- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Hamish Hamilton; Open market ed edition (5 July 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0241142989
- ISBN-13: 978-0241142981
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,014,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Life Class
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Sharply written and elegantly constructed...breathtaking (Guardian )
A compelling read (Literary Review )
Thoughtful, ambiguous and powerful (Sunday Telegraph ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
A compelling read (Literary Review )
Thoughtful, ambiguous and powerful (Sunday Telegraph ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Guardian, 7 July, 2007
'Breathtaking ... sharply written and elegantly constructed.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Pat Barker's sensitive exploration of the devastating effects of The Great War on a group of artists from the Slade School of Art complements her similar exploration of the Great War from the point of view of the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon in her Regeneration Trilogy, for which she won the 1995 Booker Prize. Examining the lives of art students Paul Tarrant, Elinor Brooke, and Kit Neville as they learn their craft, celebrate life by partying in the days leading up to the war, and eventually make life-altering decisions when war breaks out, Barker creates three worlds, the Before, During, and After of the war.
The superficiality of life Before, the horrors of During, and the disillusionment of After develop here through the interactions of these three characters with each other as the world around them changes--war as a Life Class. When Germany invades Russia and advances on France, Neville and Paul volunteer to drive ambulances for the Belgian Red Cross, and when Richard Lewis, a Quaker recruit becomes Paul's unexpected roommate in Ypres, Paul finds a studio in town where he can draw, and gain a little privacy. Lewis is as appalled as Paul is by the fact that there is no hospital, just a series of huts built around a goods yard, where doctors and nurses have no anesthetics, medications, or disinfectant, and where men lie on straw mats.
When Elinor naively decides to visit Paul, she arrives in Ypres only to have a sudden bombardment send her scurrying back home. In her first letter to Paul after her return home, she urges Paul to take a leave and return to England. "It would be lovely...to go for a meal or [have] toasted crumpets by the fire."
Barker's imagery is vibrant and affecting, and her ability to show the reactions of callow young people to the horrors they see is memorable. Because she shows the same characters at three stages of their lives from 1914 through the war, the reader shares their changes and, in most cases, growth. The limitation of the book, however, may be that some readers will not care about the main characters as much as they want to, simply because the characters are so shallow and so young. The lives they lead in England are superficial lives, and the horrors of Ypres are so horrific that in many ways the young characters do not seem to comprehend them fully. Compartmentalizing is one thing, necessary for survival, but the long-term postwar effects on the characters who return are not examined fully, and those effects might have been the bigger story here. Mary Whipple
The superficiality of life Before, the horrors of During, and the disillusionment of After develop here through the interactions of these three characters with each other as the world around them changes--war as a Life Class. When Germany invades Russia and advances on France, Neville and Paul volunteer to drive ambulances for the Belgian Red Cross, and when Richard Lewis, a Quaker recruit becomes Paul's unexpected roommate in Ypres, Paul finds a studio in town where he can draw, and gain a little privacy. Lewis is as appalled as Paul is by the fact that there is no hospital, just a series of huts built around a goods yard, where doctors and nurses have no anesthetics, medications, or disinfectant, and where men lie on straw mats.
When Elinor naively decides to visit Paul, she arrives in Ypres only to have a sudden bombardment send her scurrying back home. In her first letter to Paul after her return home, she urges Paul to take a leave and return to England. "It would be lovely...to go for a meal or [have] toasted crumpets by the fire."
Barker's imagery is vibrant and affecting, and her ability to show the reactions of callow young people to the horrors they see is memorable. Because she shows the same characters at three stages of their lives from 1914 through the war, the reader shares their changes and, in most cases, growth. The limitation of the book, however, may be that some readers will not care about the main characters as much as they want to, simply because the characters are so shallow and so young. The lives they lead in England are superficial lives, and the horrors of Ypres are so horrific that in many ways the young characters do not seem to comprehend them fully. Compartmentalizing is one thing, necessary for survival, but the long-term postwar effects on the characters who return are not examined fully, and those effects might have been the bigger story here. Mary Whipple
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Paul Tarrant is a student at art college in London. Struggling to impress his tutors he is wracked by self doubt. He falls in with the seemingly more talented Kit and Elinor. Through them he meets and starts an affair with the myserious Theresa, but is increasingly drawn to Elinor who is in turn resisting the attentions of Kit.
This complex but essentially shallow menage a quatre is blown apart by the first world war, as both Kit and Paul go to the front while Elinor fights to avoid any involvement in hostilities despite the impact on her family.
