The third chapter in the Regeneration trilogy, and another powerful, moving, gripping look into Dr. Rivers' past, and the effects of WWI on his patients. As with The Eye in the Door we follow Billy Prior as much as Rivers (and, again, glimpses of other current cases in Rivers' London practice); this time we follow Prior back to France (where he fights alongside Wilfred Owen), and much of his story is given in diary excerpts. Rivers, meanwhile, having caught a flu with accompanying fever, reminisces – or perhaps it is more accurate to say ‘relives’ – his time with an African head-hunting tribe whose collective zest for life has deteriorated with the British ‘intervention’ into their proclivities. The trend of examining the way the mind processes the harrowing results of guilt, shame, horror, fear - of memory itself - continues to this reader’s great absorption and fascination.

I think this is the strongest of the three books, or perhaps I have become more invested in Barker’s Dr. Rivers and his patients over the course of reading the previous two; I remember being as impressed with Barker’s writing in the other two – she really is a wordsmith, a character forger, and approaches her subject with the utmost respect, humour and a real quest for understanding. Regardless, this is an important trilogy and each book should be read, digested, considered and loved on its own merits

These three books form the cornerstones of my reading year, and I recommend them to anyone whose interests in literature include war, mental health, sexuality, historical or biographical fiction of any kind, or indeed anyone who relishes characters so strongly portrayed that they could have been acting out their lives in your room while you were reading.

Barker certainly doesn’t sugar coat history and the war, in particular it’s terrible impact, is dealt with in an almost visceral intensity. Hard going but her writing is impeccable.

not sure what i think about the Eddystone storyline but otherwise as sharp and well-written as the previous two books in the trilogy, a fitting ending as well. it was actually nice to read this with the previous book fresh in mind because the three installments do actually build on each other.

The Ghost Road is the final, Booker Prize winning volume in a trilogy of books tracing the psychological effects of WWI on a group of sensitive young men, both real and fictional.

The characters in the series include the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, as well as the experimental doctor who treated them for shell-shock in Scotland, Dr. William Rivers.

Sassoon has left the story by now, while Owen, though present, is peripheral.

Instead the narrative largely involves a bitterly ironic juxtaposition between flashbacks from Dr River's anthropological expedition amongst a tribe of head-hunters from Melanesia ten years previously, with entries from the diary of Billy Prior from the front lines in the last months of the war.

Billy Prior, a homosexual facing up to marriage with a girl whom he likes but cannot possibly love, volunteers for another tour, despite injuries and the advice of others that he has already played his part.

This his diary entry upon rejoining the war for the fourth time: 'First-person narrators can't die, as long as keep telling the story of our own lives we're safe. Ha bloody fucking Ha.'

The tribe that Dr. Rivers studies fear spirits and keep the skulls of their dead ancestors in sacred houses, resenting the 'civilizing' of their culture by the white man.

The blood and brain soaked trenches of France illustrate just how civilized the society of the missionaries and plantation owners had become.

I had read Regeneration before, which I could vaguely remember (Sigfried Sassoon, right?), but this is the second time I have read this final part and both times I found my reaction to be same, a mixture of admiration and partial disappointment.

The writing is excellent, the characters and situation intriguing, but something is missing. Possibly it's just that the three volumes may be better read as a single work?

Certainly the cumulative effect of the characters' journeys would have added more emotional weight to their respective fates, but more than that it would have taken away the nagging feeling I had that the Ghost Road, despite it's themes and reputation, was strangely slight.

I probably need to do it justice some day by reading the whole trilogy from start to finish.

I'm going to miss Billy Prior

I feel kind of weird reviewing this one as I still have really mixed emotions about it and its not the kind of thing I usually read. It took me a little while to get into the book and to adjust to Barker's style of writing.

Things I liked:
- Really good scene setting and the time period was captured well
- Books on war are always eye opening
- Adored the bits of dry humour
- The inclusion of historical figures
- Interesting imagery
- Extremely emotive ending, the two narratives came together here and it worked.

