All Quiet on the Western Front gave me a ton of medical anxiety. I already knew war is hell, but the hospital somehow seemed worse. Being killed sucks, sure, but being wounded is something you have to live with. Not to mention most people are more likely to end up in the hospital than on the the front.

There’s a bit I thought was amusing though. The protagonist is a volunteer soldier, and I think by the time he’s been wounded he’s already had to kill someone and moved on from it. Anyway, he’s on the hospital train and he’s got to go to the bathroom but he can’t get up. He’s completely mortified to ask the nurse for help, who incidentally thinks it’s no big deal. The killer was too embarrassed to go pee-pee, and that’s somehow extremely relatable.