This is one of those books where I get why it’s acclaimed and award winning, but I didn’t really enjoy it that much. Granted, I’m not sure if these novels are meant to be enjoyed since I would definitely classify them in that literary fiction category that’s more about teaching than enjoying. However, even within that, I can’t say the novel particularly moved me. I thought it was dark and oppressive but in a way that actually turned me off from the novel. It isn’t […]
War is Not Worth It
In the final chapter of her World War I saga, Pat Barker really turns the screws. You’ve become emotionally invested in several characters, while knowing that, since this story is about the war, it’s not going to end well. The Ghost Road, told in the waning, but most urgent, year of the War, really questions the notion of war, choosing to return to an almost-certain death, and the psychological traumas beyond war that can plague us. William Rivers and Billy Prior are again major characters, […]
An Eye into the War
Last CBR, I read Pat Barker’s excellent Regeneration and loved it. I wanted to see how her second book in the trilogy, The Eye in the Door, stacked up. As it turns out, even better than the first one. After Dr. Rivers has spent time working with poet Siegfried Sassoon, The Eye in the Door focuses largely on the recovery efforts of Billy Prior, particularly in his investigation of a murder by poison plot of a former neighbor. Here, we learn about the conscientious objectors […]