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Title: Regeneration
Subtitle: The Regeneration Trilogy, Book 1
Author: Pat Barker
Narrator: Paul McGann
Format: Abridged
Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
Language: English
Release date: 11-16-05
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
Craiglockhart, a hospital for officers ravaged by their experiences in trench warfare, is the setting for Pat Barker's Regeneration. Here the poet Siegfried Sassoon, author of an article condemning the war, came under the care of psychiatrist W.H.R Rivers whose duty, as he saw it, was to return Sassoon to all the horrors of the Front, because Sassoon was sane, was healthy, and he had made a commitment. But while the encounter of Sassoon and Rivers is central to Regeneration, it is the exploration of the character of Rivers himself, the agony of the other patients, and the insights into their minds, that makes this a tour-de-force. A superb novel related with chilling clarity and vivid compassion.
©1991 Pat Barker; (P)1996 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Members Reviews:
When I think about war, I never thought of this.
You can find this review and many others on my blog The Dancing Nerd Writes Again.
Initial Thoughts:
I read this book as a requirement for my Literature and War class.
Before I started this book I wasn't sure what to expect but I assumed there would be lots of war scenes and gore, typical of a war movie. To my surprise, that's not exactly what I got. I would also like to note that Pat Barker is a women, which was something many of the students in my Literature and War class were unaware of and they said that this knowledge changed the way they viewed the book and some of the characters.
Spoilers!
There are a lot of characters in this book. Pat Barker begins conversations between the characters naturally, as if we the audience already know what's going on. At times it was a bit disorienting and I felt like I needed a play sheet to keep track of all the patients. Once the book got rolling it was easier to keep track of who was who based on their back stories.
Like I mentioned, this book wasn't simply about war and gore, although a few scenes do come to mind. This novel focused primarily on the effects of war on all the people around it. It looks at the soldiers, the doctors, the women left at home, and the families. This book is written from a few different point of views, but the primary voice is that of Dr. Rivers, a psychiatrist who deals with the worst cases of mental war wounds.
This is the first book in a series, and many of the characters story lines are left open. A few of the more notable characters are Billy Prior, Sassoon, Owens, Dr. Rivers, and Anderson. It is my understanding that the characters in the book were based on real people from WWI. It was really eye opening for me to see how deep the effects of war go and how severely it changes people.
Conclusion:
It's hard for me to give a good review of this book without giving too much away in the spoilers section. I did enjoy this book and I'm happy that I read it. It wasn't gory, for those of you who have light stomachs, although there are two or three scenes that stand out pretty vividly. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in different aspects of war, especially the after math of war on mental stability. It was an interesting read and I am considering reading the rest of the series to find out what happened to the characters.
Rating:3.5/5 stars
Moving and Involving
The first book of the Regeneration trilogy is a good introduction to the wonderful prose of Pat Barker, as she tells the story of soldiers in a rehabilitation hospital during World War I. I am most impressed with Ms.
