Regeneration - Pat Barker

Advantages: Unputdownable
Disadvantages: It's grim at times

The insanity that was the First World War has fascinated me ever since I studied the War Poets as part of my GCSE English more years ago than I care to remember. A pacifist by inclination, the whole topic of war is one of those things I find repugnant and fascinating at the same time - or is that just another example of my sick and twisted mind? I was loaned 'Regeneration' by a friend as a swap for 'Birdsong' by Sebatian Faulks. Having heard about ...
...few years, I was wary of the book failing to live up to my high expectations. Plus, in my mind, I had already half convinced myself that it could not possibly be as powerful as 'Birdsong'. I was wrong. And I was pleased to be proved wrong - for a change! The action of the book is set in the Craiglockheart institution in Scotland - a place where psychologically damaged soldiers were sent from the frontlines in order to be 'cured' so that they could ... Read review

Advantages: Genuinely intriguing, fiction but with a lot of fact, informative
Disadvantages: Quite sad in places

A book about war, through and through. If you're not interested in the World War I time period then this won't hold a lot of interest for you. If you're an avid fan of all war time books, then great. But if you're not entirely keen on them but not averse to them either, then I'd give this one a go... War poet Siegfried Sassoon makes a stand against the war and is sent to a hospital to help 'cure' him, as friends and relatives think it would be easier ...
...carry on standing up against the war, in case he is court marshalled. Sassoon isn't too happy about this. Rivers, the main psychiatrist at the hospital, develops some rather close relationships with his patients, Siegfried included- not necessarily in the sense that they become friends, but in the sense that he cares deeply about him, and at the end of the book has to come to terms with Sassoon's decisions. We also meet other patients at the hospital, ... Read review

Advantages: Its a great book- deep if you want it to be.
Disadvantages: Could be a bit depressing if you let it be.

...like a true litterary genius, Regeneration does not have to be a study into the problems of modern society, it is a fascinating, emotive novel, which will make you laugh and cry (if you're female) of course not if you're male- after all you really ought not to show emotion. Having written about the topics Barker addresses, I realise that Regeneration sounds like an essay, the book bashes you over the head with morality; to the contrary. Barker introduces ...
...litterary level. With its different levels there will be one for you. I suggest you read it, but thats just my opinion- thats what we're all about! Regeneration is part of a trilogy, but I haven't had enough of reading Regeneration to move on to the others yet! ... Read review

Advantages: Easy read
Disadvantages: none

...and i had to read Regeneration as part of my A2 english literature course. War literature is something i have never read or ever really been interested in but Pat Barker's book blew me away. The mixture of fact and fiction in the book works perfectly. Barker uses real people and created a realistic story around them and has created characters to help bring out other sides to them. Prior is my favorite character in the book as we see as one of the ...
...interview that he was 'designed to irritate Rivers' and that is exactly what he does because he is a cocky, working class officer who almost flirts with Rivers to show off his bi-sexuality. There are many important themes explored in the book, one of which is women in the war. It isnt a main plot in the book but Sarah Lumb and her munitionette friends opened my eyes to see how war was for women as it isnt something one often connects with the war ... Read review

Advantages: moving, historically accurate, well-rounded characters
Disadvantages: it might make you want to cry

Regeneration is set in a WWI psychiatric hospital - Craiglockhart in Scotland. It's central character is probably Dr. Rivers, focusing on his relationships with his patients and their return to health. It starts with Siegfried Sassoon, the poet, who has been sent to Rivers because of his opposition to the war, despite the fact that he has fought in it and been awarded a medal for bravery. This affects Rivers' conscience, as he wonders if he can ...
...another patient, and one subplot is the friendship that grows between the two poets. Another patient, and perhaps my favourite character for his attitude, is Billy Prior, a working-class boy who has become an officer. His 'battles' with Rivers were emotional, engaging, and sometimes funny. Despite being set in the first world war, this is not a book involving weapons or great battles. It doesn't deal with physical injury, but instead looks at the ... Read review

Advantages: Well written
Disadvantages: NONE

...unfasten them, giving her free play with his cock and balls” And all this whilst still engages to Sarah Lumb from ‘Regeneration’. Pat Barker uses Prior to demonstrate the sexual freedom that developed with the war. · Prior does not limit his sexual attitudes to women, shown by his relations with Charles Manning. Mannings leg was badly damaged “Prior leant forward to examine the knee, and for a moment they might have been boys in the playground again, examining each other’s scabs.” “Since he was in the neighbourhood, began to rub his face across the hair in Manning’s groin.” Prior keeps in contact with Manning both sexually and as friends throughout the novel · Prior worked for the Ministry of Munitions. He spent his time during ‘The Eye In The Door’ investigating the former employee Spragge especially the case involving Betty Roper. Whom Prior... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Adds culture to war
Disadvantages: Harder to read than rest of trilogy

...obvious and significant that life in the trenches was a life lived by men not women. Unless they were nurses, ambulance drivers or relief workers they weren’t near the front at all. Pat Barker puts the theory across that it was hard for women too. It was very difficult for women to have their men dragged away to danger, but there were also advantages for women too. They had more freedom and Sarah, in Regeneration had a better job while the war was going on with higher pay as the women had to take over from the men. · Because Pat Barker is female, she puts across the side of women making sure that the reader realises that things were hard for women too as many people probably just think of how men suffered throughout the war. A writer does not need to have been at an event at the actual time to be able to write about it. Everybody has some... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: sad
Disadvantages:

...This is the third book of Pat Barkers Regeneration series about the first world war. In this final book Prior goes to the front, eventually, but not until the final peices of the picture of Britain at war are laid in place. All of the strands are woven together hear for a passionate, sad finale in the rivers of Northern France. Prior comes across the war poets again, inevitably, perhaps even predictably, and of course, there is no happy ending. This whole series of books (trilogy is a bad word these days) is an excellent taste of a terrible time. Well worth the time to read.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful