Another World

by Pat Barker
I really really liked Barker's The Ghost Road trilogy. Of course it was disturbing - it's a trilogy about neurasthenics during World War 1 - but it was also compelling and compassionate and deeply rooted in reality. The doctor and his patients are all drawn from real hospital records.
Unfortunately, Another World isn't like that. It's a ghost story, which is all well and good if you like ghost stories, but I don't. And even worse, it's a ghost story based on the worst of human nature. Unspeakable aspects of human nature. And really who needs that?
The biggest problem with the story is that Barker is SO skilled at creating a world that pulls you in. And I really didn't want to be in this one.
11/08