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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Fabulous read in its literary and historical descriptions and storylines, and feminist perspective into the trauma and horror of WW1 and the guilt felt by the damaged survivors. Very clever retelling of WW1 and the new methods of psychiatry--trying to heal the damaged men in order to return them to the front.
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abortion
Minor: Classism
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I have a goal of reading every Booker and Pulitzer winner, which requires more reading than you’d think, because some of them are part of a larger series and I don’t like to read things in isolation. 1995’s winner, The Ghost Road, is the final part of a trilogy which begins with Regeneration.
Regeneration takes place during World War I, largely revolving around British psychiatrist W.H.R. Rivers and the various shell-shocked soldiers under his care at Craiglockhart, a military hospital in Scotland. World War I was the first major war in which many soldiers experienced post-traumatic stress disorder – or, perhaps, the first major war in which the authorities took notice of it. Most of the patients are at Craiglockhart to be treated for shellshock or some variation of it; one of the central characters, poet Siegried Sassoon, is there because he wrote an open letter denouncing the war and one of his well-placed friends managed to have the military consider that a symptom of trauma, rather than treason deserving a court-martial. I was a fair way into the novel before finding out that many of the characters were in fact real people, including Rivers and Sassoon; other real life figures making an appearance include Robert Graves and Wilfred Owen.
Regeneration was apparently widely acclaimed, although I don’t see why. It’s by no means a bad novel – it’s well-written, and it tackles serious themes such as pacifism, masculinity and psychology. But there was no particular element in it which made me think it was something really, truly special, and I doubt it’s a book I’ll remember much of down the line. I wouldn’t read the next two books if I didn’t want to tick off all the Booker winners.
Regeneration takes place during World War I, largely revolving around British psychiatrist W.H.R. Rivers and the various shell-shocked soldiers under his care at Craiglockhart, a military hospital in Scotland. World War I was the first major war in which many soldiers experienced post-traumatic stress disorder – or, perhaps, the first major war in which the authorities took notice of it. Most of the patients are at Craiglockhart to be treated for shellshock or some variation of it; one of the central characters, poet Siegried Sassoon, is there because he wrote an open letter denouncing the war and one of his well-placed friends managed to have the military consider that a symptom of trauma, rather than treason deserving a court-martial. I was a fair way into the novel before finding out that many of the characters were in fact real people, including Rivers and Sassoon; other real life figures making an appearance include Robert Graves and Wilfred Owen.
Regeneration was apparently widely acclaimed, although I don’t see why. It’s by no means a bad novel – it’s well-written, and it tackles serious themes such as pacifism, masculinity and psychology. But there was no particular element in it which made me think it was something really, truly special, and I doubt it’s a book I’ll remember much of down the line. I wouldn’t read the next two books if I didn’t want to tick off all the Booker winners.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-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
I found this a fascinating book!! I am really interested in anything about medicine and so found the description of early psychological treatments of WWI veterans very interesting. Also, that the whole trilogy is based on fact, on the real life meeting of the poet Sigfried Sassoon and his doctor during his rehabilitation W.H.R. Rivers. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
This fictionalized biography of Siegfried Sassoon is masterfully written. It's introspective without lagging; it's complex without being convoluted or self-absorbed. The characters are carefully inspected.
As someone with a vested interested in mental health care and the treatment of mental illness, it's fascinating and heart-breaking to see how far we've come. Without spoilers, there is the practice of things that we would not, today, consider medicine. It's shocking and painful and real, but it avoids sensationalizing these horrors. Unlike other books where a bulk of the action takes place in a mental hospital, there are no demons: there are misguided people who, knowing what they know and not what we know, cannot do anything else.
As someone with a vested interested in mental health care and the treatment of mental illness, it's fascinating and heart-breaking to see how far we've come. Without spoilers, there is the practice of things that we would not, today, consider medicine. It's shocking and painful and real, but it avoids sensationalizing these horrors. Unlike other books where a bulk of the action takes place in a mental hospital, there are no demons: there are misguided people who, knowing what they know and not what we know, cannot do anything else.