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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I liked the first and third book of this series more than the middle book (although it was good). WWI, literature, mental health, anthropology, death, culture, sexuality are all considered in detail in this book.
Recommended that anyone who appreciates WWI poetry/literature read this entire trilogy which does include historical figures although it is itself fiction.
Recommended that anyone who appreciates WWI poetry/literature read this entire trilogy which does include historical figures although it is itself fiction.
I have conflicting feelings about Remembrance Day, and the public reverence of World War I in both Britain and Australia. I suspect that for most of the 20th century, when the war was a real event in the living memory of many people, that it was probably purely a day of remembrance and reflection. Now, in the age of 9/11 and Iraq and Afghanistan, when it seems so distant as to be entirely mythical, I think our society’s perception of World War I – and, by extension, all wars – has slipped back towards the jingoism and nationalism of the 19th century ruling class who propagated it in the first place. I stood at the moat of the Tower of London last week, amongst crushing crowds, and admired Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Redt for the striking public artwork that it is – but I couldn’t help but feel unsettled by this sanitised, aestheticised depiction of war, which has become the accepted norm.
Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy – which begins with Regeneration, continues in The Eye In The Door and concludes with the Booker Prize-winning The Ghost Road – is an incredibly important piece of contemporary literature which highlights the real, ugly truth of the war; one of the most important truths being the fact that it had terrible effects on everybody it touched, not just the young men who lost their lives. (And I use the word “lost” rather than “gave” very intentionally.) It’s notable that The Ghost Road is the first novel in the series which actually has scenes set in the war zone that aren’t memories, dreams or flashbacks. The previous two books, especially The Eye in the Door, focused as much on the wives, mothers, pacifists, protesters and wounded as they did on the soldiers and the dead. That’s another side effect of our reverence for veterans and war dead; it marginalises the effects war has on civilians.
From a purely technical standpoint The Ghost Road is certainly the finest book in the trilogy, and a deserving winner of the Booker Prize. It cleanly narrows the scope down to two of the trilogy’s main characters: Dr Rivers, a fictionalised version of the real-life psychologist who treated traumatised soldiers, and Billy Prior, Barker’s fictional working class officer who returns to the front despite an opportunity for a desk role, out of an ineffable sense of duty towards his fellow soldiers. Prior’s experience at the front is contrasted with Rivers’ treatment of the wounded in London, and a surprisingly extensive flashback sequence detailing Rivers’ time as an anthropologist in the South Pacific, which serves as a comparative metaphor about death and its effect on those who remain living. I criticised Barker’s writing style in Regeneration and to a lesser extent The Eye In The Door because much of it involved conversations between two men sitting on opposite sides of a desk. The Ghost Road, however, has a wonderful sense of physical beauty, from a tropical beach in Melanesia to the ruins of an overgrown French village:
I’ve always appreciated this trilogy for its brutal and honest depiction of the war, but The Ghost Road is the first of Barker’s books which I actually enjoyed as a novel as well.
It’s not easy (and nor should it be) to criticise the manner in which nations memorialise their war dead; it can easily come off as churlish and cynical. I don’t mean to suggest this day of remembrance should be done away with. But I feel uneasy about a ritual which has begun to take on symbolic, semi-religious overtones, with its symbols (poppies) and incantations (Gallipoli, Anzac, lest we forget). From the earliest days of primary school I’ve had those words drilled into my head, long before I could properly appreciate and understand even the concept of war. During the minute’s silence in November I’d imagine myself in the trenches with rifle and bayonet in hand – not an empathic act of remembrance, but rather a boyish adventure fantasy. I doubt I was the only one. When the symbols and artworks of our remembrance are sanitised, when our politicians repeatedly say things as trite and false as "they died for our freedom", and when the right wing can reposition World War I into a more pleasing arrangement of good vs evil, it’s clear that our society is deeply conflicted about how it wishes to portray this war. Barker’s Regeneration trilogy does us a great service by presenting the era in all its ugly detail; not just the grisly slaughter of the front, but the twisted politics of British imperialism, class warfare and capitalism which led to it. The Regeneration trilogy is a warning that while we must remember, we must not remember selectively.
Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy – which begins with Regeneration, continues in The Eye In The Door and concludes with the Booker Prize-winning The Ghost Road – is an incredibly important piece of contemporary literature which highlights the real, ugly truth of the war; one of the most important truths being the fact that it had terrible effects on everybody it touched, not just the young men who lost their lives. (And I use the word “lost” rather than “gave” very intentionally.) It’s notable that The Ghost Road is the first novel in the series which actually has scenes set in the war zone that aren’t memories, dreams or flashbacks. The previous two books, especially The Eye in the Door, focused as much on the wives, mothers, pacifists, protesters and wounded as they did on the soldiers and the dead. That’s another side effect of our reverence for veterans and war dead; it marginalises the effects war has on civilians.
