Customer Reviews

Regeneration

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having read the entire trilogy fairly recently, I find it hard to distinguish between the first book alone and the complete work. However, Regeneration itself does stick out by being the most well-researched and well-informed of the three. I presume that many people have heard about Sassoon's 1917 public objection to the way the war was being waged, which caused him to be put under the supervision of Dr. Rivers - but I had not before reading this novel.

The incident was so fascinating that I have since read further about Sassoon, Rivers and the war experience for those who suffered from neurasthenia - all of which reading has confirmed what I initially suspected, that Barker's novel, as well as being exceptionally well-written, insightful and moving, is also extremely true to events and situations. For the benefit of the "novel"-reading world, a fictional "hero" is added, whose life continues in tandem with Wilfred Owen's into the next two books; yet even he, Billy Prior, is more a composition deriving from real soldiers' experiences than the imagination.

Not to say that Barker does not apply her creativity to the full - in her descriptive style, and in stringing together of the various lives she is describing. She has insight into character which is both moving and important - it reminds us that beyond the cliches of tragedy lay a very human, normal and mostly dull war, whose effects were nevertheless all-encompassing and disruptive.

Having just finished reading "Birdsong" I felt compelled to read more about a period of time that is moving out of living memory. I think "Regeneration" is a superb book that is well written, well researched and moving. I think books like this are so important because we should not be allowed to forget what the people of that time went through and we should not be allowed to trivialise what the First World War did to human beings and how it broke the seemingly Golden Age that had developed throughout Victorian and Edwardian England. I think the novel helps to honour the memory of the people who gave their lives in the war over something they did not understand or comprehend. The book is not just about war as it goes far deeper in helping to explain humanity, gender, class and truth. "Regeneration" is a disturbing and thought provoking book which people should read firstly because it is a good book and secondly becuase it will ensure that you do not forget what the people of the time and especially the soliders went through. They were caught up in a war of industrial proportions and were caught up in a war that they did not understand and we should forever hold them in high regard and in our memories. Afterall, in one month in 1917 there were 104,000 casualties in the war. Sacrifice like that deserves and should be remembered.

From a literary point of view, this book is superbly crafted and is an original work of fiction with a good story. It is energetic and highly readable and I recommend it to anyone.

"You must speak, but I shall not listen to anything you say."

A Doctor who is engaged in helping a World War I Soldier to regain his speech makes this statement. For anyone who has read of this war, you may agree it was a particularly gruesome event, abetted by the latest in weaponry. This Doctor who is supposed to heal, has the medical ethics of a Mengele. "Regeneration" by Pat Barker is the first of three acts, that examine War, its advocates, the objectors, and groups that society continues to marginalize to this day. This book is a brutal assault; it offers no respite, no quarter to the reader. Some have compared her writing of War to Hemingway, a comparison to Erich Maria Remarque may startle some, but this woman's grasp of the war is remarkable. All three parts of the trilogy were honored with awards, the final volume with The Booker Prize.

Many of the players, locations, and events in this work actually exist or transpired. Part of the intensity of the writing derives from the impact only true history can make. The balance of the impact is due to Ms. Barker, and her skill of creating the sense of an epic in a scant 250+pages. There are no innocents in this book; guilt is another emotional commodity that prevails.

I don't know that philosophically a pro war book could be credible. Such a book could be written, and few will argue that conflict at times is inevitable, if only because it is part of our nature. What Pat Barker does is to bring back the horror of war without sanitizing or sensationalizing the events.

We no longer fight wars like the one that brought us Versailles. The barbaric behavior continues, but the exposure it gets to the public is measured. Death in combat has not changed. However if CNN were in the trenches I believe World War I would have been shortened. The infrared bombing that is more akin to a video game when watched does not have the impact of a soldier removing pieces of a friend from his gasmask.

Ms. Barker also writes about a variety of other social events/practices that are as contentious today as nearly a century ago. She examines the need for scapegoats when the truth is unpleasant. This ranges in her work from a German bred dog that is disemboweled for sport, to the issue of those who object to serve, and those that do, but under the double life of what we have named, don't ask and don't tell.

I have nearly completed the second volume, "The Eye In The Door", and I can say without hesitation, that if the discussion or graphic description of the subjects I have mentioned are not what you choose to read, pass these works by. If you can put her writing into context, and read through pages that will make some readers very uncomfortable, this is a phenomenal written work. I use the word uncomfortable not as a judgment on topics, individual's choices, or reader's personal views, rather only as an adjective that may apply to how some may feel.

I don't know how these grounds can be covered without discomfort. The writer chooses the degree to which detail is used. Whether it is appropriate or not, is an individual decision.

