- Hardcover
- Publisher: HarperCollins; Abridged edition edition (1 July 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0001052330
- ISBN-13: 978-0001052338
- Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 10.6 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,199,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
An extraordinary tour de force. I'm convinced that the trilogy will win recognition as one of the few real masterpieces of late 20th-century British fiction (Jonathan Coe )
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
The third title in the Regeneration trilogy, read by Paul McGann.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I may be in a minority here when I say that I found this to be the most powerful and profoundly moving book in the trilogy. In this book the sympathetic psychologist Dr W H R Rivers becomes one of the most noble figures of moden literature. Anyone who has undergone counselling or indeed practices counselling will find this book and its predecessors fascinating. It has a resounding ring of truth to it. Billy Prior the shell shocked Officer from a humble background who struggles both with his background and his wounded mind is a fascinating subject for Rivers. But the relationship becomes far deeper than that. It is almost the love between Father and son. River's recollections of his time in the Soloman Islands living with those simple people is a quite brilliant idea. It highlights the ills with society that would cause such injuries to the mind. Amongst the Soloman Islanders such behaviour was beyond their simple understanding of the world. Their happiness contrasting vividly to the woes of post war Britain.
This most moving and eloquent of books is a fitting ending for this monumental trilogy. It is also a humbling elegy for all those forgotten victims of the war and their families, who suffered misery as deadly as any bullet could inflict. Essential reading.
This most moving and eloquent of books is a fitting ending for this monumental trilogy. It is also a humbling elegy for all those forgotten victims of the war and their families, who suffered misery as deadly as any bullet could inflict. Essential reading.
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is important to read the first two books of the Regeneration trilogy before starting on The Ghost Road. The character of Prior has to be one of the most attractive in modern fiction, whilst at the same time being more anti-hero than hero, but it is his development through the series that is most interesting. If you don't cry buckets at the end, you have no feelings.
40 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The field of First World War novels may be a crowded one, but in 'The Ghost Road', Pat Barker is by no means overshadowed. Her subtle blending of fact and fiction allows her to convey every aspect of the war effectively from two perspectives: the psychological impact of it on those deeply involved, and wider view: how it affected social and mental barriers, inciting probing questions into the value of our own morality.
On the surface, we are presented with a seemingly straightforward negative account of the war, most prolifically in its impact on the two central characters, Prior and Rivers, who serve as the focus for the narrative throughout the book (the latter stages even being told directly from Prior's diary entries). However, upon a deeper reading, endless social judgements emerge, directed against every aspect of our society, along with predictable passes at the class system, which allowed the upper classes, and in particular, aristocratic army generals to distance themseves from the suffering endured by the men. Barker cleverly utilises a complex narrative which in itself would satisfy a reader, and saturates it with ambiguous, apparently descriptive yet deeply symbolic references, to the deepest political and philosophical issues.
Despite these being perhaps cliched themes, especially so considering the context, they are presented in such a way that makes them have a powerful impact on the reader, the sustained flatly harrowing tone, one of almost casual sadism, being as intriguing as it is grotesque. The opening line: 'In deck chairs all along the front the bald pink knees of Bradford businessmen nuzzled the sun' demonstrates this, the symbolism inherent here indicative of the way Barker starts as she means to go on. The close examination by a barbaric tribe of head hunters on a remote island, however, is perhaps the strongest and most overtly cynical judgement of the British system during the war: the way in which, in essence, there is no rational reasoning to explain the concept of rank. War as a setting is the opportunity Barker seizes with both hands to communicate her feelings about such matters, being in many ways the most extreme of human pursuits, and very widely understood as an institution, Barker perhaps manipulating the sensitivity surrounding it to drive her own ideas home. The result is that they are doubly effective.
This is not to suggest that Barker's narrative be devoid of successful characters: Prior and Rivers, the focal points throughout the book, are both richly constructed, with many delving psychological examinations. The development of Prior's character as he comes closer to first-hand conflict, in particular, serves to supply the reader with the personal aspect of the war, as well as being an enlightening and thought-provoking analysis of the human psyche. His release of repressed sexual feeling shortly before an assault on a German position a reflection, perhaps, of human capability and desires which, when faced with the inevitability of death, when life is measured and displayed, find openings in the calamity of mind.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant!
I am studying Regeneration, the first in this trilogy, for my English Literature A-Level, and have bought the second and third books to read in my own time. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Laura
What is a civilised society?
Whilst this is possibly my least favourite of the three books of the Regeneration trilogy, in a way it's also the most interesting and certainly the most moving. Read more
Published 11 months ago by C. Ball
The weakest part of the Regeneration Trilogy
Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy begins with 1991's 'Regeneration', is followed by 1993's 'The Eye in the Door' and ends with 'The Ghost Road' in 1995. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Ian Shine
A side of war you've never seen
Although I'm not an avid reader of fiction, `The Ghost Road' caught my eye because of my interest in 20th century history. Read more
Published 17 months ago by WillBurton
Haunting
The Ghost Road is set in the closing months of WW1 and alternates between a traumatised soldier called Billy Prior and his physician WHR RIvers. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Sam Quixote
A moving and worthwhile read
This is a wonderful conclusion to a wide-ranging and thought-provoking trilogy, exploring not just the now-familiar horrors of the Great War, but psychological trauma, death, sex,... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by Dr. G. E. Grant
The Ghost Road
This book is the third book of a brilliant trilogy of events and people during, and involved in, WW1. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2010 by R. Schofield
A kind of nobility
There are two main characters in this novel, winner of the 1995 Booker Prize and part of a trilogy about the Great War. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
Readable, moving, significant...
Following Billy Prior back to front line for the 4th time, this is an intelligently written novel which can be read in isolation or as the third of the Regeneration trilogy and I... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2009 by Nom de Plume
Overpowered by Birdsong
I was drawn to The Ghost Road based on its 1995 Booker Prize winning status, and as a comparison to Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong. I was disappointed. Read more
Published on 16 April 2009 by Axnettle
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