Regeneration (Regeneration 1) by Pat Barker

[gilda_elise]

Started Feb 28, completed Mar 7 4 stars

The first book of the Regeneration Trilogy—a Booker Prize nominee and one of Entertainment Weekly’s 100 All-Time Greatest Novels.

In 1917 Siegfried Sassoon, noted poet and decorated war hero, publicly refused to continue serving as a British officer in World War I. His reason: the war was a senseless slaughter. He was officially classified "mentally unsound" and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital. There a brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. William Rivers, set about restoring Sassoon’s “sanity” and sending him back to the trenches. This novel tells what happened as only a novel can. It is a war saga in which not a shot is fired. It is a story of a battle for a man's mind in which only the reader can decide who is the victor, who the vanquished, and who the victim.

One of the most amazing feats of fiction of our time, Regeneration has been hailed by critics across the globe. More than one hundred years since World War I, this book is as timely and relevant as ever.

That the book is based on a true story only makes it that much more rewarding. The story of Siegfried Sassoon is an amazing one. His belief in the war’s pointlessness, and that it was being continued only for the profit of some, has him set to a mental institution. The thought is that he either has “shell shock,” or is a coward, even though he had shown his bravery many times over.

Luckily, Sassoon’s doctor, while attempting to restore Sassoon’s sanity, doesn’t really seem to think his patient is truly insane. That, just maybe, what Sassoon believes is actually true. But given the times, there is only one way for the story to have a “happy” ending.

I was shocked at some of the “remedies” used by some of the other doctors on these poor men who have broken down under their experiences. But the majority of the book follows Dr. Rivers and the men under his care. I don’t know how many of them were actual patients, but in any event their stories were just as compelling as Sassoon’s.

I’m looking forward to the second book in the series and the continuation of these two men’s story. There’s also a movie on the subject, Benediction, which I’m looking forward to viewing.




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11. Regeneration (Regeneration 1) by Pat Barker







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MARCH- Books on the Brain - Read a fiction or non-fiction book with a brain-function related theme. This could be memory, processing, mental health, dementia, dreaming, subconsciousness, thinking patterns, intelligence, brain injuries, etc.