Paul and Elinor's relationship was deepening as war begun, and is consumated as she visits him in Belgium. However even as they are joined, their relationship is cracking apart as his horrific experiences as a medical orderly and ambulance driver and her detrmination to shut herslf away from the conflict drive them in different directions.
As ever with Pat Barker, Life Class is supremely readable. Her descriptions of place are as evocative as ever and her ability to create sexual tension remains strong.
The book also has some interesting things to say about the place of art in the world, especially at times of great turmoil. It is a valid exploration of differing experiences and circumstances can destroy relationships.
However at the end I just felt a bit disatisfied at the thinness of the story, the essential unpleasant shallowness of some of the main characters (Elinor in particular) and the rather threadbare narrative.
Its a good book, and well worth reading, but not in the same class as the Regeneration trilogy.
This complex but essentially shallow menage a quatre is blown apart by the first world war, as both Kit and Paul go to the front while Elinor fights to avoid any involvement in hostilities despite the impact on her family.
Paul and Elinor's relationship was deepening as war begun, and is consumated as she visits him in Belgium. However even as they are joined, their relationship is cracking apart as his horrific experiences as a medical orderly and ambulance driver and her detrmination to shut herslf away from the conflict drive them in different directions.
As ever with Pat Barker, Life Class is supremely readable. Her descriptions of place are as evocative as ever and her ability to create sexual tension remains strong.
The book also has some interesting things to say about the place of art in the world, especially at times of great turmoil. It is a valid exploration of differing experiences and circumstances can destroy relationships.
However at the end I just felt a bit disatisfied at the thinness of the story, the essential unpleasant shallowness of some of the main characters (Elinor in particular) and the rather threadbare narrative.
Its a good book, and well worth reading, but not in the same class as the Regeneration trilogy.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am rather sad that I cannot offer this novel more than 2 stars. I read Regeneration and loved it, the interplay of real life and fictional characters was absorbing. Barker tries that again here but with a differing institution, but for me this time it did not work as well.
There are moments when the use of language is amazing, where the horror of the first world war and the hopelessness of the soldiers makes you want to weep....'The world belongs to them, because they were on their way to die'. Barker is good at that, she knows her subject well. What lets this novel down is that this adds nothing new to the body of Barker's work. I fear now there will be a Life Class part 2.
It is time I think for Barker to move on.
If you love her work, please read this, but I am not sure this offers any more than Regeneration, and perhaps a lot less in respect of development.
There are moments when the use of language is amazing, where the horror of the first world war and the hopelessness of the soldiers makes you want to weep....'The world belongs to them, because they were on their way to die'. Barker is good at that, she knows her subject well. What lets this novel down is that this adds nothing new to the body of Barker's work. I fear now there will be a Life Class part 2.
It is time I think for Barker to move on.
If you love her work, please read this, but I am not sure this offers any more than Regeneration, and perhaps a lot less in respect of development.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Regeneration Trilogy Part 4?
Pat Barker probably can't write a bad novel, but overall you do have to wonder what "Life Class" tells us about some aspects of World War One that hasn't been covered in the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jl Adcock
4.5 stars
I was lucky enough to hear Pat Barker read from this book when it was first published. As always, Pat Barker books are very easy to read and it was enjoyable to become engrossed... Read more
Published 8 months ago by SJSmith
The Artists' War
A wonderfully readable account of the horrors of World War I, seen through the eyes of a group of Slade art students. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kate Hopkins
missing the va va voom
This is my first foray with Pat Barker and unfortunately I was not blown away by the book. Slow for the most part - just the occasional poignant episode - the badly injured chap... Read more
Published 19 months ago by aragorn17
Oh dear...
I have thoroughly enjoyed Pat Barker's other novels, but this was a huge disappointment. What is she thinking of? Read more
Published 20 months ago by F. M. M. Stott
Life Class
Some excellent writing here, especially the passages depicting the Red Cross hospital. Unfortunately the characters are dull and unsympathetic and the story goes nowhere. Read more
Published on 29 Oct 2009 by Rich
Well written, poorly ended.
This was the first Pat Barker book i have read. I saw the cover in the library and knowing it would be set in War i took it out. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2009 by Vintage Chic
Not Exactly Gripping
Selected this book from a supermarket shelf (boy I wish I had looked at these reviews beforehand). It took me several weeks to read, mainly because I found it hand to pick up. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2009 by Mr. M. Deith
disappointing
Life Class is well written but fails to engage. Unlike the Regeneration trilogy which was authentic, detailed and confident in story this short novel has less authority. Read more
Published on 13 May 2009 by pete
Formulaic and derivative
This book was so similar to several other books I have read recently that I kept thinking I had read it before. Read more
Published on 19 April 2009 by G. A. Rymkiewicz
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
