The Ghost Road (1995)
Who wrote it?
Patricia Mary W. Barker (nee Drake; 1943-, active 1982-), born North Yorkshire, England. Barker wrote fiction in her twenties, but wasn’t published until almost forty. Her first three novels focused on the lives of working class women in Yorkshire, before she decided to turn her attention to World War 1 with the Regeneration Trilogy, of which this is the final part. She was awarded a CBE in 2000.
What's it about?
The Ghost Road is the final part of a trilogy, crucially one of which I haven’t read the first two parts (more on that later.) The Regeneration Trilogy is set predominantly during World War 1, and blends historical characters including war poets Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves, with fictional characters including the central character Billy Prior, a working-class officer created to parallel and contrast with the poets.
The Ghost Road focuses largely on the closing months of the war. Prior is returning to the front after his recovery from shell-shock under (real life) psychologist William Rivers. In this book the war poets are no longer the main point of focus, though Owen does figure to an extent as part of Prior’s regiment. Instead the focus is on Prior, with his fluid and voracious sexuality given a lot of time, and Rivers, who spends much of the book musing on death and war via his reminiscences of time on an anthropological expedition to Melanesia, ten years previously.
What I liked
The writing is strong - excellent in places.
Billy Prior is an intriguing character, even if probably more so if you’ve followed his full journey. The descriptions of his sexual encounters and fantasies are vivid and well written.
The sense of fatalism and futility hanging over the novel is well done. As you watch the days count down towards the end of the war, which even the soldiers can see coming by the final months, yet the bodies continue to pile up, you can’t help but be moved.
What I didn’t like
Strong caveat to all of this - I have not read the previous two parts of the trilogy. I do believe a Booker win should stand alone, and I don’t feel like it felt overly like it was vital to have read the preceding parts (it still made full internal sense without excessive additional research) - so I think some of these points are worth making regardless.
Aspects of it bored me. Namely: the Rivers parts. I was reasonably engaged with a well-drawn story of the tragic final months of World War I, and didn’t find this story was greatly illuminated by Rivers’ observations on the colonially-influenced diminishing culture of “headhunting” in the Solomon Islands. I get that we are supposed to draw parallels between the two shifts taking place, but half the time it just felt like superfluous padding and frankly a bit of a slog.
The local characters in these bits were also very thinly sketched and I never found myself able to engage with them.
As others have pointed out, some aspects of the writing feel potentially anachronistic. Prior’s sexual exploits are a highlight of the book but his enlightened attitudes sometimes felt more at home in the 90s than the period he’s supposed to be living in.
Overall, this just didn’t hold together for me. Sure, there’s some great writing and fragments of real depth and beauty, but it’s too patchy.
Food & drink pairings
Probably army rations or something.
Fun facts
Hmm, even here I’m struggling on this one! Ruth Rendell was among the judges and was glad that Pat Barker won. Is that “fun”? Probably not.
Rendell also tells us that they had to read 140 books as part of the judging, or 6.3 per week. That’s a lot of books.
The bookies’ favourite this year was Salman Rushdie, back with his first novel since the huge controversy ignited by The Satanic Verses.
Vanquished Foes
Justin Cartwright (In Every Face I Meet)
Salman Rushdie (The Moor's Last Sigh)
Barry Unsworth (Morality Play)
Tim Winton (The Riders)
Any tips from the above?
Context
In 1995:
Jacques Chirac elected President of France
John Major re-elected as UK PM
Collapse of Barings Bank in the UK due to actions of "rogue trader" Nick Leeson
Sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway by Aum Skinrikyo cult
Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh kills 168
O. J. Simpson trial ends in not guilty verdict
Unabomber Manifesto published in major US Newspapers as part of a deal to end a decades-long bombing campaign by Ted Kaczynski
Srebrenica massacre takes place under command of Ratko Mladic
Indian government official renames the city of Bombay, restoring the name Mumbai
US FDA formally approves Saquinavir, first protease inhibitor to treat HIV/AIDS
Disappearance of Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers' founder member Richey Edwards - still an unsolved case
Microsoft release Windows 95
Foundation of eBay by Pierre Omidyar
The Diary of Bridget Jones first appears as a column in the UK's Independent newspaper
First World Book Day
Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes
Philip Pullman, Northern Lights
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Robbie Williams quits UK boyband Take That
Alanis Morisette, Jagged Little Pill
Radiohead, The Bends
Oasis, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Tricky, Maxinquaye
Toy Story
GoldenEye
The Usual Suspects
Life Lessons
War is hell
…but then, maybe not entirely? Good for the character, or something. More war! Or not? *Indifferent shrug*
Score
5.5
I would love to hear from readers who’ve read the full trilogy. Do you love the trilogy as a whole? And if so, is The Ghost Road a high point or just a slightly disappointing coda?
Ranking to date:
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) - 9.5
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie (1981) - 9.5
Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively (1987) - 9
Sacred Hunger - Barry Unsworth (1992) - 9
Oscar & Lucinda - Peter Carey (1988) - 9
The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (1978) - 9
Life & Times of Michael K. - J. M. Coetzee (1983) - 9
Schindler’s Ark - Thomas Keneally (1982) - 9
The Bone People - Keri Hulme (1985) - 8.5
How Late it Was, How Late - James Kelman (1994) - 8.5
Troubles - J.G. Farrell (1970, "Lost Booker") - 8.5
Possession - A. S. Byatt (1990) - 8
Saville - David Storey (1976) - 8
The Siege of Krishnapur - J.G. Farrell (1973) - 8
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje (1992) - 7.5
Rites of Passage - William Golding (1980) - 7.5
Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald (1979) - 7.5
The Elected Member - Bernice Rubens (1970) - 7
The Conservationist - Nadine Gordimer (1974) - 7
Holiday - Stanley Middleton (1974) - 7
Heat & Dust - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1975) - 6.5
In a Free State* - V.S. Naipaul (1971) - 6.5
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle (1993) - 6
G. - John Berger (1972) - 6
The Famished Road - Ben Okri (1991) - 6
Something to Answer For - P. H. Newby (1969) - 5.5
The Ghost Road** - Pat Barker (1995) - 5.5
Staying On - Paul Scott (1977) - 5
Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner (1984) - 4.5
The Old Devils - Kingsley Amis (1986) - 4
*Read in later condensed edition.
**Third part of a trilogy of which I hadn’t read pts 1&2
Next up
1996 brings us Last Orders from Graham Swift, which I have had on my shelf since the early 2000s and never read?!
