The Ghost Road by Pat Barker

This is the third book of the ‘Regeneration’ trilogy and is thought to have been awarded in recognition of the trilogy as a whole, pretty much like all the awards that were showered on the film version of  ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’.  Therefore I feel a little guilty as due to the sheer volume of books to read, I am only reading and reviewing ‘The Ghost Road’ as the official Booker prize-winner. However, I will endeavour to read the other parts of ‘Regeneration’ when I finish (add it to that ever increasing list!), although this is not a general policy as there is no way I am doing the same for the ‘The Famished Road’.  Sorry, it would appear that that book has become the lower bar by which all forthcomings novels are compared, although my Dad did suggest we get hold of the third book in the series and read the last chapter to see what happened…if anything…although I realise that what happened is probably not the point, I remain extremely sceptical!

Anyway, if I return to the comparison of ‘The Return of the King’ – reading the last part only would probably be a little strange (call me conventional but I read ‘The Lord of the Rings’ in order) without the context and character development of the previous segments.  And I apply the same philosophy to ‘The Ghost Road’ – however, this book passed me in such a blink of an eye that I couldn’t help but wonder whether it warranted splitting up into its three component parts – why not just have reduced the large font size, and left it as one good book?  It was just far too short to invest any great emotion in although saying that the descriptions of the fighting and conditions in WW1 were harrowing.  Although I must say I have read books where I think the writing is far more affecting and compelling of the atrocities of WW1 such as Sebastian Faulk’s ‘Birdsong’.

I did find the storyline of the doctor at the hospital in Britain fascinating especially with its insights into his research into less developed civilisations of Melanesia, and the parallels it drew between the more philosophical elements of war and illness and the role of the medicine man in each context.  I may be slightly skewed in my interest, being a doctor myself and as I am particularly intrigued by the power of the mind especially in respect to illness, however whatever the reason for it I would have been satisfied if the book had focussed purely on this thread of storyline and gone deeper into it.  So much so that I became irritated by the continual back and forth alternating narrative chapter sequence when the story returned to the soldier in the battlefield.  The battlefield I feel has been done many times before in novels whereas the medical perspective felt like a new approach to the horrific storyline of war.  Overall, mixed feelings and I totally feel as if this review is hopelessly incomplete without having read the other two books – so if you’re not tackling the whole project of reading the Bookers I would recommend you do the sensible thing and read them in order!