From a purely technical standpoint The Ghost Road is certainly the finest book in the trilogy, and a deserving winner of the Booker Prize. It cleanly narrows the scope down to two of the trilogy’s main characters: Dr Rivers, a fictionalised version of the real-life psychologist who treated traumatised soldiers, and Billy Prior, Barker’s fictional working class officer who returns to the front despite an opportunity for a desk role, out of an ineffable sense of duty towards his fellow soldiers. Prior’s experience at the front is contrasted with Rivers’ treatment of the wounded in London, and a surprisingly extensive flashback sequence detailing Rivers’ time as an anthropologist in the South Pacific, which serves as a comparative metaphor about death and its effect on those who remain living. I criticised Barker’s writing style in Regeneration and to a lesser extent The Eye In The Door because much of it involved conversations between two men sitting on opposite sides of a desk. The Ghost Road, however, has a wonderful sense of physical beauty, from a tropical beach in Melanesia to the ruins of an overgrown French village:
A labyrinth of green pathways led from garden to garden, and they slipped from one to another, over broken walls or through splintered fences, skirting bramble-filled craters, brushing down paths overgrown with weeds, with flowers that had seeded themselves and become rank, with overgrown roses that snagged their sleeves and pulled them back. Snails crunched under their boots, nettles stung their hands, cuckoo spit flecked a bare neck, but the secret path wound on.
I’ve always appreciated this trilogy for its brutal and honest depiction of the war, but The Ghost Road is the first of Barker’s books which I actually enjoyed as a novel as well.
It’s not easy (and nor should it be) to criticise the manner in which nations memorialise their war dead; it can easily come off as churlish and cynical. I don’t mean to suggest this day of remembrance should be done away with. But I feel uneasy about a ritual which has begun to take on symbolic, semi-religious overtones, with its symbols (poppies) and incantations (Gallipoli, Anzac, lest we forget). From the earliest days of primary school I’ve had those words drilled into my head, long before I could properly appreciate and understand even the concept of war. During the minute’s silence in November I’d imagine myself in the trenches with rifle and bayonet in hand – not an empathic act of remembrance, but rather a boyish adventure fantasy. I doubt I was the only one. When the symbols and artworks of our remembrance are sanitised, when our politicians repeatedly say things as trite and false as "they died for our freedom", and when the right wing can reposition World War I into a more pleasing arrangement of good vs evil, it’s clear that our society is deeply conflicted about how it wishes to portray this war. Barker’s Regeneration trilogy does us a great service by presenting the era in all its ugly detail; not just the grisly slaughter of the front, but the twisted politics of British imperialism, class warfare and capitalism which led to it. The Regeneration trilogy is a warning that while we must remember, we must not remember selectively.
Although the inevitability of the results of war will be obvious to any reader, the ending of this novel will be one that stays with you for a long time. I love how Barker contrasts the horrific nature of war with absurd humour or crude sexual descriptions, which helps to make the First World War seem more real. Whilst it does not glamorise the soldiers, there is an equal mix of dignity and gross description which cannot have any dignity. My eyes were opened by this series in ways I did not expect concerning the horrors of war, homosexuality and masculinity. I found that it conveyed the horrors of war in more convincing detail and brutality than many of the war poems I have read. Prior has become my favourite character for his honest look at life and his humanity: it almost made me wish he was a real person at the end of the novel. This novel makes Rivers out to be an observer more than a carer than in the first novel, which suggests his inability to stop the war or his patients reentering it. The anthropological study with Rivers was an interesting contrast but not the easiest to link to the home or Western Front chapters, which I felt divided the book in two. Barker's description and metaphors are powerfully impactful, and I would recommend this series to anyone.
Whilst this is possibly my least favourite of the three books of the Regeneration trilogy, in a way it's also the most interesting and certainly the most moving. This final book really draws the themes of the previous together: war, sex, death, psychological trauma, the concepts of a 'civilised society' and a 'just war'.
The contrast between a Britain at war and all the damage that war inflicts on the psyche, contrasted with Rivers' experiences amongst the people of Solomon Islands, really serves to raise the question of just how 'civilised' a supposedly civilised society is. Are the headhunting practices of these people any more or less barbaric than a society that sends an entire generation into the guns and the shellholes and a bloody and painful death?
