‘Tis the season for clay‘s book column tradition! It is my duty to end the year with reviews for my three top reads of the year. It’s hard to believe that this is my second time continuing the tradition, but I’m so glad to have the opportunity to share some of my new favorite books with you all. They’re quite diverse—both in country of origin and content—being a German war novel, a Japanese novella about parasocial relationships, and a beloved French children’s classic! (I promise that it wasn’t intentional to choose all translated fiction.)
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
by Erich Maria Remarque
NOTE: This book contains violence and mature content. It should not be consumed by young readers.
All Quiet on the Western Front is largely based on Eric Maria Remarque’s own experience as a soldier in the Imperial German Army during World War I. It was first published in serial form in a German magazine but was later published as a complete book, becoming an instant bestseller in Germany and abroad. Yet it was deemed unpatriotic by Germans and especially garnered criticism from the rising Nazi Party. At several showings of the Oscar-winning Hollywood film adaption played in Germany, filmgoers were even attacked. Then, after the rise of power of the Nazis, the book was completely banned. It became common fuel to the Nazi book burnings. Remarque was forced to flee the country, and his sister, who stayed behind, was beheaded on his behalf.
What about this book frightened the Nazis so much? The reason can be found in this quote: “We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.” All Quiet on the Western Front is neither rousing nor patriotic. It is foremost an anti-war novel—perhaps the greatest—told from the perspective of German soldier Paul Baümer who grows increasingly disillusioned and troubled as he watches friends and enemies alike die at each others’ hands in the trenches. It is beautifully written but never once diminishes the horrors and tragedy of war, as well as the value of life that is so overlooked by it.
“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.”
IDOL, BURNING
by Rin Usami
At twenty-one years old, Rin Usami became the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Japanese Akutagawa Prize for her novella, Idol, Burning. However, to better understand the content of the novella, we must first dive into the Japanese idol industry itself. The first idols can be traced back to a post-World War II Japan, in an attempt to lift the country’s spirits. Since then, the concept of idols has been influenced from the West, in the form of music and the French film, Cherchez l’idole (Find the Idol). The idol training system was also formed, in which young talents train under agencies to eventually debut in groups. Essentially, idols are incredibly manufactured, seemingly flawless multi-talented celebrities who do all they can to stay in the good graces of their worshipful fans.
This is where Idol, Burning begins. Akari, a present-day high school junior, is obsessed with her oshi, her favorite member of the J-Pop group Maza Maza. Her world is built entirely around this one idol: she religiously blogs about him, spends all her money on concert tickets and merch, and tries to see the world from his eyes in a platonic but nonetheless fanatic way. One day, however, her world is suddenly thrown into disarray when her oshi is embroiled in rumors of assaulting a female fan. As his image falls apart, so does Akari in a suffocating spiral of depression and a complete inability to live in a reality without her oshi. Never before have I read a book that so perfectly and sensitively captures the essence of fandom culture, the delicate tightrope that idols walk on, and the motivations behind parasocial relationships.
“I still felt the burden of my involuntary role as a mammal dragging me down. In the same way that a night of sleep put wrinkles in a bedsheet, just being alive took a toll. To talk to someone you had to move the flesh on your face. You bathed to get rid of the grime that built up on your skin and clipped your nails because they kept growing. I exhausted myself trying to achieve the bare minimum, but it had never been enough. My will and my body would always disengage before I got there.”
THE LITTLE PRINCE
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s own adventurous life provided much of the inspiration for The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince in French, its original language). He, like the story’s narrator, was first a commercial pilot, then enlisted in the French Air Force as soon as World War II broke out. During one of his pre-war flights in 1935, Saint-Exupéry and his navigator crashed in the Libyan desert, miraculously surviving for four days. Stranded and dehydrated, they wandered through the sand dunes while experiencing mirages and vivid hallucinations. Fortunately, a Bedouin (a member of a nomadic Arab tribe) came across the two and saved their lives by giving them water.
Like Saint-Exupéry, the narrator crashes his plane in the Sahara desert. There he meets the little prince, who is believed to be inspired by the author’s similarly golden-haired brother who died young. Over the course of eight days, the pilot and the little prince come to form a close bond while surviving on a dwindling supply of water. The pilot creates drawings for the prince, and the prince in turn tells stories of his life before his fall to Earth. These stories piece together a grand journey brimming with imagination and whimsy as the readers are introduced to different planets with poignant messages for both children and grown-ups. By the last chapter, you’ll feel as if you’re slowly waking up from a dream or saying goodbye to a childhood memory—it’s pure magic.
“All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”
Works Cited
Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. Ballantine Books, 1987.
Nelsson, Richard. “All Quiet on the Western Front becomes instant bestseller – archive, 1929.” The Guardian, 6 Mar. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2019/mar/06/all-quiet-on-the-western-front-published-remarque-1929
Usami, Rin. Idol, Burning. HarperVia, 2022.
Lau, James. “Japanese Idol History: Idoling Through the Decades.” YumeTwins, 27 Apr. 2022, https://yumetwins.com/blog/japanese-idol-history-thorough-the-decades
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine. The Little Prince. Wordsworth Editions, 1998.
Swopes, Bryan. “29 December 1935: Wind, Sand and Stars.” This Day in Aviation, 29 Dec. 2022, https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/30-december-1935-wind-sand-stars/
Photo Credits
https://www.amazon.com/All-Quiet-Western-Front-Novel/dp/0449213943
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Wordsworth-Childrens-Classics-Collection/dp/1853261580
I love All Quiet on the Western Front! Not because its a ‘fun’ book, but I think it’s super important to read as a guy. It gives you a good perspective on the perception vs. reality of modern warfare. I think I’ve read it 3-4 times by now.
what are everyone’s top 3 reads of the year? I’d love to know!
Very interesting article as always! I’ve been planning to read the first and third for a while now–your recommendation makes me more eager to do so–and I will look into the second if I come across it.
In choosing these, I omitted anything by authors I already loved before this year:
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy.
Yes, it’s ginormous, but this historical novel set during the Napoleonic wars is utterly worthwhile. The sense of time and place is vivid, and the characters are wonderfully-crafted with complex, philosophically deep arcs. Tolstoy *does* go into essay mode a fair bit, sometimes in the middle of major plot points.
Confessions, by Augustine of Hippo.
This is mainly a memoir of the first thirty years or so of Augustine’s life, climaxing with his conversion, though he is also one of those tangentially-inclined writers and the final three chapters are a commentary on Genesis 1, the nature of time, and much else. It’s all fascinating though, and the Latin is beautiful. One of the most powerful and thought-provoking books I’ve read in a while.
Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain.
First a [partially] war novel, then a memoir, now a war memoir. Brittain was a student at Oxford when WWI broke out, who left to be a volunteer nurse in Malta and Étaples. Many TPSers will likely have read Tolkien’s second edition preface to LoTR; they may perhaps remember the line “By 1918, all but one of my close friends were dead.” This was such an emotionally real book. While Brittain comes across as perhaps a frustrating person to know, she’s quite believable.
Beyonders by Brandon Mull
note: some violence
Sky Raiders Five Kingdoms by Brandon Mull
note: some violence
and
Hope Heals
By Katherine and Jay Wolf
Note: Intense
1. Emma by Jane Austin
it does start out kind of boring, but once you get far enough into the book, it is SO worth it
2. The Return of the King
no, i had not read this before this year, BUT that was the first book i read this year
3. Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton
I am OBSESSED with all things Bethany Hamilton, but this is truly a wonderful book, especially as an athlete and Christian
I think that Harry Potter, Keeper of the Lost Cities, and Lord of the Rings are the best. Top 3