All Quiet on the Western Front

By: Erich Maria Remarque

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Paul Bäumer is just 19 years old when he and his classmates enlist. They are Germany’s Iron Youth who enter the war with high ideals and leave it disillusioned or dead. As Paul struggles with the realities of the man he has become, and the inscrutable world to which he must return, he is led like a ghost of his former self into the war’s final hours. All Quiet is one of the greatest war novels of all time, an eloquent expression of the futility, hopelessness and irreparable losses of war.

©1958 Erich Maria Remarque (P)1994 Recorded Books, LLC

My Choice for Frank Muller's Best

I wish it were possible to award six or seven stars for a book and reader. This would be my choice for that combination. Listen and weep.

A Mandatory Listen

If you could sum up All Quiet on the Western Front in three words, what would they be?

It never gets old. Third listen over the years to this story about school boys thrown into the horrors of trench warfare. Frank Muller has the perfect voice and cadence to add to this great story. A must listen.

A classic that addresses all conflicts

Would you listen to All Quiet on the Western Front again? Why?

This book addresses issues that are represented in every international conflict. How soldiers deal with the horrors and depravity of war are the same in Afghanistan now as they were in WWI. While listening to this book is not necessarily "fun," it is very thought-provoking and helps me understand the stories I hear now from friends and relatives who have deployed to the Middle East.

Any additional comments?

I know many folks are reading the books being written now by returning heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan. I regard "All Quiet" as a primer on how soldiers learn to deal with war.

Superb!

A very moving firsthand account of the horror of trench warfare during WWI. The writing is poetic and moving and the narrator gives the story pause and emphasis superbly well. Highly recommend!!

Great Book

I enjoyed the use of descriptive language and imagery, and the reader sounded really good.

Captivating

This book was captivating throughout. A lot of suffering goes in in the content of this story with little room for pleasure. Written by a WW1 German soldier, this book leaves the reader with a feeling toward compassion within the calamitous atmosphere of war. The narrator does well to pronounce the german names, and overall does a good job with the narration.

Like listening to a Symphony

What did you love best about All Quiet on the Western Front?

Quite unexpectedly, I found the book to be written with beautifully poetic prose. Remarque's words were so expressive that I felt they could have been written by Kahil Gabran. Then factor in the stunningly nuanced narration by Frank Muller, and you completely eclipse the genre of an audio book, and step into the aesthetic experience of hearing a symphony. It had that level of refinement.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The main character, of course. He was full of deep, and thoughtful ruminations about the experience of the war and the psychological cost it visited on those on the front.

What does Frank Muller bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His nuanced treatment of the material caught me completely by surprise. He narrates the beautiful prose of this book with such a soft touch that I found it hypnotic. In particular, his casual and thoughtful pace, even pausing occasionally when covering strong passages. The effect was that it gave Remarque's words the space necessary for them to sink into my bones. His performance was simply stunning.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. I could have easily listened to it straight through had I that much time. As it was, I finished it in two days.

Any additional comments?

I'm still blown away by the Remarque's deeply thoughtful and expressive writing, and Frank Muller's treatment of the story. It was absolutely mesmerizing.

Narrator should get an award

This book was extremely moving and poetic, made all the more so by extraordinary narration.

listening brought this one deep

This story I know well. listening to it brings out a much more tangible sence of things. Better than movies or a read. Well Done.

A poem of sadness

This book is bewitching; a sad desperate poem of loss, terror and destruction from the first page to the last. It relates the hubris of leaders, the young men they use dispassionately to play their war games and the sheer useless destruction of war itself.

One must not lose sight of the fact that W.H.Wheen, the translator, is every bit as important as Remarque in providing us with this remarkable story, for the translator must assume the skin and mind of the author and reassemble the story into another form altogether, a form that will convey the original thoughts of the author without senseless direct translation. So kudos would go to all three should they be alive; the author, the translator and of course, Frank Muller for his superb narration.

A classic