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Product Description
THREE COMRADES

The year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them. Then the youngest of them falls in love, and brings into the group a young woman who will become a comrade as well, as they are all tested in ways they can never have imagined. . . .

Written with the same overwhelming simplicity and directness that made All Quiet on the Western Front a classic, Three Comrades portrays the greatness of the human spirit, manifested through characters who must find the inner resources to live in a world they did not make, but must endure.

Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

A Bad Translation of a Marvelous Book September 14, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Without a doubt, "Three Comrades" is the saddest story I have ever read and one of the most beautiful. This novel is vastly under-rated. It should be on every "classics" list of great fiction. There is not a rating category high enough for it.

Many lovely pictures emerge page after page -- of Berlin in the late 1920's. Take page 129 as a small example: "We walked on. Then we came to the graveyard. The trees rustled, their tops were no longer visible. As the mist continued to thicken the fairy light began. May bugs came reeling drunk out of the limes and buzzed heavily against the wet panes of the street lamps. The mist transformed everything, lifted it up and bore it away, the hotel opposite was already afloat like an ocean liner with lighted cabins on the black mirror of the asphalt, the grey shadow of the church behind it became a ghostly sailing-ship with tall masts, lost in the grey-red light; and now the houses, like a long line of barges, came adrift and began to move."

The characters are remarkable, and their stories are heart-breaking, while at once ringing with humor and pathos. Some episodes are hilarious; others make you cry unabashedly.

Three Comrades is a love story - no it's several love stories. One is of Robby and Pat (yes, unusual names for a story about young Germans). Another is among the abiding friendships and devotion between the three young men, their triumphs and travails, as the deteriorating social structure of pre-Hitler Germany crumbles around their feet, ruining their lives. The final love story is the heart-warming thread of true care and care-taking shown by the wider circle of the gloriously depicted players in this story, some sad and forlorn, others happy-go-lucky and still others greedy and vile. The mix is, of course, sensational, real and vivid. Every single character speaks with clarity in his or her own voice.

The story itself (once you pass through the first 40 pages) is simply compelling. You sense quickly the doom that is bound to come; you know that some will die; you know that tragedy will eventually win. You know all of this, and it does not matter. You cheer and root for these young people. You want them to live and thrive. You hope against hope that everything will be all right. You laugh, cry and exult with them. And in the end you are moved in your soul by their plight.

The story is - in a word - sensational. As to the fate of the characters, page 375: "'No,' said I, `I don't want to betray anything. But I do want that not everything we touch should always go to pieces.'" On the German social order, page 402: "'...They don't want politics at all. They want substitute religion.' He looked around. 'Of course. They want to believe in something again - in what, it doesn't matter. That's why they are so fanatical, too, of course.'"

You will laugh and you will cry and you will be unable to put this book down or stop yourself from thinking about these people long after you finish it.

While it might help, you need not read "All Quiet on the Western Front" first. Three Comrades stands on its own merits.

Now, why did I not give this book a 5 star rating, one that it clearly deserves and that most reviewers correctly award to it? It is because of the translation by A. W. Wheen. The feeling that the characters in this story are German and that the story takes place in Germany in the late 1920's is completely lost by the "over-the-top," slangy 100% British translation. This is not a British movie about Germans. This is a German language novel in need of a good English language translation. But, the way these people talk --- via this translation --- completely neutralizes their German-ness. The story could be in Southampton, or even Denver for that matter. I grew tired of the colloquial British-isms. Why not keep some of the German language --- un-translated? Except for an occasional "Ach!" we are forced to read this story in rather low-level British English --- a complete travesty. I don't want to see the word "lorry" or the word "kerb" or "tyres" or the phrase "...knocked the car down to us" in this story. Such a translation is an insult to the book, the author, and the historical value of the tale.

I implore the publishers to consider commissioning and publishing a sensible American English translation of this marvelous book, while at the same time keeping the tone, feeling and ethos of the German language, the German sensibilities and its very German setting. I detested reading what may have been an intentional de-Germanization of this glorious book by virtue of this horrible British translation.

Thus, it is because of the translation alone, not its literary value, that I decided to rate the book a mere 3. On its merits, the book is a 5++. But, alas, a translated book is only as good as the translation. Remarque deserves better.

5 out of 5 stars

The Quintessential novel of the German Lost Generation April 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

It has been generally accepted view that Remarque was never a great writer. I largely agree with the verdict. However, he was a very good writer whose expertise was touching the sentiment of general readers , if not those of literary critics. Three comrades is definitely my favorite along with Black Obelisk , not only among Remarque's works but also any form of literature I have been consuming for years. Similar to his early novels , such as All quiet on the western front and the sequel "The Road Back" , Remarque used first person narration. Robert Lohkamp , narrator of the novel, is the archetype of "Lost generation" from the other side of hill. Robert(or Bob or Robby)'s psyche was so pulverized by the experience of the Great war and its terrible aftermath that he seems to lose all meaning in his life. Bob , Otto and Gottfried are main characters whose life were forever marred by the war . But, they find a consolation from strong comradeship and endless drinking.

