Tonight, I finished reading a book called ” A time to love and a time to die” by Erich Maria Remarque. This book was … good but as you can see from the title, the main character dies, in the last chapter, on the last page. If you ever plan to read this book maybe don’t read this post because I’m going to yap about it.
You follow this character named Graeber Erst. He’s a German solider in WW2. When I read the first few chapters, I was really confused on who the main character was. A lot of names get thrown around, so it was hard to follow, for me at least. Anyway, the MC is Graeber. We find out for the past 2 years his “furlough” has been denied. What a furlough is, is 3 weeks off from the war. Something that I found really interesting was right before Graeber finds out he’s getting his furlough, him and another soldier go after some prisoners who ran away. They split off and the OTHER solider asks Graeber, “do you want to go right or left” and Graeber says “left”. So, they go in their own direction and BLAT, you hear a gunshot. Or I guess you read … a gunshot. Graeber follows the gunshot and finds the solider dead. And there’s a line where Graeber says, that could’ve been me. But Graeber is more poetic about it.
Okay so Graeber finds out he’s going on furlough. Something that I like about war stories/movies are soldiers tweaking out. I don’t know why but I really enjoy reading that. In this book, Graeber is getting on a train with other soldiers on furlough and wounded soldiers. But before the train takes off, these two superior officers come onto the train and start kicking people off. So, a bunch of wounded people start hiding on the train and some fight back because they don’t want to go back to the war. So, there’s a good chunk of a chapter of soldiers just tweaking out. I feel very sad for them.
Okay so Graeber goes home and is heading to his parents’ house. BUT WAIT!!! When he’s in his neighborhood he starts seeing houses that were in an air raid. The walls are torn down, roofs are on the ground. And finally, he gets to his house, and it’s destroyed. So Graeber doesn’t know if his parents are alive or not. And for like 2 chapters Graeber is trying to figure out if his parents are alive, but everyone is giving him a hard time. Naturally so. So many other people are trying to find out the same thing Graeber is.
This is where things get a little foggy LOL. The book was 27 chapters. Graeber goes this one house who belonged to some old dude who was friends with his dad. Graeber is hoping to find his dads friends to get info on his parents but guess who opens the door. The friend’s dad’s daughter. Her name is Elizebeth. She’s cool, I guess. Graeber is locked in, so he doesn’t really care about her…yet >:). Yall know what happens next. It’s uh a uhm, not really friends -> to friends -> to lover’s troupe. Troupe, am I using the right word?
Okay so Graeber and Elizbeth are going out on dates and one right Graeber tells her to get dress up because they’re going to a fancy restaurant. They go and its good. They don’t bang though. Some more stuff happens, they kiss or something. The relationship is getting stronger. Oh, there’s a cool waiter. He’s an old fat man who knows a lot about wind and he likes Graeber because knows how to drink wine. So, after a few more dates they go the restaurant again but right before they get their food, the place gets bombes. Or the area around the restaurant gets bombed. So, they all go to the bunker. Some rich lady sets herself on fire because her dress got caught in a candle. So, the air raid is over, Graeber and Elizebeth go outside, and they see a tree. By itself, unharmed. They talk about the tree and then they bone. Kinda crazy.
I already said it, but Graeber only has 3 weeks. So, at this point I think a week has passed by. I kinda forget what happens next. Graeber meets an old friend who a shitty guy. He’s an officer and fat. He also tortures prisoners in the concentration camps and sleeps with women who want to get their husband/sons out of the concentration camp. Yeah, I don’t like that guy. He dies later in the books. His house was caught in an air raid and the house collapsed on him.
Anyways, Graeber stops looking for his parents. He’s in love with Elizbeth. They get married and Graeber has like 10 left on his furlough. Elizbeth’s house gets bombed and explodes. So, they’re homeless for a while. I got a little confuse around here. So, they find a church that’s basically empty. They eat there for like 4 hours drinking wine and eating real, not canned food. They don’t sleep there but they chill there. They sleep at another church. I don’t know.
So, at this point Graeber has like 3 days left on his furlough. Graeber and Elizbeth start talking about their future. Where they want to travel after the war. Should they have a kid. How many, what to name them. ALL IS GOING GOOD FOR MY BOY GRAEBER.
Graeber furlough ends, and he has to go back. He tells Elizbeth not to come to the station with him because it’ll make it harder to say goodbye. She agrees but as the train is leaving the station Graeber sees her. So Graeber wants to sit out the window and say goodbye, I love you. But there’s some guy who already at the window saying goodbye to some NPC girlfriend. Graeber tries to push him out the way but he’s not budging. In the end, he doesn’t get to say goodbye to Elizbeth at the station.
Graber is back with his platoon. The last 2 chapters have the most actions. So, if you want to read a book that has a lot of action, this probably isn’t the book to read. So, a big battle happens. A lot of people are dying. Some new recruit gets blown up by a grenade, but not my boy Graeber. He stays alive. There’s some other solider named Stinnerman I think. I don’t like him. As a “prank” he sends a “letter of death” to a soldier’s mom. It’s also not written out, but it’s kinda assumed that he rapes Russian prisoners. So uhhh fuck him. So, they retreat to some village, and they catch 4 prisoners. 2 women and 2 men. Graeber is put in charge of them. Stinnerman goes with Graeber because he wants to shoot the 2 men and rape one of the female prisoners. But my boy Graeber is like “nah lil bro”.
Graeber’s platoon retreated to a village. They’re kinda away from the front lines, but they can hear the actions. Graeber makes friends with the prisoners. He treats them like human. Graeber gives them all cigarettes and lets them use the restroom outside of the shed where they’re being held. So Graeber falls asleep. When he wakes up the front line is a lot closer. He can see the explosions. Stinnerman comes running to Graeber. Stinnerman tells Graeber go back to the village, we’re all meeting there. He also says, I’ll be right behind you. Graeber knows what Stinnerman want to do. Graeber being a good guy, says no. I will not leave unless I have direct orders from someone else. Stinnerman actually starts TWEAKING out. He’s questions Graeber. Next thing you know, Stinnerman is pulling out his gun to shoot Graber, but Graeber is faster and kills Stinnerman.
It’s noted that the prisoners were patted down to see if they had any weapons. Graeber opens the shed and tells the prisoners to go. Go runway. They saw Graeber kill someone who they’re hesitant. Graber throws down his rifle and tells them to go. So, they go and this is where I was like ” My guy Graeber, you’re my guy”. But I guess when Graeber wasn’t looking one of the prisoners picked up his rifle and ran with it. Graeber doesn’t notice. He’s just staring at Stinnerman’s body.
Graeber looks towards the prisoners. Part of him wants to go with them. But when he turns, he sees one the barrel of a rifle and the prisoner taking aim. Graber gets shoot. The last paragraph of this book is describing how the ground feels. Graeber sees a flower. The sun is on him, he can’t head the gun fire or the explosions. Graeber closes his eyes.
And that’s how the book ends. I really enjoyed this book. It took me a while to finish it. When I started reading it, I was really bored but when I finished it, I sat in my room and stared at the ceiling. I really wish I knew what happens to Elizbeth. They were so in love. I didn’t go into great detail but there were a lot of evil characters in this book. Graeber was really that guy. I wish the book didn’t end like this. I am not doing this book justice but my summary. I really recommend this book. I wasn’t like those moms on BookTok who are jumping around while reading this book but maybe someday.
If you read to the end, thank you. You a real one.
