Regeneration by Pat Barker Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Regeneration
Book Review: "The maddest thing I ever did was done under orders." (12)
Summary: 4 Stars
Set in the context of WWI(1914-1918)when the war had ground to a gruesome standstill, 'Regeneration', hinges on the compelling character Dr. Rivers, a psychiatrist dedicated to treating the "shell-shocked" soldiers of the Allied Powers at Craiglockhart War Hospital- a mental facility in Scotland. During Rivers' employment as a practicing pyschiatrist at Craiglockhart, his experiences with the mental patients force Rivers to question the very nature of madness. In particular, one man, Siegfried Sassoon, a decorated soldier sent to the mental facility claiming a "breakdown" to avoid being court-martialed for protesting the war. As the novel progresses, the lines between madness and reason blurr and Rivers wonders if he himself is mad.
I highly recommend this book. Pat Barker's novel questions what could possibly justify the destruction of an entire generation's minds and bodies. Perhaps Rivers answers this question himself upon the discovery of Burns's cold emaciated form huddled in a moat, "Nothing justifies this. Nothing nothing nothing." (180)
Ally
Book Review: A Study of Human Nature
Summary: 5 Stars
Upon first examination, the book Regeneration by Pat Barker appears to be completely about the war poet and hero, Siegfried Sassoon. It was more or less a logical conclusion, considering that the "brilliant" Dr. William Rivers is only mentioned in a single sentence on the back page, almost as if he is the antagonist. I was very surprised, then, to find that the book was not exclusively about Sassoon. It wasn't even mostly about Sassoon - it's not even told from his point of view the majority of the time. Rather, the story follows a certain period of Dr. Rivers' life, the period in which Sassoon is involved. It starts with his reading Sassoon's Declaration, and ends with him writing his conclusions about Sassoon's stay.
With Dr. Rivers as its protagonist, then, the story follows him as he treats his patients, officers who have been rendered "mentally unsound" (as Sassoon was classified) by the brutal effects of the war, young men with stutters, who suffer from horrible nightmares, who believe they are paralyzed when there's nothing wrong with them, who are mute. Using his unique method of encouraging his patients to remember and cope with their war experience in order to eventually heal - rather than helping them to repress the ideas, as the men have often been taught - Dr. Rivers slowly but steadily progresses with his patients so that they are soon ready to enter life again and return to the front, or get a job doing war paperwork, or occasionally return to their families.
But the difference of Sassoon's case forces Dr. Rivers to really think once more about the justness of continuing the war, of all those questions which, as a doctor treating daily the patients that he does, he must consider, but as a citizen, he must file away in order to continue his job. Throughout the course of the book, he deals not only with his own opinions about the war, but with his own health, ailing from the stressful lifestyle he lives, with his desires to pursue the research profession he held before the war, and with the ethics of his own methodology and those of other respected doctors, who, for the sake of a faster cure and a voracious ego, might pay less attention to the pain or feelings of the patient while performing a "miraculous" cure.
Regeneration, then, is much more than a war novel. It is a study in human nature, an examination of those things which we use to define ourselves and the people around us, and of how an event like WWI can change all that dramatically.
Book Review: A fine philosophical novel, but not for the average reader
Summary: 3 Stars
This first book in Barker's WWI trilogy is based on the real-life treatment of poet Siegfried Sassoon by psychiatrist and anthropologist Dr. William Rivers at Craiglockhart War Hospital. Sassoon has publicly denounced the war as a "senseless slaughter" and refuses to fight anymore. The powers that be assign him to Rivers' care as a victim of "shell shock" - a traumatic experience that leaves men unable to function. The hospital's aim is not so much to cure as to return men to active duty - an objective that leaves Rivers conflicted as doctor and a humanitarian.In an era when treatment of mental illnesses was often barbaric, (as in a memorable scene near the book's conclusion), Rivers' treatment plan is to cure with compassion and respect for the patient. He allows these men the freedom to work through their experiences instead of repressing them. In doing so, he takes some of their suffering onto himself, and is changed in the process. The give and take between doctor and patient is the real meat of the story.
But beyond the plot, there's a lot to think about in this novel. In fact, the real genius of this work is not the plot or the characters or the setting, but rather the seemingly endless array of serious ethical questions that crop up as these men struggle with their situations. Was Britain justified in going to war against Germany? Can war ever be moral? Who is responsible for the actions of nations? Do soldiers abdicate their moral responsibilities when they don the uniform? How can a doctor cure a patient's infirmity only to send him back to the front lines to die? How does this apply to conscientious objectors? Is it enough to treat symptoms when the underlying causes are psychological? Barker doesn't provide answers, but wants us to look for them in ourselves.
This would be a terrific book for teaching an ethical philosophy course, and surely that's why this novel is so highly praised by reviewers. However, as an entertainment, this book is substantially less successful. One patient's brief dalliance with a factory girl provides almost our only glimpse of a woman, and even this episode seems tacked on, and is decidedly unromantic. And as one might expect, there is absolutely no trace of humor in this book at all - no one ever cracks a smile, let alone a joke. Less predictably, there's very little action in this book, either. The patients' tales of horrors at the front are powerful enough, but rarely run more than a page or two, and we don't get many of those. So while this is indeed a brilliant work of fiction, it should only be recommended to those who are deeply into ethical philosophy.
Book Review: A good time to read a good -- though troubling -- book.
Summary: 5 Stars
Barker explores the inner dimensions of World War I -- its effects on soldiers and those who care for them, both physically, psychologically and emotionally, in all senses of the word "care." In these times (fall 2001) when the US is heading towards who-knows-what kinds of upheavals, this sensitive portrait of what was supposed to be "the war to end all wars" is an important addition to our understanding.Book Review: A powerful WW I novel fought in the minds of the combattants
Summary: 5 Stars
This first novel of a trilogy of World War I is the most powerful although it was the last one, Ghost Road, which won the prestigious Booker Prize.
The setting is a hospital in England for those recovering from shell shock. The protagonists are a psychiatrist and his patient who is opposed to the endless slaughter of the war. Clearly to "cure" the patient, to find him sane, is to send him to his probable death.
The entire novel takes place within the hospital yet the horror of this war is omnipresent, the images sharp and overwhelmingly strong and sad. It is an amazing book because of the author's ability to portray the horror of war without being in the battlefield and the permanent scars left on the psyche.
Interestingly this novel has been built on the foundation of meetings between real people. I found this book irresitible and memorable, and immediately read the rest of the trilogy, but it is this one that is haunting.