By accident, Lohkamp and his comrades met Pat. Although three of them all fell for her. It was Lohkamp , with his comrades' help , falls in love with the mysterious and consumptive beauty Pat. Much of the novel is about daily harship, and the slow change of Bob from despaired and jaded realist to idealistic romantic who can do anything for his love , Pat.
The book conveys sundry aspects of love through contrasting author's ideal notion of love and life and harsh reality that doesn't seem to allow little preciousness ordinary people longed for.(especially, Bob's neighbor Hasse's case)

I particulary enjoy Remarque's humane description of characters in the last stage of the tumultous Weimar Republic. Remarque maintains objective but symphathetic observation on these people whose lives are obviously shattered and go down to the nadir by uncontrollable economic difficulties and political turmoil.

The other attractive aspect of the book is the author's description of subtle changes Lohkamp goes through. First several chapters , he was one of those hardened veteran who doesn't have any aspiration in his life and so full of weltschmertz. Yet after meeting and falling in love with Pat , Robert slowly changes himself and finally last several chapters and its tragic ending . Lohkamp is the man who doggedly resist toward desiny he himself so well aware of.

In fact, the last few chapters shows how talented Remarque really was. If he had not indulged himself into hedonism and been as disciplined as Thomas Mann, surely Remarque would have written some master pieces .

When Remarque wrote this book, he was under severe pressure from both his own life and publishers who expected another best-seller. There are a bit of cliche, kitsch and strong resembrance to Mann's "Magic Mountain" in the last several chapters.In spite of these weaknesses, the book will surely touch sentiment and make you want more about Remarque's other works. It's one of the most touching love stories you will ever read and at the same time honest representation of ordinary people's every day difficulties in one of the terrible moment in the modern German history. It's a deeply pessimistic book ,but the beauty of Remarque's pessimism somehow penentrates your soul even though it was written almost 80 years ago. All in all, very renumerative reading and I am not hesitate to recommend the book to anyone who still value human decency over profit and sentimental romanticism over artistic pretence and intended complex.
Please read it after the western front and Road back. you will grip how the most promising generation became the victim of its own passion and forces beyond their comprehension. I hope the book will be republished .

5 out of 5 stars

Here's A Remarque You Won't Soon Forget April 11, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

Does anyone even remember this brilliant author anymore? What a shame, that the average American is made inescapably and constantly aware of the Paris Hiltons of the world while remaining completely unaware of this man and his literary genius.

This novel will touch you in some way, provided you have even a trace of the Milk of Human Kindness running through your veins. It is a story of the small troubles and small triumphs of insignificant men, at least as the world counts Significance. It is the story of men who no longer understand the world they live in, resorting instead to an unspoken Code of loyalty to one another, as Comrades ought to do. At the very least it will remind you of what integrity and quiet self-sacrifice are really all about. This one is abundantly worth your time.

5 out of 5 stars

three comrades June 6, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I don't think anyone can fully define what a great book the three comrades is. No one can describe the love between Pat and Robert throughoutly. I truly believe this is the most romantic book of all time. We live in a very changed world now, where there is little time and place for emotion but if there are any romantics left, this book should be your best friend. I hope that sometime in the future this book can be taught in school instead of the usuall boring rubbish people have to endure. If anyone is interested in reading a book about friendship, love and most of all hardships of life, then this book is the one for you

5 out of 5 stars

a joy to read, and totally underrated March 14, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

My colleagues who have reviewed Remarque favorably on these sites are totally correct: he is a remarkable writer who still resonates with contemporary readers in a manner that more esteemed German writers such as Mann and Goethe fail to. A cross between Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald, I have seldom spent more rewarding time reading. The combination of humor, philosophy, brilliant dialogue, unusual and touching romantic experience, war-weary and world weary articulations, social commentary, and perfect word craftsmenship (thanks to excellent translations of course), make him stand out among all European writers in my mind--but then again, I'm a more Modernist enthusiast. So far I love all of the novels I've read, but I tend to lean slightly towards The Black Obelisk with its absolutely profound and heart-rending romantic dilemma. I teach All Quiet at the university level, but I'm working on teaching A Time to LOve..., 3 Comrades, etc. BUT...can anybody tell me how in the freakin' world these books are out of print and how to do something about it?! It's a freakin' sacriledge!