Regeneration, The Eye in the Door and Ghost Road make up Pat Barker's remarkable trilogy about England during the "Great War." The three books center around the character of Dr. William Rivers, a well known psychiatrist who served in Scotland and England during the war treating officers suffering from war-related neuroses - and restoring their sanity enough for them to return to the insanity of the front. Two of Rivers' patients play a central role in the trilogy - poet and decorated war hero Siegfried Sassoon, who was sent to Dr. Rivers after taking a public stand against the war, and Billy Prior, a working class boy who managed to work his way into the ranks of officer and whose psychological and personal conflicts drive a lot of the plot in The Eye in the Door.

The trilogy is so multi-faceted it can be difficult to say what it's really about. It's first and foremost a story of England during the war - how the war challenged traditional views of "maleness" (and enhanced the role of women in society), the scapegoating of homosexuals, leftists, and others as a political tool, etc. Barker draws on historical material and characters to depict the times - I don't know the history so I can't comment on the accuracy. But it's more than a historical novel. It deals with the universal role of war in human culture and contrasts the WW1 orgy of death and destruction with the war culture of the headhunters of Melanesia (where Rivers spent some time doing anthropological research). It's also a psychological study of Rivers, Sassoon and Prior (the former two historical, the latter fictional) who all seem to encapsulate multiple personalities - in Prior's case these are true multiple personalities, but in the cases of Rivers and Sassoon they are more subtle differences between their empathetic, sensitive, selves and the automatons they become when faced with professional responsibilities or when they otherwise operate from deeper instincts. There are many other threads in the story that I can't possibly mention here.

Parts of the book(s) are brilliant - great language and images, stories and sub plots at times harrowing and at times funny, great character development, witty dialogue. This is not a book that will be easily forgotten. It's also for the most part a great read.

My major criticism is that it should not have been published as three separate books. I read Ghost Road - the Booker winner - first and was disappointed, but loved it the second time around after I read Regeneration and (my favorite) The Eye in the Door. Related to this is the fact that while the books don't stand on their own, the trilogy doesn't really hold together as one novel either. Regeneration takes place mostly in the Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland and focuses on Rivers and his patients (especially Sassoon). Prior is there but not as central a figure as he becomes later. The Eye in the Door takes place mostly in London and centers around Prior, his sexual escapades, his personality disorders, and his attempt to free an old friend and neighbor from prison where she has been charged with plotting to kill the Prime Minister. The Ghost Road returns the focus to Rivers, his patients (but now in a hospital in England), and flashbacks to his research in Melanesia but also weaves into it the experience of Prior now back at the front in France through a journal Prior keeps. All a little confusing for those like me that prefer more of a clear roadmap.

One confusing thing is the focus on homosexuality (or bisexuality in Prior's case). Prior's appetite for sex was impressive and seemed to be very non-distinguishing (except for the fact that he "doesn't pay"). What I couldn't tell for sure was whether Rivers and Sassoon were homosexuals; I think they were but either they had repressed this aspect of their personalities (given the times probably understandable) or what I wasn't clear. I got the impression at points that every man in the story was homosexual or at least potentially so, and I'm not sure if Barker is saying something about the times, the WW1 environment, or just happened to pick out these characters for study. There are also references to nerve regeneration experiments that seemed important - I'm assuming the name of the book is related to this - but I wasn't sure how they tied into everything else. OK, nerve regeneration, psychological regeneration, etc...but so what?

In any case, these books give the reader a lot to think about and while the Ghost Road by itself does not in my opinion deserve a Booker I would say that the trilogy as a whole probably does.

Having just finished Paul Fussell's "cultural essay" on WWI called "The Great War and Modern Memory", I found myself compelled to read this fictionalized account of one of the main figures in Fussell's book, Siegfried Sassoon.

The historical background helped me enjoy this book tremendously, but it shouldn't take anyone long to be drawn into this compelling story about a doctor who is trying to "help" shell-shock victims recover so they can be sent back to the front. The characters are rich, the dialog is sharp, and the plot is riveting. Even the pacing, which I was afraid would drag at times, was excellent. Interestingly, the Sassoon story is only a thread that goes through the book; Barker populates the book with several touching stories and characters, some who become more important to the reader than Sassoon.

I dare you to read this book and not come away with a deeper compassion and sympathy for the soldiers of WWI.

As a stand-alone novel it's good. As book one in a trilogy, it's excellent. You meet the main characters in Regeneration. You learn their secrets in The Eye in the Door. You share their pain in The Ghost Road. It's a very different--and often haunting--look at World War I through its soldiers and their horrors. But it's Barker's writing that makes this trio a "10." There is history, fiction, philosophy, psychiatry, even sex and gore; but all part of the story, none of it gratuitous. She does not clutter her prose with tedious descriptions, yet every picture is crystal clear. She tells you things you don't want to know, through three books you won't want to put down.

