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"The trilogy is trying to tell something about the parts of war that don't get into the official accounts" –Pat Barker
The first book of the Regeneration Trilogy and a Booker Prize nominee
In 1917 Siegfried Sasson, noted poet and decorated war hero, publicly refused to continue serving as a British officer in World War I. His reason: the war was a senseless slaughter. He was officially classified "mentally unsound" and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital. There a brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. William Rivers, set about restoring Sassoon's "sanity" and sending him back to the trenches. This novel tells what happened as only a novel can. It is a war saga in which not a shot is fired. It is a story of a battle for a man's mind in which only the reader can decide who is the victor, who the vanquished, and who the victim.
One of the most amazing feats of fiction of our time, Regneration has been hailed by critics across the globe. As August 2014 marks the 100-year anniversary of World War I, this book is as timely and relevant as ever.
Set in a British military hospital during WWI, this novel blends fact and fiction, drawing its two protagonists from the pages of history. The author of Union Street, portrays overwhelmed men who try to come to terms with their outrage over a futile war.
PAT BARKER has earned a place in the first rank of contemporary British writers with such novels as Union Street, Regeneration (shortlisted for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize and chosen by the New York Times as one of the four best novels of 1992), The Eye in the Door (winner of the 1993 Guardian fiction prize), and The Ghost Road (winner of the 1995 Booker Prize). The latter three novels are available in Dutton hardcover and Plume paperback editions. Pat Barker lives in Durham, England.
Although Barker received critical praise for her early books, tales that limned the bleak lives of working class Britons, she struck her most resonant chord with the Regeneration Trilogy, a series of novels based on the experiences of shell-shocked WWI soldiers (including poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen) at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland. The first novel in the trilogy, the splendid Regeneration, was named by The New York Times as one of the four best books of 1991; its sequel, The Eye in the Door, won the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1993; and the concluding novel, The Ghost Road, was awarded the 1995 Booker Prize for Fiction.
Certainly, Barker has explored the nuances of contemporary civilian life in subsequent novels; but the specter of war, especially the Great War, seems always to loom over her writing. One explanation is that the grandfather who raised her fought in the trenches in France. Although he seldom spoke about the war, it came to haunt him in his later life. Even unvoiced, his wartime experiences became part of her childhood "stock of memories."
Anonymous
Posted May 18, 2013
AP World History Review: Horrors of War
Regeneration, a historical fiction book by Pat Barker, recounts the experiences of the patients in Craiglockhart War Hospital and their doctor, Dr. Rivers. Rivers job is to help his patients recover through helping them recount their war memories. Pat Barker uses the memories of his characters to reveal the horrors caused by World War I.
Regeneration is a string book about opinions and overcoming obstacles. Dr. River’s role is to help his patients overcome the obstacle of their rears and horrors that they experienced in World War I, but in doing so is forced to listen to and picture the gruesome tales. These experiences therapy sessions in the end of the book change the overall opinion the River’s has on the war. Pat Barker’s characters are in a wide variety, but have a similarity, they all have a specific dislike of the war, and are afraid to return to it. Pat Barker successfully displays the horrors of the many veterans of the Great War.
Anonymous
Posted February 29, 2012
Loved it. Had to read it for class but ended up enjoying it anyway.
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Posted December 6, 2011
This book looks at many of the social issues confronting society in the midst of the industrial revolution and the horror of the war to end all wars. Insightful and thought provoking in relation to the first diagnosis of PTSD?
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Posted May 18, 2011
This book is a great resource for those looking for a general idea of what society was really LIKE during Word War 1. This book was intriguing from the begining. By creating a somewhat fictional story, the author was able to express the difficulties of the doctor, Rivers, to treat those suffering from war neurosis. The end of the book was especially exceptional as it brought together the rest of the story into a sort of climatic point that supported an idea of anti-war in today's society. By writing a story about World War 1, the author was able to confront a somewhat controversial topic of today: to war or not to war? By stating history as it was, she was able to prove to the readers that war is destructive. Even from the point of view of soldiers, they would for the most part agree that war is destructive. So, the author did an excellent job in conveying her views to the reader and successfully supporting it.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.ChasF
Posted September 29, 2010
It is clear why she won the Booker Prize--this is an enthralling novel
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Posted September 1, 2001
If you are an ethical man, how do you change another man's mind about the war he has been fighting, a man recognized for heroic action and his concern for his troops? And a man who is a well known poet--whose words always have meaning, and are not part of Orwellian Newspeak? Barker's novel effectively dramatizes the discussions Dr. W.H. R. Rivers may have had with poet Siegfried Sassoon in order to send him back to the trenches of WWI. Because Sassoon had publicly accused 'those who have the power of ending the war' of prolonging it, his friends, particularly Robert Graves, arranged and encouraged his admission to the psychiatric hospital rather than punitive disciplinary action. Regeneration has been labeled an anti-war novel--and it is hard to be pro- war ever after the fact when reading of the realities of trench warfare during WWI. More important, the novel's presentation of the dilemmas posed to both doctor and patient raise questions for us about the rationale for war, the role of politicians and businessmen and the public's sheeplike acquiesence, and the morality of 'brainwashing' or other efforts to change people's minds. The great irony is what happened after the book's coverage of events: Sassoon returned to the war, and unlike so many of the young poets who fought in it, he lived to old age--but did not write as much poetry in his middle years. And Robert Graves, who appears as a good manipulator of people and events, lived also to old age and greater fame than Sassoon.
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Posted May 6, 2000
I have finished Pat Barker's work, and still find that I'm drawn to it. When reading the book, I felt I was in 1917, walking through the hospital with the characters. I came away knowing Dr. Rivers, and wanting to talk more with Seigfried. I've read about WWI, but Regeneration made me feel that I was there. As a boy I lived next to a WWI German soldier, who briefly talked to me about his side of the trenches. This book gave me a glimpse at the horror he must have witnessed.
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Posted March 3, 2012
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Posted April 15, 2013
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Overview
"The trilogy is trying to tell something about the parts of war that don't get into the official accounts" –Pat Barker
The first book of the Regeneration Trilogy and a Booker Prize nominee
In 1917 Siegfried Sasson, noted poet and decorated war hero, publicly refused to continue serving as a British officer in World War I. His reason: the war was a senseless slaughter. He was officially classified "mentally unsound" and sent to ...