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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I'd been after this book for some time, as I'm obsessed with WWI, and my two favourite war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, are featured in it as characters. Barker portrays memorably and with great sensitivity the plight of soldiers hospitalized for psychiatric disorders caused by traumatic experiences in the front. Labelled alternatively as cowards and weaklings, or even pathologized because of their sexual orientation, the patients and the doctors in charge of them must deal with after-effects that will remain with them for life, but which being invisible to others do not confer upon them the status of heroes maimed in battle which blindness or amputation do. A brave and valuable account of the human cost of trench warfare.
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
dark
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Couvade- the custom in some cultures in which a man takes to his bed and goes through certain rituals when his child is being born, as though he were physically affected by the birth.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I found it to be very thought provoking, especially drawing comparisons of mental health nursing WW1 to the nursing that I have been learning and participating in myself as I train.
Not only did it interest me from the perspective of comparing the different time periods, but the characters and their experiences were written in a way that made you really feel for every one of them. I liked how nothing was black and white, and I particularly enjoyed Rivers' internal monologues as he considered the reason for why the men reacted the way they did, and seeing his thoughts change throughout the novel as the different patients influenced him.
My only issue with this book is that I found some characters weren't properly introduced, which made them forgettable for me personally. That way when a character came back into the story who had been mentioned in the first few chapters I was doing a lot of flicking backwards and forwards to figure out who was who. I also found that sometimes, characters were occasionally more about their condition, rather than a character who happened to have a mental health condition. This may have been due to the nature of the book but I did find it a little uncomfortable that I could mainly recognise certain characters from what their symptoms had been described as.
Overall though this was an extremely interesting read from both the perspective of a casual reader, and from the perspective of someone who has experienced a modern day psychiatric ward. It provided some good points for consideration and discussion, and also made you emotionally invested through the characters themselves. Following on from this book I am definitely interested to read more around the issues that this book tackles.
Not only did it interest me from the perspective of comparing the different time periods, but the characters and their experiences were written in a way that made you really feel for every one of them. I liked how nothing was black and white, and I particularly enjoyed Rivers' internal monologues as he considered the reason for why the men reacted the way they did, and seeing his thoughts change throughout the novel as the different patients influenced him.
My only issue with this book is that I found some characters weren't properly introduced, which made them forgettable for me personally. That way when a character came back into the story who had been mentioned in the first few chapters I was doing a lot of flicking backwards and forwards to figure out who was who. I also found that sometimes, characters were occasionally more about their condition, rather than a character who happened to have a mental health condition. This may have been due to the nature of the book but I did find it a little uncomfortable that I could mainly recognise certain characters from what their symptoms had been described as.
Overall though this was an extremely interesting read from both the perspective of a casual reader, and from the perspective of someone who has experienced a modern day psychiatric ward. It provided some good points for consideration and discussion, and also made you emotionally invested through the characters themselves. Following on from this book I am definitely interested to read more around the issues that this book tackles.
This was a well, constructed and interesting book about a psychiatric hospital for traumatised soldiers in World War 1. Inpatients in the hospital include poet, Siegfried Sassoon who has been sent there after declaring that he no longer supported the War. Wilfred Owen, another poet, is also an inpatient.
Overall, I enjoyed the book but I wasn't gripped by it. I expected a bit more about the relationship between Sassoon and Owen. I would have liked a bit more depth and description to embellish the interesting story. It dose have a powerful message about the terrors of War and the mental trauma many soldiers and officers suffered from during the 1st World War and in subsequent Wars.
Overall, I enjoyed the book but I wasn't gripped by it. I expected a bit more about the relationship between Sassoon and Owen. I would have liked a bit more depth and description to embellish the interesting story. It dose have a powerful message about the terrors of War and the mental trauma many soldiers and officers suffered from during the 1st World War and in subsequent Wars.
Unsparing look at the treatment of shell-shocked soldiers during WWI. Barker delves into the carnage of the war and its effects on survivor's, including the humane and inhumane "cures" for those broken down by the Front. Based on Siegfried Sassoon's stay at Craiglockhart War Hospital and experience with the equally weary Dr. Rivers. An amazing read.