Regeneration by Pat
Barker
I
confess that I would not have been drawn to this book of my own accord. I
generally steer clear of writing about the effects of any war. This is rather
bizarre since WW1 poetry is in fact some of the poetry I find most absorbing.
At any rate, the main reason I have Regeneration
in my possession is that I had to read it as one of my students was covering it
for her A’Level.
REVIEW
I love
the concept for this book and was blown away by how effortlessly Barker interspersed
Sassoon’s poetry into the core events in the plot. It puts a human face on a
poet I’ve long admired for his ability to put ideas across in such a concise
and effective manner. This comes across
in the way Barker has dealt with descriptions of his character and his
dialogues with Rivers and Graves.
It was
however a difficult book to read because I was constantly aware of how
harrowing the soldiers’ experiences had been. In some ways the physical
injuries were easier to accept than the emotional and psychological ones. Despite this, it was also a compelling read. I
was enthralled by the development of the relationship between Owen and Sassoon
and very interested in Dr Rivers and his back story.
Although
the sections of interaction between Owen and Sassoon were brief, I was drawn
into the imagined discussion around the editing of ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’.
Sometimes I was confused during dialogues between characters as Barker rarely
states who is speaking. I was often forced to reread sections to be sure I had
the order of conversation right.
I
found the most shocking part of the book to be the description of the treatment
used on a mute soldier. For me it
highlighted the fact that we still dismiss and reject mental illness with
similar degrees of crudity and brutality today.
As
this book is part of a trilogy I will be reading the other two at some point. I
do however suspect that I will need several much lighter books before I embark
on the next round of the harrowing effects wrought by WWI on several nations.
I read this years ago and was totally absorbed by it. Although I'd read quite a bit of poetry by Sassoon, Owen and others, I read much more because of the book. We still see psychogenic dysphonia (what some of the 'mute' soldiers experienced) today but our methods are much kinder!
ReplyDeleteNot at all surprised PS still affecting people today. Very very glad treatment methods are kinder.
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