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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I can't imagine what it was like being part of WW1 but this book brought me close. Very hard to read but brilliantly written. Can't wait to read the other parts.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First encountered this book several years ago in a university writing class (Literature of the First World War) and got really into it. We sadly only read part of it and now, years later, found the book again and read it in full.
It's not a gripping page turner, nor is it your standard war novel full of battlefield exploits. It's a psychological exploration of men dealing with war trauma.
Though the book is fiction, Pat Barker has dived deep into historical records and research to feature historical figures as the main characters in this book and from what I was able to gather through my own parallel googling, most of what she's depicted is fairly accurate.
As the first in a trilogy, I think 'Regeneration' is a strong entry into the series' themes of war trauma, masculinity in turn-of-the-century Britain, mental illness and its treatment and homosexuality. It's full of conflicted characters and a sense of inevitability that neither the characters nor we, the readers, can quite look away from.
It's not a gripping page turner, nor is it your standard war novel full of battlefield exploits. It's a psychological exploration of men dealing with war trauma.
Though the book is fiction, Pat Barker has dived deep into historical records and research to feature historical figures as the main characters in this book and from what I was able to gather through my own parallel googling, most of what she's depicted is fairly accurate.
As the first in a trilogy, I think 'Regeneration' is a strong entry into the series' themes of war trauma, masculinity in turn-of-the-century Britain, mental illness and its treatment and homosexuality. It's full of conflicted characters and a sense of inevitability that neither the characters nor we, the readers, can quite look away from.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
04/12/23 n.b. but i read this book in 2017 for school when i was 19, and now i've read way too many wwi books and want to go to grad school to study literature of and concerning the first world war. i think theres some kind of slippery slope lesson here but im not quite sure what it is other than i desperately need to revisit this trilogy because girl i have so much to say now
--
I had to read this for school, and I'm glad I did because it was interesting, if slow and with a clear message: war is bad. This novel focuses on Rivers and a group of patients with shell-shock at a ward during World War I. It's a look at early techniques in psychiatry and how absolutely horrible war is. Regeneration also includes many historical characters; Rivers himself was real, Sassoon was a conscientious objector and of course, the poet Owen is also present.
There are a handful of other characters that stand out: Burns, who can't eat due to his trauma, and Prior, who is selectively mute. It's an interesting demonstration of how war trauma affects people. My complaint is that at times it felt like the novel was written simply to showcase the horrors and aftereffects of the war; there wasn't much of a plot other than that.
I feel like how Baker uses fictionalized versions of real characters to tell a story lessens its impact. Now, I actually have read a history book about Britain's anti-war movement, and I can't remember reading about Owen or Sassoon, but this book makes me want to revisit it. Is it better to read a fictionalized version of events that gets the message across, or a history book that tells many different sides? I guess it's just preference.
--
I had to read this for school, and I'm glad I did because it was interesting, if slow and with a clear message: war is bad. This novel focuses on Rivers and a group of patients with shell-shock at a ward during World War I. It's a look at early techniques in psychiatry and how absolutely horrible war is. Regeneration also includes many historical characters; Rivers himself was real, Sassoon was a conscientious objector and of course, the poet Owen is also present.
There are a handful of other characters that stand out: Burns, who can't eat due to his trauma, and Prior, who is selectively mute. It's an interesting demonstration of how war trauma affects people. My complaint is that at times it felt like the novel was written simply to showcase the horrors and aftereffects of the war; there wasn't much of a plot other than that.
I feel like how Baker uses fictionalized versions of real characters to tell a story lessens its impact. Now, I actually have read a history book about Britain's anti-war movement, and I can't remember reading about Owen or Sassoon, but this book makes me want to revisit it. Is it better to read a fictionalized version of events that gets the message across, or a history book that tells many different sides? I guess it's just preference.
Ohhhh I loved this so much! Barker writes in clear sighted prose that never romanticises horror while also being deeply empathic towards all her characters.
An excellent read for anyone interested in the first world war, or the psychology of war neurosis. Barker writes so well that the book just flies by, and the novel gets even better if re-read.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I found Regeneration to be slow paced, but with a great focus on character development. Using real war poets - Sassoon, Owens - Pat Barker used historical parts of their lives and their published poems to make the book more engrossing and informative.
An excellent book, lives with you for a long time afterward. Written in a slow, lingering prose which suits the time period excellently. It’s a tale not of the war itself, but of the psychological traumas suffered by soldiers and their treatment at a mental institution under the care of kindly Dr Rivers. It incorporates real people – Dr Rivers was an actual psychiatrist – and the poet Seigfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and so on.
The moral dilemma Rivers faces is that the patients are being treated until they are fit enough to return to the trenches and fight again.
I could barely read the section on electric shock therapy it was so horrendous. That they could have treated soldiers with nothing less than torture is just unbelievable.
It’s inspired me to read Wilfred Owen’s poetry now, it seems the BBC does a very good rendition of it which is worth looking at.
I suppose my only qualm about the book is that by fictionalising the lives of real people there is a fair amount of guesswork involved. Its like any historical novel – can we be sure Dr Rivers really was like that? Would Sassoon actually have thought and spoken as he did?
The nightmares of the soldiers struck a cord with me – my Granddad fought in the Somme and was plagued with nightmares for years afterward, something he would never talk about. Him and thousands of others I suppose.
It reminded me of a story I heard recently from my home town. There was a railway ticket collector there who fought in the War and had his arm and part of his face blown off. Afterwards he returned to work but to little sympathy, as customers at the station were disturbed by his grotesque appearance and he was eventually sacked from his job. Local townsfolk got to hear of this, and there was a campaign by the newspaper and local dignitaries to have him re-instated which he eventually was. But it wasn’t enough for him, with no counselling or help he turned to drink and was found hanged in the Railway Hotel a few years later. The war cast a long shadow over that generation.
The moral dilemma Rivers faces is that the patients are being treated until they are fit enough to return to the trenches and fight again.
I could barely read the section on electric shock therapy it was so horrendous. That they could have treated soldiers with nothing less than torture is just unbelievable.
It’s inspired me to read Wilfred Owen’s poetry now, it seems the BBC does a very good rendition of it which is worth looking at.
I suppose my only qualm about the book is that by fictionalising the lives of real people there is a fair amount of guesswork involved. Its like any historical novel – can we be sure Dr Rivers really was like that? Would Sassoon actually have thought and spoken as he did?
The nightmares of the soldiers struck a cord with me – my Granddad fought in the Somme and was plagued with nightmares for years afterward, something he would never talk about. Him and thousands of others I suppose.
It reminded me of a story I heard recently from my home town. There was a railway ticket collector there who fought in the War and had his arm and part of his face blown off. Afterwards he returned to work but to little sympathy, as customers at the station were disturbed by his grotesque appearance and he was eventually sacked from his job. Local townsfolk got to hear of this, and there was a campaign by the newspaper and local dignitaries to have him re-instated which he eventually was. But it wasn’t enough for him, with no counselling or help he turned to drink and was found hanged in the Railway Hotel a few years later. The war cast a long shadow over that generation.