Product Description

Insomnia, exhaustion, recurring nightmares – Stephen Sharkey is suffering the aftereffects of his career as a war reporter, most recently in Afghanistan, where Ben Frobisher, war photographer and friend, has been shot dead on assignment. Hanging up his flak jacket and turning his back on the everyday reality of war, Stephen moves into a quiet and peaceful cottage in the north of England. It seems the perfect environment in which to write his book on the representations of war – one that will be based largely on Ben Frobisher’s work. But Stephen’s supposed isolation offers no protection from other people’s suffering or the shattering effects of human brutality . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #163987 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Pat Barker's novels include Union Street, the Regeneration Trilogy (comprising Regeneration, The Eye In The Door and The Ghost Road), Another World and Border Crossing. She lives in Durham.

Customer Reviews

Not what you expected, so much the better
Although I can see what other reviewers mean, I don't agree with their ratings and comments. One of the many good things of this book is the open ending. There is a threatening atmosphere built up, and things turn out very differently than you might have expected. After the book's ending many things might happen, perhaps even things you feared would happen in the course of the book. Yes, life goes on. People change and will change, and some of those people are in this book, with scars, open wounds, strange ways of looking for healing of those - known or only hinted at - wounds. There is a Stephen, a Peter, a Robert, an Alec in me (being a man), and even a Kate, Justine or Angela. This is the best novel I read for months, as good as other Pat Barker books, and I hope I will be able to find books by Pat Barker I haven't read yet.

Strangely unfulfilling
I must agree with the other review on this book. Barker's characters were interesting to begin with, and I read on quickly in hope of finding out how she was going to bring such a disparate group of people together. Sadly, the conclusion was both confusing and disappointing, and when I closed the book I just felt a bit blank and dissatisfied. However, there are certainly moments of good writing in the novel and some interesting observations. Just a shame, as the other reader agrees, that she didn't truly plumb the depths of the small world she created. My impression was that it could have been a big, meaty novel and ended up being something much less than that. Still, it did win the booker prize, and I did read it in 2 days (on the bus and in the evenings) - so there is something to be said for its readability.

Lazy stuff from such a famous author
I enjoyed the first three quarters immensely, and then it fell to pieces. Not the standard expected. It then began to read more like a first novel. The credits of her research indicated that she had put alot of academic research into this project. Where was it? Perhaps the computer corrupted and she lost large chunks of worthwhile prose.

We started off with Kate and developed her as a meaningful character, but then she seemed to get lost. Whose book was it? Stephen's, I suppose, but he was very thinly drawn. The character balance was very choppy. Peter and the statue business was never fully explained. I think, reading between the lines, that Pat Barker got fed up with this novel and ditched it, rather than putting in the work she intended. Very poor stuff.