I had to read the first book in the trilogy - "Regeneration" for my A Levels and when i saw the book and read the blurb i immediately thought "how boring is this going to be?" Yet when i eventually forced myself to start reading it, i was gripped by the end of the first chapter and within a week i'd bought and read the rest of the trilogy too! Contrary to other reviewers, my favourite book was The Eye in The Door, which contains a lot more politics and is also moving and very graphic with sexual imagery and other topics. Actually, the other two books were pretty moving and graphic too so be wary if you're a bit prudish! The first book in the trilogy concentrates on the poet Seigrfried Sassoon, his friendship with another poet Wilfrid Owen and a fictional officer called Billy Prior, who are all convalescing in hospital after suffereing shellshock, with the aid of the doctor, Rivers. The second concentrates more on Billy Prior, with some references back to Sassoon and Owen and the third is mostly about Prior and their doctor in the hospital, the real Dr W H Rivers. All three books contain connotations about homosexuality(something that was then illegal) and also the usual wartime book themes about the brutality and pointlessness of war. Don't dismiss them (as i almost did) as historical tat, they are all three, fantastic novels that bring out emotions and make you fully realise the futility of war and the complexity of psyhcology. Pure, Grade A Excellence!
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