Things I was less keen on:
- Billy Prior's character in general. Manipulative, a bit selfish and cold. However I appreciated that soldiers are not represented as saints and angels, but resolutely human. Maybe his frankness was necessary to cope with his surroundings.
- Random and oddly descriptive sex scenes sometimes felt out of place
- Slightly misleading blurb - very little of Wilfred Owen in the book
- The dual narrative was good but they didn't twine together all that well until the end. I liked the contrast of England vs France vs Rivers' memories though.

Also I didn't read the others in the series, which may have helped. Still it was an interesting read, and gave me a small breather from reading purely fantasy.

A terrifying novel about the aftermath of trauma and the contradictions in the soldiers' psyche, where the war is both terrible and never to be repeated and at the same time experiences derived from it are given enormous value.

This was probably a 4.5* as I’m not sure it would stand alone as well as the first two in the trilogy. However, rounding it up as the entire trilogy deserves it. It’s superb. The sharpness of the writing and the unsentimental narrative voice are perfect vehicles to tell this tale.

I’d recommend you only read this book if you’ve read the first two books.

It is difficult to remember when I have been more disappointed in a novel's ending. Having invested time in reading the entire Regeneration trilogy, I had hoped for something more meaningful, more consequential in its finale. At the very least, I had been hoping that all my time reading the three novels would amount to having been worthwhile.

We continue to dog Prior in this novel. Quite frankly, by Volume 3, he has become positively tiresome. His sexual exploits run to the seedy side, pun not intended. He drops his drawers for anything that moves and inserts Offending (and Offensive) Organ into any available orifice, cavity, crevice or crack, not bothering much whether the beneficiary of his advances is male or female. Sometimes, even an available fissure isn't necessary for his relief, since his hand is readily available to slacken the stress he feels in between victims. At one point, we see Prior following a farm boy and a pig into the barn: my bets were that the pig would get it, but I was mistaken. Ludicrous as this all may sound, I exaggerate not a whit.

Rarely have I met a more well-drawn sociopath, disguised as a tortured soul. Manipulative beyond compare, he remains the hero of his own story even when he commits the ultimate betrayal against his closest childhood friend. (This particular plot line, having begun in Volume 2, finds its ultimate rationale in this third novel when Prior muses on his "cured" fugue state.) Since this fugue makes its brief appearance only while Prior is engaged in the action of betrayal, it occurs to the reader that it is an exceptionally convenient outlet for a sociopath to justify his deeds. Having seen his friend behind prison doors, the fugue state dexterously disappears and is seen no more.

In this novel, Prior returns to France, having passed on the opportunity to work behind a desk in one of the ministries, in what, in retrospect, turn out to be the final days of the war. To others, to Rivers especially, he blathers on about duty, and finding the place where he belongs in this war, but ultimately he goes back to France to die. His own sociopathy has become his dragging anchor, and he no doubt longs for the release of death.

Ironically, it is in Prior's final days that we get the most life out of this novel. In the diary he keeps, Prior describes in vivid and lurid detail, what he and his men experience on the front lines. For the first time in this series, my heart breaks with the intensity and clarity of Barker's insight. I am moved beyond measure.

Therein lies the rub: how to classify such a novel. There are endless pages of droning and blathering and following Prior down rabbit holes. For the most part, the novel is mind-numbingly tedious; and then suddenly, with the clarity of a thousand suns, Barker reveals the absurd futility and desperation of war in all its senseless and gory ugliness. Its appalling ordinariness of man's aggression against man. Completely. Totally. Heart-wrenching.

And yet, in the end, we turn back to senseless trivialities of human existence and seem to end with a few flat platitudes. So, what does one do with that: 3 stars, and let's move on! Enough time gone by the wayside.

Great series


Pat Barker writes well and creates memorable characters. One cannot be a war monger after reading this book. Rah rah

3.5

Comparisons are odious, and so are expectations.

This was my least favourite of the trilogy, but it was still an excellent read! I just didn't find the bits about the doctor and the indigenous people as interesting as the rest of it.

Giving it 5 stars for the trilogy as a whole.