The contrast between a Britain at war and all the damage that war inflicts on the psyche, contrasted with Rivers' experiences amongst the people of Solomon Islands, really serves to raise the question of just how 'civilised' a supposedly civilised society is. Are the headhunting practices of these people any more or less barbaric than a society that sends an entire generation into the guns and the shellholes and a bloody and painful death?
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This one is difficult to review because, while I didn't enjoy it necessarily, I found it compulsively readable and I think it will be one that will remain with me for a while. Telling the story from the perspectives of both Rivers (real historical person) and Prior (Barker's creation) gave an interesting blend of reality and fiction. although I enjoyed the perspectives of these two men, I found the secondary characters extremely hard to keep track of, with similar names and barely any physical description provided. which I guess was probably a lot of The Point, in terms of the anonymity and loss of individuality in war, as Prior ruminates on towards the end of the novel.
I haven't read the previous two books in the trilogy. I picked this one up after watching the film Benediction about Siegfried Sassoon, and finding out that Pat Barker had written a novel in which he is one of the main characters. I saw this one in the bookshop a few days later and thought they were the same, but the one I wanted was Regeneration, the first in the trilogy. I still want to read that--I think Barker's version of Craiglockhart and the psychological impact of war would be very interesting.
Overall, I feel that this book, for me, could be anywhere from a 2 to a 5 star book, depending on how I'm feeling. I didn't love it, but I felt genuinely emotional throughout, especially in parts 2 and 3. Certainly one that will stick with me, especially if I'm reading or watching anything related to WW1.
I haven't read the previous two books in the trilogy. I picked this one up after watching the film Benediction about Siegfried Sassoon, and finding out that Pat Barker had written a novel in which he is one of the main characters. I saw this one in the bookshop a few days later and thought they were the same, but the one I wanted was Regeneration, the first in the trilogy. I still want to read that--I think Barker's version of Craiglockhart and the psychological impact of war would be very interesting.
Overall, I feel that this book, for me, could be anywhere from a 2 to a 5 star book, depending on how I'm feeling. I didn't love it, but I felt genuinely emotional throughout, especially in parts 2 and 3. Certainly one that will stick with me, especially if I'm reading or watching anything related to WW1.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, War
This 288 page historical (WWI) fiction by Pat Barker, published by First Plume Printing in 1996, is entitled Ghost Road. It is the final book in the Regeneration Trilogy and winner of the 1995 Man Booker Prize.
The plot follows a few characters–William Rivers is psychologically treating soldiers in England, Billy Prior and Wilfred Owen are in the war, and then we also get flashbacks of Rivers in the South Pacific among a tribe with a death culture being repressed by English values.
Besides all the sex in this book, it wasn’t too bad to trudge through. I haven’t read many WWI books and I will probably continue that tradition after reading The Ghost Road. While it had many interesting themes, and I did enjoy Rivers’s flashbacks immensely, the majority of the novel felt a little tedious and slow (sort of like trench warfare, ya, I get it).
Later in the book, Billy Prior has journal entries which saved his character for me, because I didn’t really like him through the beginning of the novel.
Immediately after finishing I wrote this down:
Part 1: 1/5 stars
Part 2: 3/5 stars
Part 3: 2.5/5 stars
Just for reference.
If you like war novels, you’ll probably love this. If you like WWI novels, you will probably adore it. I, however, had to force myself to finish just for the class. Overall impression: Oy, the English should stop being so Imperial and just deal with their own trauma already, JEESH. It was okay.
The plot follows a few characters–William Rivers is psychologically treating soldiers in England, Billy Prior and Wilfred Owen are in the war, and then we also get flashbacks of Rivers in the South Pacific among a tribe with a death culture being repressed by English values.
Besides all the sex in this book, it wasn’t too bad to trudge through. I haven’t read many WWI books and I will probably continue that tradition after reading The Ghost Road. While it had many interesting themes, and I did enjoy Rivers’s flashbacks immensely, the majority of the novel felt a little tedious and slow (sort of like trench warfare, ya, I get it).
Later in the book, Billy Prior has journal entries which saved his character for me, because I didn’t really like him through the beginning of the novel.
Immediately after finishing I wrote this down:
Part 1: 1/5 stars
Part 2: 3/5 stars
Part 3: 2.5/5 stars
Just for reference.
If you like war novels, you’ll probably love this. If you like WWI novels, you will probably adore it. I, however, had to force myself to finish just for the class. Overall impression: Oy, the English should stop being so Imperial and just deal with their own trauma already, JEESH. It was okay.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes