Double Vision

Pat Barker

I loved the contemporary human twist to this general war theme, and found it utterly compelling. A war correspondent returns from Afghanistan to a 'quieter' life in Newcastle. Viewed against a recurrring imagery of war, each character he meets is disturbed by differing traumas and conflicts. A light modern read, but strong in symbolic issues.

Extract

'And of course immediately I thought of Goya.'...
'Yes - but then "I saw it." "This is the truth." It's that argument he's having with himself, all the time, between ethical problems of showing the atrocities and yet the need to say, "Look, this is what's happening"... and I thought, My God, we're still facing exactly the same problem. There's always this tension between wanting to show the truth, and yet being sceptical about what the effects of showing it are going to be.'

Parallels