Helpful Score: 3
A brilliant imagining of what WWI was like for those who fought it - full of actual people as characters - First of a trilogy (the other titles are Eye in the Door and Ghost Road)
Helpful Score: 2
Excellent read which really made me take an interest in the history of World War I and the real life characters in this fictional account. It is the first novel in the Pat Braker triliogy which continues with The Eye in the Door and Ghost Road.
Helpful Score: 2
I used it for my British Texts and Contexts course in college and it was an interesting book that provided a lot of insight on different situations that took place during WWI.
Helpful Score: 2
In 1917, decorated British officer and poet Siegfried Sassoon wrote a declaration condemning the war. Instead of a court-martial, he was sent to a hospital for other "shell-shocked" officers where he was treated by Dr. William Rivers, noted an thropologist and psychiatrist. Author Barker turns these true occurrences into a compelling and brilliant antiwar novel. Sassoon's complete sanity disturbs Dr. Rivers to such a point that he questions his own role in "curing" his patients only to send them back to the slaughter of the war in France. World War I decimated an entire generation of European men, and the horrifying loss of life and the callousness of the government led to the obliteration of the Victorian ideal. This is an important and impressive novel about war, soldiers, and humanity. It belongs in most fiction collections.
- C. Christopher Pavek, National Economic Research As socs. Lib., Washington, D.C.
- C. Christopher Pavek, National Economic Research As socs. Lib., Washington, D.C.
Helpful Score: 1
Winner of the Booker Prize. A powerful and touching historical novel of the effects of war (WWI) on the individual and of one soldier's objection to the useless suffering and sacrifices caused by blundering commanders, and politicians. That soldier was the well-known poet Siegfried Sassoon who authorities decided to treat as 'shell-shocked' and sent him to a 'asylum rather then the damning publicity to the war which would result from a trial. This is the first book of her trilogy "The Eye in the Door" and "The Ghost Road"
Not a fast read, but an absorbing one. A must for anyone interested in the era and the personalities living in it.
First of a trilogy about World War I and a decorated war hero (Sassoon) who comes to believe that the war is being needlessly extended due to corrupt politicians. He is sent to a mental institution where he is seen by a renowned anthropologist and psychologist (Rivers) whose job it is to get these soldiers back to the front asap. Very interesting. Based on true story and true people.
i ordered this book for my husband along with the other 2 books that make up the trilogy. my husband loves the book and feels that pat barker is a wonderful writer.
The first book in Pat Barker's powerful World War I trilogy.
My wife loved this book. Eloquent novel about WWI. Frist in series of three novels.
Cameron-Ashley H. (BigGreenChair) reviewed Regeneration (Regeneration, Bk 1) on + 453 more book reviews
I enjoyed reading this book--the characters were very well developed and seemed real. It was an 'eloquent novel' just as it said on the front cover!
Powerful and well-written. Exquisitely harrowing imagery.
I have wanted to read The Ghost Road for a long time but friends advised beginning with the first in the trilogy so I did. Regeneration is written with such clarity and smoothness I found myself gliding through this novel without stopping. It's that type of read! Absolutely riveting.
While the topic is soldiers who fought in WWI, the emphasis in on those who find themselves hospitalized due to battle fatigue. Have they been driven mad by their gruesome experiences or are they just temporarily ill due to overexposure to the horrors of war? This is the mandate given to the highly respected Dr. William Rivers. As he works with soldiers whose mental stability must be determined before sending them back to the front he finds himself getting to know many of them on a personal level. One of his key patients is the highly intelligent Siegfried Sassoon, a notable poet and highly decorated hero. He views the war as senseless slaughter, a view also held by Dr. Rivers himself.
We get to know several of the patients well including Wilfred Owen who befriends Sassoon. Both write poetry and Sassoon helps Owen focus and publish his work. It's an unlikely friendship that blossoms while the two men are treated at Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh. Some patients feel guilty when they find themselves in this facility while others are happy to be away from the horror of the front. The hospital echoes with the screams from the nightmares so many endure. It's a revealing glimpse into what happens within the minds of those who survive war in one way or another. In addition, we get a glimpse of how women are getting through the war when we meet Sarah who works in a munitions factors.
Drawn into this novel, I searched for the second in the series immediately and put the author on my favorites list. How could I not? Read it and see for yourself.
While the topic is soldiers who fought in WWI, the emphasis in on those who find themselves hospitalized due to battle fatigue. Have they been driven mad by their gruesome experiences or are they just temporarily ill due to overexposure to the horrors of war? This is the mandate given to the highly respected Dr. William Rivers. As he works with soldiers whose mental stability must be determined before sending them back to the front he finds himself getting to know many of them on a personal level. One of his key patients is the highly intelligent Siegfried Sassoon, a notable poet and highly decorated hero. He views the war as senseless slaughter, a view also held by Dr. Rivers himself.
We get to know several of the patients well including Wilfred Owen who befriends Sassoon. Both write poetry and Sassoon helps Owen focus and publish his work. It's an unlikely friendship that blossoms while the two men are treated at Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh. Some patients feel guilty when they find themselves in this facility while others are happy to be away from the horror of the front. The hospital echoes with the screams from the nightmares so many endure. It's a revealing glimpse into what happens within the minds of those who survive war in one way or another. In addition, we get a glimpse of how women are getting through the war when we meet Sarah who works in a munitions factors.
Drawn into this novel, I searched for the second in the series immediately and put the author on my favorites list. How could I not? Read it and see for yourself.
bought for a class but then didn't read
