Three Comrades

Robert Lohkamp, Otto Köster and Gottfried Lenz are three veterans of the First World War who run a car repair shop in Germany in the late 1920s, bound by their wartime experiences and poverty. Robert falls in love with Pat Hollmann, a fragile young woman who has tuberculosis, while inflation, unemployment and street violence rise around them. Their old comradeship is tested by the political killing that marks the end of the Weimar years.

It suits readers who like Remarque's blend of friendship, romance and loss in interwar Germany. It is a good choice after All Quiet on the Western Front for those wanting to see the same generation in peacetime.

Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Mindful Reader. Which reader are you?