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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Unrated
Honestly, not a bad ending. (Though the rest of it was kind of a drag through the mud)
Honestly, not a bad ending. (Though the rest of it was kind of a drag through the mud)
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
War is a complex beast, and nothing demonstrates that so well as an examination of shellshock during the First World War. Fiction and fact are expertly woven together to give a rich account of society, medical practice, masculinity and the way that unprecedented aspects of a new form of war shattered people's understanding of all of it.
How do we heal? And what facilitates healing? And, if we can answer that question, what causes pain and suffering, and who is responsible for those wounds? Using the background of WWI and a bevy of historical domain characters, this book seeks to answer those questions, and honestly I think it does a fine job. It's certainly, along with its two sequels, one of my favorite books I've read as an adult... or, ever. You could justifiably say I'm biased, but I think it's a modern classic. The quick and easy prose only speeds it along, making it a slick novel to read that's nonetheless deeply feeling and contemplative. Five stars isn't enough, frankly.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
A magnificent novel of World War I. Siegfried Sassoon has been sent to a hopsital for shell-shocked soldiers, where his newly found pacifism is to be treated as a mental illness. Dr. Rivers, the brilliant, overworked physician assigned to his case, must try to change Sassoon's mind. But Rivers himself is beginning to have doubts, as he sees the way that the war has affected the men in his charge as as the casualties mount. One of the fascinating aspects of this novel is the fact that warfare at the time was such a strictly male realm, and the novel raises many questions about masculinity.
I was a little underwhelmed by Regeneration, considering the fact it has gotten such glowing praise. It felt a little shaky, on the prose front, to be considered a modern classic. However, the characters, real and fictional, are compelling, and I will pick up the next in Barker's trilogy, not for the story, but for her characters.
(Fiction, Historical, WWI)
I eagerly anticipated Pat Barker’s WWI trilogy that starts with this novel, a Booker Prize nominee. But I wasn’t aware that Regeneration is based on real-life decorated British officer, poet, and pacifist Siegfried Sassoon.
It turns out that I’m not that interested in Sassoon and would rather have had a good plot than good history. Regeneration is good writing, but I was much more moved by fictional pacifist Robert Ross in Timothy Findley’s The Wars.
Read this if: you’re interested in finding out about Sassoon and the numerous soldiers, both officers and enlisted men, who questioned the morality of the Great War as it was being fought. 4 stars
I eagerly anticipated Pat Barker’s WWI trilogy that starts with this novel, a Booker Prize nominee. But I wasn’t aware that Regeneration is based on real-life decorated British officer, poet, and pacifist Siegfried Sassoon.
It turns out that I’m not that interested in Sassoon and would rather have had a good plot than good history. Regeneration is good writing, but I was much more moved by fictional pacifist Robert Ross in Timothy Findley’s The Wars.
Read this if: you’re interested in finding out about Sassoon and the numerous soldiers, both officers and enlisted men, who questioned the morality of the Great War as it was being fought. 4 stars