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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Starting just prior to the start of WWI, the first half focusses on a trio of art students in London, their encounters with each other as they become more and more entangled in each other's lives. Paul feels aimless and talentless, Neville is talented but a bit of a tosser, and Elinor is serious and much admired by both men. Then war breaks out, and the three of them find their perceptions of the world and each other much altered. I was really absorbed in this, and I found Paul a thoughtful observer of life both pre-war, and in the thick of the worst of it. I did find the last third of this rushed, and some important relationships are poorly developed and then cast aside in a few lines, and because of the end it has an abrupt unfinished feeling, but it almost works because it mirrors the messiness of life.
Having loved The Regeneration Trilogy, I was keen to read more Pat Barker. Life Class is also set around WWI and while I didn't enjoy it quite as much, I still found it compelling. This one revolves around art students in London. A moving story about love, art and the war.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It took me a while to warm up to this book. I felt it was trying too hard and telling too many stories at once. But I really started to enjoy it as soon as the war and the letters between Paul and Elinor started. By the end, I was a little conflicted by Elinor. At times, I wanted to shake her, because she was so entitled. But isn't it very human to try to distance yourself from the awful things happening in the world? Paul, on the other hand, became more and more interesting as the book progressed. His letters are the best part of the book by far.
Although I enjoyed "Life Class" I'm not sure I will continue with this series. The only thing that drives me to do so is that there's isn't a lot of interesting books about World War I. We'll see.
Although I enjoyed "Life Class" I'm not sure I will continue with this series. The only thing that drives me to do so is that there's isn't a lot of interesting books about World War I. We'll see.
I had a little bit of trouble getting into this book at first but am glad I picked it up again and continued to read.
It deals with very young people who are attending an art college at the moment before WW1 breaks out. They are three very different people and I really was interested in reading about them. I felt for Elinor because she had a very modern idea of what she wanted to do and society frowned upon her wanting to focus on her art and not be a mother. In my very modern eyes, there is nothing wrong with this choice but in the time period the book was set in, that is almost impossible for a woman to do.
Neville creeped me out. Totally full of himself, a sexual predator in mindset, and weak. he caused much trouble when things did not go his way and I was glad when Elinor did not allow him to sleep with her. The idea he was sure she would and offended she wouldn't made me want to punch him in his smug face. Total asshole who also gossiped about people and made up stories about them if they were female and would not have sex with him.
Paul, he was an interesting character who seemed to be trying to find himself and what he wanted. he struggled to find love and ended up loving women who have flaws or are not ready to be loved. I really enjoyed reading about him and seeing him grow as a man.
I really enjoyed this book and am curious about Pat Barker's other books.
It deals with very young people who are attending an art college at the moment before WW1 breaks out. They are three very different people and I really was interested in reading about them. I felt for Elinor because she had a very modern idea of what she wanted to do and society frowned upon her wanting to focus on her art and not be a mother. In my very modern eyes, there is nothing wrong with this choice but in the time period the book was set in, that is almost impossible for a woman to do.
Neville creeped me out. Totally full of himself, a sexual predator in mindset, and weak. he caused much trouble when things did not go his way and I was glad when Elinor did not allow him to sleep with her. The idea he was sure she would and offended she wouldn't made me want to punch him in his smug face. Total asshole who also gossiped about people and made up stories about them if they were female and would not have sex with him.
Paul, he was an interesting character who seemed to be trying to find himself and what he wanted. he struggled to find love and ended up loving women who have flaws or are not ready to be loved. I really enjoyed reading about him and seeing him grow as a man.
I really enjoyed this book and am curious about Pat Barker's other books.
2.5 stars
weirdly disjointed? felt like three different books, none of which were really my cup of tea
weirdly disjointed? felt like three different books, none of which were really my cup of tea
I didn't realize Barker was female. I first encountered her with the Ghost Road trilogy, perhaps the most haunting portrayal of WWI I've ever come across. She ranks up there with Wilfred Owen. Life Class is of the same era, though I didn't find it quite as compelling. It's the story of Paul Tarrant and his peers at an art school at the beginning of WWI. The relevance of art during wartime is the fundamental backdrop of the story, but life, love, and doing one's duty are all prominent themes. The ending is rather abrupt, though. I wasn't sure where the story was going, but I did think it would go a little farther....
I have been waiting for sooooo long to read this book! My mum gave me Toby's Room as a gift years ago, but when I discovered it was the second in the series, I couldn't read it until I read the first. It took me ages to find a used copy (for some reason I couldn't bring myself to buy it new), and as soon as I did, I sent it to the top of my To Read list. This book starts before WWI, as Elinor, Paul, and Kit are students at the Strand art school in London. At that point, the greatest agonies were what you'd expect of art students: struggling to find their voices as artists and contain their jealousies over their peers' successes, and jockeying for position in the triangular relationships of youth. Elinor is the fulcrum -- beautiful and positioned, talented, flirtatious but aloof, attracting the attentions of both Paul and Kit. Paul entered art school after coming into an inheritance, but never quite feels like he's getting it -- Elinor is unattainable so he gets involved with Teresa, a model with an abusive ex. Kit finds the success that the others all crave, and gains the lofty heights of the Art World. Then, the war begins. Kit and Paul, fearing the Front, head to Belgium to work as ambulance drivers, while Elinor remains in London, continuing with classes and the social whirl, drawing and painting as the world crumbles around her. The story shifts, becoming partly epistolary as Elinor and Paul write to each other, describing their new lives while ever conscious of how irrelevant they each are becoming to the other. This is an interesting narrative style, switching voices seamlessly, but sort of omniscient, and I found myself inside a new character's head almost before I realized it. The horrors of WWI are brought to life, more than 100 years after it happened, as if it were yesterday. Ah, the double meaning of the title. I am looking forward to the story's continuation, and I will seek the final volume!
quick re-read, as a review before reading the sequel, Toby's Room. This is one of those well-written books that tell a simple story and create a sense of time and space in a clean, spare way. What kept me from loving it and rating it higher was a feeling of slight remoteness from the two main characters, never quite connected to them, for some reason. Horrifying, though, how life turns on a dime from the romantic angst of young art students to the unimaginable suffering and terror of WWI.
Update 3/19 another quick reread in preparation for the third sequel....probably liked it a little better, maybe a bump up to a 3.5. The romance is still tepid and not quite believable, and the characters, particularly the women, are still a bit hard to grasp. But the WWI sequences are pretty gripping. Unpleasant, certainly, but they stick with you.
Update 3/19 another quick reread in preparation for the third sequel....probably liked it a little better, maybe a bump up to a 3.5. The romance is still tepid and not quite believable, and the characters, particularly the women, are still a bit hard to grasp. But the WWI sequences are pretty gripping. Unpleasant, certainly, but they stick with you.
I raced through this book. It was highly readable while still having some substance to dig into. This is my second time reading Barker, and I found a lot of the same themes of transmission of trauma and recovery from trauma (which always interest me), but in a way different enough that I didn't feel like I was reading the same book over again.