In the first book of Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy, the reader is introduced into the psychological consequences of trench fighting during World War. Officers suffering from variations of the controversial shell shock syndrome were commissioned by the British Army to be treated at Craiglockhart, a military hospital outside Edinburgh, with the intention of healing them and sending them back to the front in France. REGENERATION follows a group of officers treated at Craiglockhart as they deal with the horrific events they have witnessed. There is no doubt that what these soldiers experience can disturb even the most strong-minded individual today. The principle psychiatrist is Dr. Rivers, who suffered from his own personal demons and war symptoms. He created strong friendships with many of his patients and cared dearly for their well being. Rivers is a complex, nuanced character. While he portrays an exterior of believing in the War, he holds an internal debate of the War's philosophical warrants.

It was a pure enjoyment to read about WW1, an often forgotten war in the literary world in my own opinion. I was previously unaware to the full extent of the shock and revulsion of trench fighting that the soldiers had to endure. It seems virtually impossible to leave that situation psychologically untouched. REGENERATION contains many horrific scenes that remain with the reader long after the book is put down. Another intriguing aspect of this book concerns the fact that it is a mixture of fact and fiction. Characters such as Siegfried Sassoon and Dr. Rivers existed in real life, although Barker did perform some literary liberties in writing this book. REGENERATION is a book that was difficult to put down. The unique plot grabbed me and held my attention. Although there were many scenes of graphic violence I felt it was an integral part of the plot. It enabled the reader to get a glimpse of what these soldiers endured in the trenches. A well done accomplishment.

This first book in Barker's WWI trilogy is based on the real-life treatment of poet Siegfried Sassoon by psychiatrist and anthropologist Dr. William Rivers at Craiglockhart War Hospital. Sassoon has publicly denounced the war as a "senseless slaughter" and refuses to fight anymore. The powers that be assign him to Rivers' care as a victim of "shell shock" - a traumatic experience that leaves men unable to function. The hospital's aim is not so much to cure as to return men to active duty - an objective that leaves Rivers conflicted as doctor and a humanitarian.

In an era when treatment of mental illnesses was often barbaric, (as in a memorable scene near the book's conclusion), Rivers' treatment plan is to cure with compassion and respect for the patient. He allows these men the freedom to work through their experiences instead of repressing them. In doing so, he takes some of their suffering onto himself, and is changed in the process. The give and take between doctor and patient is the real meat of the story.

But beyond the plot, there's a lot to think about in this novel. In fact, the real genius of this work is not the plot or the characters or the setting, but rather the seemingly endless array of serious ethical questions that crop up as these men struggle with their situations. Was Britain justified in going to war against Germany? Can war ever be moral? Who is responsible for the actions of nations? Do soldiers abdicate their moral responsibilities when they don the uniform? How can a doctor cure a patient's infirmity only to send him back to the front lines to die? How does this apply to conscientious objectors? Is it enough to treat symptoms when the underlying causes are psychological? Barker doesn't provide answers, but wants us to look for them in ourselves.

This would be a terrific book for teaching an ethical philosophy course, and surely that's why this novel is so highly praised by reviewers. However, as an entertainment, this book is substantially less successful. One patient's brief dalliance with a factory girl provides almost our only glimpse of a woman, and even this episode seems tacked on, and is decidedly unromantic. And as one might expect, there is absolutely no trace of humor in this book at all - no one ever cracks a smile, let alone a joke. Less predictably, there's very little action in this book, either. The patients' tales of horrors at the front are powerful enough, but rarely run more than a page or two, and we don't get many of those. So while this is indeed a brilliant work of fiction, it should only be recommended to those who are deeply into ethical philosophy.

It is not often that you find a book that actually makes you sit up and think about the message being conveyed by the author.

This really is a superb book in terms of the character creation and background description to the lives of the young soldiers fighting in the First World War. The relationship between Siegfried Sassoon and Dr. Rivers is an intricate and complex one that is never finally resolved, but both characters are subtly affected by the views of the other.

It is very rare to find a book in a modern literature genre that has a strong and convincing theme. This is one of the first books that I have read since William Boyd that creates an intriguing atmosphere and I am now embarking on The Eye in the Door which is also an equally excellent read.

Pat Barker, I believe, has emerged as one of the strongest authoresses since Iris Murdoch and Virginia Woolf, and I very much look forward to her future novels.

I have just finished "Regeneration" found the experience shattering. While Pat Barker misses some of the aspects/issues involved in masculinity or "being a man," her insights on the ambiguities and ambivalences are sensitive and valuable. Her understanding of the demands and effects of combat contribute to the themes and plot of this novel.

The First World War was the seminal catastrophe of the 20th century [not my phrase]. Pat Barker has tried to explore some of reasons why the previous sentence is true. Class differences and conflicts, the emerging important roles of women in society, the rise of psychological therapy, the incredible ambiguities regarding wartime male relationships and homosexuality are all part of her narrative and the world within the book covers. In no way can these matters be handled broadly or in depth in a tale of 250+ pages but that she can weave them all in with superb writing is testament to an excellent novelist.