight. Nobody knows if they are dead or alive. As his leave draws to a close, Graeber reaches out to Elisabeth, a childhood friend. Like him, she is imprisoned in a world she did not create. But in a time of war, love seems a world away. And sometimes, temporary comfort can lead to something unexpected and redeeming. . . .

Product Details

• Paperback: 378 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (June 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449912507
• ISBN-13: 978-0449912508
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,877,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Remarque's Very Best, July 16, 2000

By 

wm chamberlain (Portland OR(whc"at"teleport.com)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time To Love and A Time to Die (Paperback)

You might think, from what is usually said about him, that "ALL Quiet on the Western Front" was the only book Erich Remarque wrote. Yet some of his later novels are surprisingly good and profoundly memorable. I admire very much how he found his own territory of experience to write about-- not just the determined anti-war sentiments that made him justly famous with "All Quiet," but also his novels of veterans returning to the post-war home front and his stories of refugees fleeing the ravages of World War II. And "A Time to Love and a Time to Die" might be the best of these novels. Its setting is unique: a German soldier returns home on furlough during the latter stages of the war to find his hometown largely destroyed by allied bombing-- a scene as desperate as any on the eastern front which he has just left. The novel is powerfully sustained from beginning to end, filled with vivid detail, and pervaded by dread of the gestapo and a feeling of the overwhelming absurdity of war. Amid this wreckage, Remarque composes a beautiful and moving love story between the soldier and a young woman whose father is in a concentration camp. Some of Remarque's recurring themes can be seen at work here: decent people at the mercy of political upheaval and cruel ideologies, and the preciousness of life in a world where life is so cheaply held. The prose has many fine moments of dark beauty. This novel might make you think, as I do, that Remarque's reputation should be reassessed. I read somewhere recently that Chekhov said that great art could never be depressing. With that in mind, I urge everyone to read, and reclaim, this excellent novel.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated, September 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Time To Love and A Time to Die (Paperback)

This book should be read in every high school in America. The shocking beauty of the words cannot help but transform the reader and his opinions about the effect of World War II on the ordinary German people. Remarque is sadly known only for "All Quiet on the Western Front". His best work and my personal favorite is "Arch of Triumph" but no ones time would be wasted on reading any of his work. If this man wrote the telephone book I would read it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Time to Love and a Time to Die, June 4, 2001

By 

S. Parrino (Urbandale, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Time to Love and a Time to Die (Hardcover)

I loved this book. It is definitly one Remargue's best. The way he describes the war and his surroundings is just perfect. He bends words to his will. I've read Remargue's Three comrades and it was pretty good, but not as captivating as a time to love. Me being a 15 year old girl I couldn't even imagin what a war would be like, but Remarque does excellent job of describing the affects of war on a person's life. How so much can be created and destroyed in 3 weeks of leave. Its now one of my favs. I recommend it to everyone.