Regeneration by Pat Barker – nominated for The 1991 Booker Prize, along with Reading Turgenev https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/06/mesmerized-by-reading-turgenev-by.html by William Trevor, both spectacular novels - 9 out of 10

 

Regeneration by Pat Barker – nominated for The 1991 Booker Prize, along with Reading Turgenev https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/06/mesmerized-by-reading-turgenev-by.html by William Trevor, both spectacular novels

 

9 out of 10

 

I am looking forward to reading The Ghost Road, which has won the 1995 Booker Prize, in the year when the stupendous Morality Play https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/04/morality-play-by-barry-unsworth.html was shortlisted, and if the latter lost, and it is so exulting, then we can only expect majestic delight from the former

 

Regeneration is also included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, in the War section, for it is about World War I, and the impact, the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and more that it has inflicted on the men that fought in a senseless, cataclysmic conflagration, if World War II made sense, in that Hitler had to be eliminated, WWI was rather pointless

Captain William Rivers is the military officer that tries to cure patients sent to the War Hospital Craiglockhart, the place and main characters are based on real life people, the doctor is one that has experimented with curing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with patience, delicacy, respect, in contrast with so many others

 

We read in the book about one other medical officer, who is using electric shocks to make mute patients talk, and though he has a good rate of success, he abuses, we could say tortures the men in his care, who are forbidden to leave the room and need to talk withing one single session of pain, electric shocks, confinement

Maybe the most important personage for this reader would be Siegfried Sassoon, an exceptional officer, brave, humane, erudite, a poet, kind to his men, and conscientious objector (that is what came to mind, but actually, he became a pacifist) who has been in contact with Bertrand Russell and other prominent people…

 

He wrote a paper in which he explains the opposition to the continuation of the war, seeing its monstrosity, the fact that the strategy was flawed, to say the least, the casualty list is horrendous, millions would have died at the end of World War I, and he has experienced at first hand the tragedy and carnage

There are numerous examples, but I think now of the attack in which multitudes were sent to attack, only to find that hidden from view, not shown on maps, they had in front an insurmountable obstacle, a mound or something, which made them prey to the German machine gunners, and those few who got over this died in the razor wire

Robert Graves is the good friend of the poet that has written against the war, and the former uses some influence to get Sassoon to the hospital, where William Rivers would treat him, avoiding thus worse consequences, such as court martial, complications that would affect the family, and the poet himself, who could change his mind

 

Sassoon is not a coward, albeit this is the image of those who do not want to fight, and a majority will see his protest against the war as a front behind which to hide his fear of fighting, nevertheless, he had fought with courage, was very attached to his men, and looked out for them, he is now torn between his opposition to the war and other feelings

Spoiler alert – I will write about what happens towards the end – eventually, Siegfried (a name that shows his mother’s love for Wagner and his music) Sassoon would want to join the war, again, in spite of his nightmares, which he will hide from the commission judging his fitness, and while others want a desk job, he insists on going to France

 

The other favorite of mine is Billy Prior – however, let me just mention Anderson here, and his falling into a putrefying corpse, head first, when a shell explodes nearby, for he has that rotting flesh in his nostrils, mouth, and thereafter he would vomit continuously, and we could somehow envisage the heinous situation

Billy Prior refuses to communicate with Rivers, initially, he expects sincerity, and says that he has a ‘wall’ in front of him, but slowly, he will become more cooperative, and even has the chance to meet Sarah Lumb, a young woman that works in a munitions factory, and with this move, a chance offered by the war, he makes what, ten times more than before

 

When Sarah’s mother comes visiting, we have another look at a supporting personage, but so brilliantly described, the older woman has no doubts about the vileness of the world, men chase women like foxes would rabbits, and the former would refuse a female that gives in, would not marry her that is, so she has to stay virgin

Women would feel like the tape worm toward the gut (I think that was the metaphor) and a very negative, cruel view of the world that was, and surely, not that far from the truth – in the feminist, Woke age, there is a backlash, and men, the young ones, have moved towards the far left in their political views, but we must not forget the atrocities of the past

 

Sarah and Billy get along together, though they belong to different classes, he is an officer and she is a ‘common girl, with yellow skin, because of the pollution and improper care in that factory – the same cynical mother asks ‘what does he see in you’, sure that there is only one thing he wants, and she must not give it

Indeed, he wants to have sex, and when she is inebriated, they come close to having coitus, on a…tombstone, of all places, and the two of them see each other again, after a hiatus provoked by the fact that he is denied exit, since he had not worn the badge saying he is a patient in the hospital, but they overcome that, and maybe other obstacles…they would state their love for each other, and could only prognosticate over the future

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”