'A triumphant return to form and to the period evoked so superbly in her Regeneration trilogy ... Barker demonstrates her mastery ... taut, unsparing prose.'
'Breathtaking ... sharply written and elegantly constructed.'
'Thoughtful, ambiguous and powerful'
'Brilliantly succinct on the charged dilemmas between art and worthwhile work, love and war, and the way they irreversibly impinge on the trio's lives.'
'Vivid and emotive writing ... Barker's evocation of the front-line hospital is masterly, gripping in its narrative thrust and judicious in its use of detail'
It is spring, in 1914. A group of students at the Slade School of Art have gathered for a life-drawing class. Paul Tarrant is easily distracted by an intriguing fellow student, Elinor Brooke, but when Kit Neville - himself not long out of the Slade but already a well-known painter - makes it clear that he, too, is attracted to Elinor, Paul withdraws into a passionate affair with an artist's model. As spring turns to summer, Paul and Elinor each reach a crisis in their relationships until finally, in the first few days of war, they turn to each other. Paul's new life as a volunteer for the Belgian Red Cross is a world away from his days at the Slade. The longer he remains in Ypres, the greater the distance between himself and home becomes, and by the time he returns, Paul must confront the fact that life, and love, will never be the same again.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
Not as strong as it might have been I was excited to learn of a new Pat Barker novel set during World War One, a subject she writes about so movingly. Unfortunately, I found "Life Class" only half-great, and the main problem was that I simply didn't care enough about the characters. Barker's extraordinary protrayal of both fictional and real-life characters in the "Regeneration" trilogy was one of the series' undoubted high-points, but it is sadly not replicated in this novel, where the characters just seem too shallow to warrant the reader's... more info
Not Her Usual High Standards I believe I have read all of Pat Barker's published works including the oft mentioned, "Regeneration Trilogy". I think it is unfair to make a comparison to that series of books, as many would rightfully argue it is her best work. "Life Class" suffers from weak and in some cases characters that are too easily disliked. Well-drawn characters that a reader enjoys rooting against can be a great part of any work. In this case I found myself dreading the reappearance of certain players. This book like some... more info
"Leave your [deleted] compassion at the door, it's no use to anyone here." Pat Barker's sensitive exploration of the devastating effects of The Great War on a group of artists from the Slade School of Art complements her similar exploration of the Great War from the point of view of the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon in her Regeneration Trilogy, for which she won the 1995 Booker Prize. Examining the lives of art students Paul Tarrant, Elinor Brooke, and Kit Neville as they learn their craft, celebrate life by partying in the days leading up to the war, and eventually... more info
Does Life Emulate Art or the Reverse? Pat Barker takes three shallow English artists and drops them into the turmoil of World War I as a way of capturing the war's full horror. Elinor Brooke shows promise as an art student and wants to pursue painting rather than fulfill the traditional roles of wife and mother. Young men, including Paul Tarrant (a struggling beginner at art school) and Kit Neville (a painter who is beginning to attract notice), are attracted to her as a woman and don't take her artistic future all that seriously (even though... more info
