shopping cart
Save up to 30% on our Staff Picks
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Book News, Guests | December 14, 2009

Amy Gray: IMG How to Be a Vampire



Oh, hi. I'm Amy Gray. I like smoking, carbs, and words. I live in the (currently) sleek humidity of Melbourne, Australia. When not lying... Continue »
  1. $10.49 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$6.95
List price: $15.00
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Beaverton Literature- A to Z

Regeneration (William Abrahams Book)

by Pat Barker

Regeneration (William Abrahams Book) Cover

ISBN13: 9780452270077
ISBN10: 0452270073
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Only 1 left in stock at $6.95!

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Set in a British military hospital during WWI, this novel blends fact and fiction, drawing its two protagonists from the pages of history. The author of Union Street (made into the film Stanley and Iris) portrays over whelmed men who try to come to terms with their outrage of a futile war.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
cariola119, November 29, 2009 (view all comments by cariola119)
A beautifully written novel, the first in Barker's "Regeneration Trilogy" (the third volume won the Booker Prize). Set in a war hospital in England during World War I, the story revolves around several patients and physicians, including the poet Siegfried Sassoon. After serving honorably, Sassoon wrote an anti-war statement, which he asked an MP to read in session. His friend and fellow officer Robert Graves, knowing that Sassoon would be facing a court martial, claims the statement was due to battle fatigue and has him sent to Craiglockhaven for treatment. Dr. Rivers's task is to get Sassoon to agree to return to the front. A fascinating look at the social pressure put on young men during the war, as well as the effects of the war and of the treatment of the psychological scars it caused.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
Wendy Robards, December 15, 2008 (view all comments by Wendy Robards)
Regeneration is the first book in Pat Barker’s World War I trilogy. Siegfried Sasson was an historical figure, a noted poet and decorated war hero who penned the Soldier’s Declaration - a refusal to continue serving as a British officer based on the moral grounds that the war was a misguided effort contributing to the senseless slaughter of men. Spared a court martial, Sassoon was sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland where the famous psychiatrist Dr. William Rivers was assigned the task of “curing” him from insanity in order to send him back to France and the front line.

The novel, however, is less about Sassoon and more about the psychological effects of war. Barker shows us the shell-shocked and mentally damaged patients through the eyes (mostly) of Dr. Rivers. Billy Prior arrives at the hospital unable to speak. A young soldier by the name of Burns is so traumatized by his experiences he is unable to eat without vomiting. The reader meets yet another soldier who is “paralyzed” even though his spinal cord is physically undamaged. In sensitively revealing the psychic injuries of the characters, Barker asks the essential question: Is war worth the toll it takes on those who sacrifice for it? Even Rivers, who is tasked with restoring men to duty, begins to question the morality of war.

Pat Barker’s strength is in revealing the emotions of her characters without being maudlin. Often she employs dialogue between doctor and patient to reveal the the horror of war and its impact.

Regeneration is a war novel which is set not on the battlefield, but inside the minds of its characters - many of whom are historical figures. I found it to be a slow start - it is a drama that slowly reels the reader into the story. Regeneration is written with compassion and a subtle tension which reveals a sometimes barbaric and disturbing period in the history of psychiatry. Barker writes with honesty and has created a novel which pricks at the conscience.

Regeneration was long-listed for the Booker Prize in 1991.

Recommended for those readers interested in historical fiction, particularly during World War I. Those interested in psychology will also find this novel a fascinating character study.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(3 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
Sarah E Rose, June 7, 2007 (view all comments by Sarah E Rose)
This is an incredibly powerful piece of fiction. Barker has the perfect entry into World War One-- by placing us in a mental institution for shell shocked soldiers. With each patient, we get flashes of trench warfare, leaving you with the experience of WWI a history book could never provide you. The subject matter is so rich-- all the characters are historically accurate, and showing us the war through the two greatest anti-war poets is fantastic. You leave the book feeling passionate about poetry and warfare and mental illness and human dignity and electro shock treatment as well as so many other things. Only a powerful writer like Barker could sweep you away like that, and all in one slim novel.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(16 of 25 readers found this comment helpful)
View all 3 comments

Product Details

ISBN:
9780452270077
Author:
Barker, Pat
Publisher:
Plume Books
Location:
New York :
Subject:
Historical
Subject:
Great britain
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
War
Subject:
Large type books
Subject:
Historical - General
Subject:
Poets
Subject:
Soldiers
Subject:
World War, 1914-1918
Subject:
Poets, English
Subject:
War stories
Subject:
Anthropologists
Subject:
Biographical fiction
Subject:
Soldiers -- Great Britain -- Fiction.
Subject:
War neuroses.
Subject:
Literary
Copyright:
Series:
William Abrahams Book
Series Volume:
84010
Publication Date:
January 1993
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
252
Dimensions:
8.10x5.34x.69 in. .49 lbs.

Other books you might like

  1. $5.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Birdsong

    Sebastian Faulks
  2. $7.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Catch-22

    Joseph Heller
  3. $10.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Ghost Road

    Pat Barker
  4. $29.25 New Trade Paper add to wish list
  5. $2.50 Used Hardcover add to wish list
  6. $5.25 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Mrs. Dalloway

    Virginia Woolf

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.