Book Review: Regeneration by Pat Barker

Author: Pat Barker

Title: Regeneration

Series: Regeneration #1

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: ebook

Pages: 260

Published: May 30, 1991

Where I got It: My shelf (Amazon)

Summary: 

In 1917 Siegfried Sasson, 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.

Review:

This has been on TBR list for eoooons. Since High School! *coughs* Many, many years. Eek. So the TBR challenge was perfect to get me to dust this bad boy off and give it a read. 

It is 1917 and Siegfried Sasson refuses to continue fighting in the war. He is a noted poet and decorated war hero, but he is done. He views the war as senseless and just too much death. He is officially classified as "mentally unsound" and sent to the Craiglockhart War Hospital. Dr Rivers is given the task to fix him and get him back to the trenches. They need a man like him to help win the war. 

This started off so, so, so good. I really was enjoying it. This really digs deep into mental issues, war, trauma, morals, taboos of the time (like homosexuality), and so much more. It was deep and we see the war from a different viewpoint.

I had zero idea that this was based off of a real person. Naturally, when I was done reading, I had to do some digging and research on the fella. Very controversial person in his time. I think the author did a great job bringing him to life and giving us a possible look behind the mask. 

I enjoyed it overall. But the last quarter of the book...bored me. That sounds SOOOO bad, but I was ready to be done. Honestly, I think this should've been a novella. Lots and lots and lots of talking. Which I enjoyed, for the most part, but I found myself wanting to skim. It could've been the writing style lost me a bit as well. The flow was jarring and disjointed sometimes. 

All-in-all, I liked this. I'm glad I finally got my hands on this and can remove it from my TBR list. I needed a nice serious novel and this gave me what I wanted. We got some deep dives into many issues of the time and to be fair...we still struggle with some of these issues. It was good even with my issues of the last quarter of the book. I'll stamp  this with 3 stars. 

 Challenge(s):

- TBR (Back in My Day) #7