Three Comrades - A Novel of Germany Between the Wars (Erich Maria Remarque, 1936)

Remarque is renowned, for good reason, for "All Quiet on the Western Front."  This is a much different work.  The dust jacket suggests that it focuses on three young men in the difficult times in Germany in 1928, with storm troopers swaggering in the streets as the Weimar Republic totters; one of the three falls in love. 

But the book reads much differently.  I liked it very much.

Remarque used a spare writing style to great advantage in All Quiet.  Same approach here.  He says a lot (almost 500 pages) but I think leaves a lot unsaid; leads the reader to fill in his or her own thoughts and feelings.

The description of Robert's love affair with Patricia Hallman is really well done; not necessarily what I'd expect from someone I incorrectly considered to be a military writer.  He captures the uncertainty, jealousy, companionship, wondrous-ness, etc.  As good a description as any I've read.

Robert has two close buddies from WWI:  Lenz and Koster.  They work in an auto shop and race around in "Karl."  They drink together, and look out for each other above all else.  Plenty of other characters are developed (Ferdinand the painter; Alfons, the restaurant keeper; Gustav the cab driver; the owner and working girls at the bar where Robert sometimes plays piano; the various folks in Robert's boarding house; etc.)

These three comrades survived WWI when so many of their buddies didn't; now live in an economy where acquiring any level of security or wealth is hopeless; mostly as a result of the war but also because of the postwar situation, they very much lived in the moment (with Patricia having a particular reason for doing so); it made me think about this continual balancing act, perhaps we/I focus too much on the long term in comparison.

Remarque was a big deal; was married many years to Paulette Goddard.  I had no idea Hollywood did a movie based on this (starring Robert Taylor); I liked the book so much I'm afraid to look at the movie (which could easily be mawkish).