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lucy_clay 's review for:
The Ghost Road
by Pat Barker
The Ghost Road, the final book in the ‘Regeneration’ trilogy, is the perfect culmination of Barker’s exploration of the impacts of war on civilians and soldiers. Whereas Regeneration focused mainly on the lasting effects of war on returning and wounded soldiers, and The Eye in the Door explored the government’s attitude to traitors and spies, the Ghost Road ties together loose ends and stories from Barker’s characters, showing the final days of WWI and the toll that the slow dragging on of the war has taken.
Billy Prior is, once again, the main focus of the book. Whilst I was slightly disappointed with Prior’s character development and journey in the second book, The Eye in the Door, Barker continues to explore the impact of the war on this individual, with great effect. His sex-crazed attitude, relationship with Sarah and eventual desire to return to war are all well formed, creating a chilling character whose entire life has been shaped by the horrors he has faced. Prior is a difficult character to like in many ways, yet Barker does a great job of making the reader continue to root for him, understanding that his experiences of war have led to his current attitudes.
Rivers, ill with influenza, begins to remember his past. His memories take us back to his expedition to Melanesia whilst researching a tribe of head-hunters. Whilst this perspective provided fresh insight into the character, rather than continuing the focus on his treatment of patients, this was the most underwhelming part of the book. It served to discuss our attitudes to war, especially the white man’s disgust of head-hunting, despite the mass casualties of the war raging around him. However, I was expecting this lengthy storyline to go somewhere more: there was no great reveal or deepening of Rivers’ character and I was left wanting more as I turned the final page.
A poignant and well-written finale to the series, I was impressed with The Ghost Road, which left me with the overwhelming sense of loss caused by this horrifying war.
Billy Prior is, once again, the main focus of the book. Whilst I was slightly disappointed with Prior’s character development and journey in the second book, The Eye in the Door, Barker continues to explore the impact of the war on this individual, with great effect. His sex-crazed attitude, relationship with Sarah and eventual desire to return to war are all well formed, creating a chilling character whose entire life has been shaped by the horrors he has faced. Prior is a difficult character to like in many ways, yet Barker does a great job of making the reader continue to root for him, understanding that his experiences of war have led to his current attitudes.
Rivers, ill with influenza, begins to remember his past. His memories take us back to his expedition to Melanesia whilst researching a tribe of head-hunters. Whilst this perspective provided fresh insight into the character, rather than continuing the focus on his treatment of patients, this was the most underwhelming part of the book. It served to discuss our attitudes to war, especially the white man’s disgust of head-hunting, despite the mass casualties of the war raging around him. However, I was expecting this lengthy storyline to go somewhere more: there was no great reveal or deepening of Rivers’ character and I was left wanting more as I turned the final page.
A poignant and well-written finale to the series, I was impressed with The Ghost Road, which left me with the overwhelming sense of loss caused by this horrifying war.