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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
This is a brilliant book; harrowing and brilliant, and beautifully written.
The novel’s central character is the anthropologist turned psychiatrist William Rivers, who is treating victims of breakdown at Craiglockhart hospital in Edinburgh. He is a real figure, as are two of his patients, war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. There are also other real characters in the book including Robert Graves, friend of Sassoon, as well as Dr Lewis Yealland, a fellow psychiatrist. Yealland's “treatment” to cure a patient who has been rendered mute by his war experiences is, to me, one of the most difficult to read parts of the novel. Rivers is present as Yealland’s guest at this event during which Yealland uses severe electric shocks as his method, which seemed to me to be barbaric, but did achieve results, though at what expense, wonders Rivers afterwards.
The descriptions of the war in the trenches are horrific and the contrast between them and the lives of the people at home is stark and does not reflect well on many of the people described, almost in passing. The prevalent attitude to “shell shock” during the first world war is, when viewed from a 21st century point of view, almost impossible to credit, but is a consistent thread throughout the book.
Although Rivers’ views and treatment methods are sympathetic and more acceptable to us, he remains contemporary in his views - his belief being that "the war must be fought to a finish, for the sake of the succeeding generations". However, by the end of the book he has become more of the same mind as Sassoon when he considers that “A society that devours its own young deserves no automatic or unquestioning allegiance”.
The novel’s central character is the anthropologist turned psychiatrist William Rivers, who is treating victims of breakdown at Craiglockhart hospital in Edinburgh. He is a real figure, as are two of his patients, war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. There are also other real characters in the book including Robert Graves, friend of Sassoon, as well as Dr Lewis Yealland, a fellow psychiatrist. Yealland's “treatment” to cure a patient who has been rendered mute by his war experiences is, to me, one of the most difficult to read parts of the novel. Rivers is present as Yealland’s guest at this event during which Yealland uses severe electric shocks as his method, which seemed to me to be barbaric, but did achieve results, though at what expense, wonders Rivers afterwards.
The descriptions of the war in the trenches are horrific and the contrast between them and the lives of the people at home is stark and does not reflect well on many of the people described, almost in passing. The prevalent attitude to “shell shock” during the first world war is, when viewed from a 21st century point of view, almost impossible to credit, but is a consistent thread throughout the book.
Although Rivers’ views and treatment methods are sympathetic and more acceptable to us, he remains contemporary in his views - his belief being that "the war must be fought to a finish, for the sake of the succeeding generations". However, by the end of the book he has become more of the same mind as Sassoon when he considers that “A society that devours its own young deserves no automatic or unquestioning allegiance”.
Certainly not your typical book about war, the narrative centers around a British officer in World War I who declares his opposition to the war and is subjected to psychological treatment to bring his thinking back to "normal". This really should be a companion piece to Joseph Heller's Catch-22, even if written in a much more "serious" manner. While fictional, the story is very much based on true events and actual characters. Despite that solid foundation, I found the writing too often out of focus and less than clear as to the writer's intent. This book is the first of a highly regarded trilogy, the later books getting stronger praise, so I'm unclear at this point if this is really the lesser of the three books, and should continue with the series, or if writer's style will always be a step behind the power of her subject. Ultimately, it's a thought-provoking read, if not always satisfying.
Remarkably tender. There is passion in the words - this is a very lovingly-crafted book.
This took me a really long time to get through, but it's excellent. Difficult. Uncomfortable. Powerful.
Offering a tragic and confronting view on the outcomes of war, there is no denying that the themes covered in Regeneration make it an important book to read.
How the First World War impacted those who fought in it and the limbo so many of them found themselves in between wanting to fight and wanting to live, makes the whole notion of war seem cruel and absurd.
The stories assigned to each of these men, each horrific, makes you wonder how there can be any expectation for these soldiers to return to any kind of normalcy should they survive. Barker captured their agony in a raw, tortured and defeated way which accentuated the hopelessness of their reality. She unpacked what we now refer to as PTSD, and demanded we stare it directly the face.
I only wish we got to stay with some of the characters longer, to get to know them better, allowing us to feel for them as individuals rather than as a collective.
How the First World War impacted those who fought in it and the limbo so many of them found themselves in between wanting to fight and wanting to live, makes the whole notion of war seem cruel and absurd.
The stories assigned to each of these men, each horrific, makes you wonder how there can be any expectation for these soldiers to return to any kind of normalcy should they survive. Barker captured their agony in a raw, tortured and defeated way which accentuated the hopelessness of their reality. She unpacked what we now refer to as PTSD, and demanded we stare it directly the face.
I only wish we got to stay with some of the characters longer, to get to know them better, allowing us to feel for them as individuals rather than as a collective.
slow-paced
No joke: I love the war poets. I fell in love with Wilfred Owen's poetry at a Rememberance Day service in London in 2001. There is something raw and intense and bleak and honest about his poetry that moves me. Owen may just be a supporting character in this novel--which focuses on poet Siegfried Sassoon's time in Craiglockhart Hospital, the doctor who treated him, and the implications of war and shell-shock and pacifism and psychology and a whole lot of other stuff--but it's one of the best novels about WWI's impact that I think I've ever read. While All Quiet on the Western Front deals with the violence and horror of battle, Barker's novel examines the emotional, spiritual, and psychological toll on these men who find themselves shattered--and then find their manhood questioned for that as well. It's empathetic and thoughtful but in that understated British way that isn't flashy or overly emotional or flowery. It's modern and spare and just pretty excellent. I am excited to read the rest of the trilogy.
Such a wonderful novel which combines the factual with the fictitious. A brilliant blend and Barker does an amazing job recreating historical figures and contexts as well as matching them with characters of her own invention who seem just as real as the poets and soldiers of history.
This book follows the lives of soldiers after having suffered breakdowns or ailments that have forced them off the front line. Its an interesting story that is usually brushed over in an attempt to see all the men as heroes, but we learn its never as black and white as that. I liked that there were well known poets trying to figure out the meaning of the war, as the backdrop to the struggles of the patients and workers. The accounts of soldiers stories, specifically that of Burns, and the downright torture witnessed at the end, is harrowing but important to our understanding of our history.