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Book Review of Double Vision

Double Vision
Double Vision
Author: Pat Barker
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Hardcover
reviewed on + 1442 more book reviews


This author is a master with character development and weaving an interesting story. The book was easy to read and as I made my way through the pages I felt so close to the characters. Stephen Starkey is war correspondent has retired because of shell shock (post traumatic stress disorder). His sleep is disrupted by nightmares of what he has seen and experienced. He has divorced his wife and his best friend, Ben Frobisher, a writer and photographer, was killed by a sniper. As he tries to reconstruct his life, he works with Ben's wife, Kate, a sculptor, who misses her husband deeply. She has just survived a terrible auto accident. The two cope with their emotional rends in different ways. Stephen turns to sexual relief provided by Justine, his brother's au pair. Kate focuses on gaining strength in her hands, arms and shoulders and hires a young assistant, Peter Wingate, whose strength replaces her own as she works on an important commissioned sculpture. Interestingly, Peter was Justine's last boy friend. This is not a mystery, not a romance, not a thriller. It is a story about healing.