The Ghost Road - Pat Barker

Published by Penguin Books: London, England, 2008 (1995).

I did not enjoy this book. 

By now I’m used to the idea that a lot of the Booker books will contain sordid elements, but Billy Prior, the protagonist of this work, turns my stomach with his sexual behaviour. Not only through its explicitness (which is at the higher end of the Booker books I’ve read) but through his attitude towards it: he sleeps with both men and women, but never does so with any sense of real emotional attachment. Rather, he is merely using his sexual partners – for sexual release, for revenge, for humiliation…

It would be possible to give an argument for why Prior acts the way he does, both because of being a gay man in a dangerous era for gay men, and because of the horrors he has and is continuing to experience in the trenches of World War One. Yet understanding his behaviour doesn’t make reading about it any more pleasant, and any hint that his behaviour is connected to these elements is hidden, leaving it for the reader to make their own decision. 

It is also not only Prior’s sexuality that is twisted. His is the main sexuality explored, but other characters also refer to abuse suffered at the hands of others, of hidden family secrets, and these too add to the unpleasant taste the book holds.

Aside from this, the plot of The Ghost Road revolves around Prior returning to the trenches of France after having some time in the psychiatric care of William Rivers, and also follows Rivers (a historical figure) caring for those mentally disturbed by what they have seen on the battlefield. A third plot line is told via Rivers reflecting on time spent among a village of former head hunters in Melanesia. Each of these plot lines holds some interest, and overlaps to some degree (Rivers wonders how Prior is doing, looks after a soldier Prior has dragged off the battlefield, and ponders whether elements he has seen among the head hunters may be more moral in certain scenarios), but otherwise remain independent. 

This is the third in a series of books, and perhaps the other two justify the behaviour found in this one. But I will not be reading them to find out.

This has almost put me off my Bookerworm quest altogether.

Previous Book ~ Next Book


(Bookerworm)

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