Regeneration by Pat Barker Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Regeneration
Book Review: Fix Their Minds So They Can Go Back Into The Slaughter of World War I
Summary: 4 Stars
When the First World War broke out, most people assumed it would be over in a few months as their nation (whichever one that was) sent the others packing. In fact, many raced to enlist fearing that "the fun" might be over before they got there.
Instead, what they discovered in Western Europe was a stalemate with trenches dug from the North Sea to the Atlantic Coast across which English, French, and German soldiers faced each other for years from cold, wet, corpse-filled, and disease-ridden trenches.
No one knew how to break the stalemate. Millions died as shelling continued against these fixed positions.
Every so often some general would convince himself that a massive charge would break the other line. Each time this was tried, the slaughter accelerated as men ran into point-blank machine gun fire and artillery barrages.
Regeneration looks at the disillusionment that led one decorated English officer and poet, Siegfried Sassoon, to remonstrate against the military leadership in public. Rather than court-marital Sassoon, the military chose to send him to a psychiatrist, Dr. William Rivers. Regeneration creates a fictional account of their relationship at Craiglockhart War Hospital. The book also looks at how Rivers treated other "mental" cases sent his way.
The most interesting parts of the story come in looking at the ethical dilemma of being asked to help those who cannot mentally deal with the war any more . . . when that "help" may lead to them going back to France where their life expectancy is measured in weeks. I was reminded of stories I've read about patching up people who tried to kill themselves so they could be legally executed.
There's a revolting section on how less sensitive physicians dealt with these "mental" problems . . . basically torturing soldiers until they wouldn't resist going back to fight.
The book has two weaknesses that mar its obvious strengths in recapturing that difficult moment in English history.
1. Ms. Barker assumes that her readers already know about Siegfried Sassoon (or at least that they don't mind her holding back details about what he did for some time). I had never heard of him so it was annoying to try to figure out what all the fuss was about in the early pages. The book could use an extensive historical footnote as a prologue for those who don't know about the incident.
2. The book often skates around the edges of how Sassoon and Rivers related to one another. Much is tacit, and I found it hard to understand in all scenes what Ms. Barker was trying to suggest each one was thinking.
I commend Ms. Barker for picking real characters and bringing them to life in a way that's very poignant (even for those who aren't English) 90 years after the events have taken place.
Book Review: For the series
Summary: 5 Stars
I read the trilogy a few years ago after seeing it on the front page of amazon.uk. I had a grandfather who was in the great war. He was gassed. He later committed suicide in the front room of his house by refusing food. We don't talk about it much. I am disturbed when I think of this war shattered man who I am related to over a gap of 50 years.
I found this series uplifting, sad, funny and enjoyable. I felt that I understood more about my family - what happened to us and why. The prose is wonderous, the dialog good enough that you feel suspended in the room or on the battle field with these people, just as if you were behind the furniture or sitting in the trench nearby. Its about poetry, rebellion and death. Its about the horror of this world. Also it is about being human.
Book Review: Get a feel for dealing with one's Mental Health
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was given to me as a gift. It's quite simply a book about the trials and tribulations of World War I soldiers who ended up in a British Mental Hospital for various reasons. It reminded me of the discrimination and improper treatments that took place....and most likely...still do...towards patients that find the misfortune to end up in a locked facility. This book will be rewarding to any one who has felt mentally depressed &/or has known any one who has been. It's very well written...Like always...I was hoping for more (that's why 4 stars instead of 5 stars). I liked these lines particularly: No raid tonight. It was ironic that on this one quiet night he should have woken himself up with a nightmare. As with all nightmares, the horror lingered...He didn't feel, however, that the underlying conflict had been sexual. OH...And I liked this one line (sounds like me--sometimes): Breakfast, lunch and dinner, he could do with out, but afternoon tea mattered.Book Review: Great book, one of the best on the impact of war
Summary: 5 Stars
I would echo the earlier reviews and write separately here only to address two relatively recent comments about homosexuality in the book. Certainly it is "naive" to think that marriage "prevents" homosexuality. I took that to be Barker's understated point. Similarly, however, the fact that Sassoon eventually married says little about his orientation. At the time, as Barker points out through Graves, homosexuality would get you locked up. People went a long ways to stay in the closet.Whatever, Barker has written a great book.
Book Review: Haunting
Summary: 5 Stars
Despite being a long-time reader of several WWI poets (Owen, Brooke, Sassoon, etc.), I only got around to reading this book last summer (2004). I found it an excellent interpretation of the times and people. I think that the issues raised in the work are timeless, as apt today as yesterday. Moreover, (risking some sense of gender neutrality) the book is hauntingly in tune with "maleness," coming, as it were, from a female author. In other words, this is a perceptive work, underrated despite any of the stars I might give it. This is a book of interest to the casual reader and the scholar alike.