The Ghost Road

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Raises Disturbing Questions about the Nature of Humanity - Rated
Please do not read The Ghost Road before reading Regeneration and The Eye in the Door (the order intended by the author). As brilliant as The Ghost Road is, its message will hit you harder if you have read the other books first and anticipated what Pat Barker's final vision of humanity would be.

Without revealing any spoilers, The Ghost Road is the most nuanced novel about war that I've ever read. Most war-related books take one of two basic themes: Either war is too awful to be tolerated and needs to be abolished . . . or human nobility is expressed within war, but war itself is an evil event with people being destroyed by incompetent leaders. You'll find a different message here, one implied by a combination of observations about a tribe of head hunters and by the behavior of Billy Prior, one of the primary characters in the three books. I leave it to you to find out what this nuanced message is . . . but I believe it will probably surprise and enlighten you.

By narrowing down the focus onto just two of the continuing characters of the trilogy, Dr. William Rivers and Lieutenant Billy Prior, The Ghost Road has an intensity and power that I didn't observe in the prior two books. Clearly, The Ghost Road is a step above those excellent novels.

I am often left wondering why books that win prestigious prizes (like the 1995 Booker Prize . . . awarded to The Ghost Road) did so. I have no doubt that this award was well earned.

Life can be an ironic event, punctuated by moments of sublime joy. I have seldom read a novel that captured those perspectives as well as The Ghost Road does.

Brava, Ms. Barker!

more war - Rated
Once again, a meaningful book by Barker. The relative meanings of death are examined through the experiences of Prior the raving bisexual at war and his psychiatrist in his previous life as an anthropologist amongst head hunters. Again, Barker offers us the questionable opportunity to read about gay sex, this time awaiting us late in the book, when we've finally got to grips with its meaning. This rather spoiled it for me. Sorry.

A good Introduction - Rated
I came across this book when it was recommended in my book group, noticed it was one of three books and picked up a copy of the trilogy which I read straight through. It is an extremely readable series of books in which the language flows very well and the story is all the more poignant for this.

It's very difficult to form one point of view about the first world war from these books. Initially I experienced sympathy for Sassoon's anti-war protest and shock upon reading about Captain River's other patients. The beauty of Pat Barker's writing is that she expresses very complex issues well - the futility of this war, the hopelessness of those caught up in it, protest, patriotism, heroism and self-discovery.

The Eye in the Door is a little odd in comparisson to the other two books in that Billy Prior's story becomes disconcerting to say the least.

Sassoon's and Prior's ultimate actions in going back to war are understood in the context of their compassion for others. The Ghost Road reaches an emotional and despairing conclusion but gives enrichment and hope from the detailed descriptions of Prior's last journey to the front line.

Captain River's story is also compelling and adds another complex dimension about imperialism.

fantastic - Rated
I was much younger than I am now when i first asked my mother to buy me 'The Ghost Road' I was 15/16 and in high school, we had read a passage out of the book in English class, and i was hooked!!

ive only read the 3rd book from the trilogy but i do intened to keep a close eye out for the others. since i have read the ghost road i have never found another book as good as this one. I would recommend this book 1 million times over for anyone that loves history and books as much as i do.

A huge, limitless book - Rated
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.