Sense

Topic of the day 📌

Recently, I picked up “Three Comrades” by Erich Maria Remarque. I was looking for something light to read. About 50 pages in, I realized there’s as much lightness here as there is joy in the lives of the main characters.

First off, the trio—Robbie, Gottfried, and Lenz—are the ultimate friendship goals. They’d spend their last pennies fixing each other’s rundown cars and then sit in a café counting change for beer.

And Robbie’s love story with Pat… oh, that’s a whole other level of heartbreak. I can’t even remember when I started crying. Was it when he bought her a scarf even though he barely had two coins to rub together? Or when he first realized she was sick? But the ending absolutely wrecked me.

Remarque’s writing pulls you right into the lives of his characters. The cold streets, cheap beer halls, sunsets soaked in melancholy—you can feel it all on your skin. And all you can think is, “Why can’t they just be happy for once?”

I read “All Quiet On The Western Front”, also very much enjoyed it. The senselessness and hopelessness of war in all its glory.