This book is exceptional. Remarque had a gift, an ability to write the mundane better than any other. His language is never overblown, every word has significance and serves a purpose, you will lose yourself in his novels.

Germany in the 1930's is not an easy topic but the delicacy with which Remarque handles it, the power in his language and the judgments he makes of the country, its people and of all mankind are faultless.

In many ways The Black Obelisk is an anti-bildungsroman, the character is already fully formed when we meet him and the world around him is actually degrading and falling apart. It's apocalyptic but there's no wailing or gnashing of teeth, this is real (in the same way All Quiet on The Western Front is real), people continue to struggle through their lives from day to day. The apocalyptic feeling is only heightened by the protagonist working at a tombstone company, hence the title.

Yet despite all the hardship, the characters still live, love and laugh. One of the best scenes in the novel finds the action in Karl Brill's house where piles of hyperinflated Marks are bet for and against his wife, the imperious Frau Beckmann, and her ability to pull a nail out of a wall with her buttocks. That and many other scenes will have you laughing out loud. By the end of this story you will realise it's the little transgressions and traditions, the pranks and mischief that keep people human. Reading this novel you begin to understand more intimately what Germany was like in the 30's, what the Great Depression did to everyone, and you can even feel the coming spectre of the Nazi party looming over everyone.