The Eye In The Door

Pat Barker's  The Eye In The Door is the second novel in her Regeneration trilogy, the first volume of which, Regeneration, I found very impressive - it's reviewed here.  The fact that five months have passed tell you something - that I was just nervous that the second novel wouldn't maintain the standard, perhaps, or just that I've  read more than I want about the 1914-18 war.  And I was slightly disappointed, I'm afraid, although it's clear this is still a very accomplished novel, and one which has moments of great intensity and a visceral, physical quality - and moments, too, of febrile social madness.

So what disappointed me?  Well, for a start, it opens with a not very graphic but sordid and unpleasant episode of sodomy between two officers, and I didn't find that a welcoming theme!  Then, there is much less of Sassoon and Owen, two of the major characters of Regeneration - and men in whom, both as characters and as real poets, I can feel real interest.  The leading characters of The Eye In The Door are less attractive and less absorbing - and one of the main characters, Billy Prior, is a poor thing, unhappy, torn between loyalties, following his insatiable and wide ranging sexual appetites while progressively falling apart psychologically.  Army psychiatrist, William Rivers, is here again, and he is again impressive and compelling - and his conversations with his patients are, as in Regeneration, marvellous pieces of writing: probably in both books the main joy of the writing.

But in spite of my doubts, this is still well worth reading.  Apart from Rivers, who is enough to justify reading this novel, there are convincing accounts of the tense local relations between patriots and conscientious objectors, of paranoid and shrill upper- and middle-class patriots who saw treason and corruption everywhere, and a major theme of injustice and false imprisonment of a woman who had allegedly, and ridiculously, been accused of plotting to assassinate Lloyd-George.  There's plenty of narrative interest, some fine writing, and a compelling picture of a stressed and insecure society at a turning point in its fortunes, and even some resolution for those who like their stories to have endings!  I will probably read the third novel, The Ghost Road, because some say it is the best of the trilogy - but again, I don't feel ready yet.

Comments

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I haven't read the book but what you write about the beginning scene makes me laugh out loudly! Sorry, but I must tell you the truth.
Although I haven't experienced war or wartime first-hand (of course and fortunately),I feel that war itself is by default "a not very graphic but sordid and unpleasant episode", to say the least! The scene you mention is certainly not among the most obscene or uncivilized facts that have ever occurred during wartime. And this is not at all meant to be deprecating for those who served, who are serving or -unfortunately - who will still serve in the future... far from that.

From a literary point of view, I guess said scene is probably meant to surprise the readers when they don't expect it and to produce on them the odd effect it produced on you... And it worked apparently; you've been caught in the very trap the writer imagined, I am afraid! Well, it must be quite a good book then.

That said, I quite understand how you must have felt and I can easily imagine why you might have felt uncomfortable with that.

Off topic: From what I can see, you are currently reading (or rereading?) Rilke's poetry, a very good choice indeed!