Sitting blindfold at a table, Head had been unable to locate the stimulus that was causing him such severe pain. This primitive form of innervation they called the protopathic. The second phase of regeneration — which they called the epicritic — followed some months later, and was characterized by the ability to make graduated reponses and to locate the source of a stimulus precisely.

Very different from the first book. Still an extremely good read, but in quite different ways.

Meh. No desire to complete the trilogy.

Regeneration, the first volume in ths trilogy, was unique, affecting and memorable. I'll combine the reviews of The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road as I read them in one glob. And sadly, I didn't care much for either one. "Eye" was rather confusing to me, I kept losing track of the story and having to go back and reread to see what I missed, ultimately I realized that I had lost sympathy or whatever for the characters and was just finding the whole storyline plodding and dreary, fact based or no. I hoped Ghost Road would pick up the pace a bit. But no. In both books there are a few riveting moments, but not enough. And when every few pages in GR we have to flashback to Dr. Rivers' experiences with headhunters in the jungle I would sigh and run the risk of skipping something profound by skimming. I just read many five star raves of both books and feel like I must have missed something, so maybe I should be ignored here, I don't know. (Oh, and quite a few reviews warn of some rather raw sex scenes that pop up out of the blue. I actually appreciated them because they woke me up when I was leaning towards dozing off. Although they ARE pretty yucky.)

"You know..." Rivers hesitated and started again. "You must be wary of filling the gaps in your memory with... with monsters. I think we all tend to do it. As soon as we're left with a blank, we start projecting our worst fears on to it. It's a bit like the guide for medieval map-makers, isn't it? Where unknown, there place monsters. (...)
"All right, I'll try not to. I'll substitute the Rivers guide to map-making: where unknown, there place dressing-gowns. Or just possibly, dogs."

"You know..." Rivers hesitated and started again. "You must be wary of filling the gaps in your memory with... with monsters. I think we all tend to do it. As soon as we're left with a blank, we start projecting our worst fears on to it. It's a bit like the guide for medieval map-makers, isn't it? Where unknown, there place monsters. (...)
"All right, I'll try not to. I'll substitute the Rivers guide to map-making: where unknown, there place dressing-gowns. Or just possibly, dogs."

doesn’t quite compare to the first instalment but once again pat barker covers an enormous and horrendous topic with compassionate eloquence. lines from ‘regeneration’ have haunted me since i read it for the first time in school and ‘the eye in the door’ did excellently as a sequel - considering the final instalment won a booker i imagine it’s probably also setting up for the finale

i was struck by this quote about being willing to sacrifice body and soul and suffer for a cause:
‘That's a very dangerous idea. It comes quite close to saying that the willingness to suffer proves the rightness of belief. But is doesn't. The most it can ever prove is the believer's sincerity. And not always that. some people just like suffering.’

I really enjoyed Regeneration back in 2008 and picked up the second in the trilogy a while back. It's quite different in style and approach than the first but equally well written (winning the 1993 Guardian Fiction Prize). The focus has shifted to Billy Prior who makes for an interesting character promoting sympathy, intrigue and slight disgust all at the same time. He's conflicted and not a well man, split in his responsibilities and possibly his personalities as well.

Barker wonderfully constructs a vivid mid-war Britain; a nation thrown into conflict psychologically, unsure where to place emotions and who to trust. The conchies and homosexuals in particular are suffering in the public eye and Billy is stuck somewhere in-between as we revisit the 47000 and the Cult of the Clitoris amongst other historical events (Barker provides some relevant historical background as an afterword, making for some interesting reading).

I have to say it took a while to get into, mainly due to the difference in style and my different expectations but gradually I got sucked into the world portrayed. The latter parts move towards more of the psychiatric exploration present in Regeneration which I enjoyed. I'm not sure how well it works on its own, feeling like the middle segment it is, particularly with the ending. Still, I'm keen to pick up The Ghost Road to see how things play out.

Another wonderful book about war and how it fractures men and societies. Rivers and Sassoon don't seem as strongly drawn as they were in Regeneration, but Prior slogs through it all, king of the lower class, compassionate savior, and sadist.