Today is Remembrance Day, a day to contemplate and honour the sacrifice
of our veterans. It is so important that we never forget, but perhaps the best
tribute we could pay our veterans would be to abolish war. Doing a quick perusal, I was surprised by the
number of anti-war novels on Schatje’s Shelves.
Some of these have explicit anti-war messages; others convey anti-war
sentiments via their portrayal of the horrors of war and its effects on
people. Here are the titles of some of
those books:
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shows
the effects of the Nigerian civil war.
Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard tells of a young
boy's struggle to survive World War II in China.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah details the
experiences of a child soldier.
The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian portrays life in
German-occupied Italy.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières is “nearly
unbearable in its portrayal of European darkness during the war.”
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne explores the horror
of WWII through the eyes of the young son of a concentration camp commandant.
A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche is a brutally
blunt account of the events that led to the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephan Crane depicts the harsh
realities of the American Civil War.
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks has some brutal depictions
of life in the trenches of WWI.
The Wars by Timothy Findley depicts the horrors of
combat in WWI.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan is an account
of Australian POW experiences as slave labourers and emphasizes man's
inhumanity to man during war.
The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna, set in a Croation village
after the War of Independence, chronicles how war reverberates in the daily
lives of those touched by it.
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain has been described
as the Catch-22 of the Iraq War.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is a young girl’s
journal written while her family was in hiding during the Nazi occupation of
the Netherlands.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier paints a desolate picture
of the American Civil War and its consequences.
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway depicts life in Sarajevo in 1992 during the siege of that city.
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass is considered a classic of
post-World War II literature.
The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek explores the
pointlessness and futility of conflict.
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi heightens the grotesqueness
of life in Nazi Germany.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a satire on the insanity
of war.
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway examines the
tenuous nature of love in a time of war.
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway graphically
describes the brutality of the Spanish civil war.
Hiroshima by John Hersey is an account of the aftermath
of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, set in Afghanistan,
examines the effect of warfare on individuals, societies and nations.
Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally is a testament to the horrors
of Hitler's attempts to eradicate Jews from Europe.
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer is partly based on
the author’s experiences during the Philippines Campaign in World War II.
A Marker to Measure Drift by Alexander Maksik examines the
impact of the Liberian civil war.
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra portrays life in
war-torn Chechnya.
In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason examines the effects of the
Vietnam War.
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky depicts life in France
during the German Occupation.
Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian examines the
consequences of the Armenian genocide.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje “traces the
intersection of four damaged lives in an Italian villa at the end of World War
II.”
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque explores the impact of
World War I on German troops during the war and afterwards.
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay offers a portrait of
France under occupation.
On the Beach by Nevil Shute imagines the aftermath of a
nuclear war.
Maus by Art Spiegelman is a graphic novel about living and surviving in Hitler's Europe.
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron emphasizes the universality
of the suffering under the Third Reich.
The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman is a Holocaust memoir which
depicts the grim details of life in Warsaw under the Nazi occupation.
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo is a classic
anti-war novel narrated by a young American soldier injured during World War I.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, which depicts the
horrors of bombing directed against civilians, is considered one of the world’s
great anti-war novels.
Night by Elie Wiesel details the author’s
experiences in Nazi German concentration camps.
My Heart is Not My Own by Michael Wuitchik explores the
brutality and impact of the civil war in Sierra Leone.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, set in Nazi Germany with
Death as its narrator, depicts the devastating effects of war.
