Life Class - Pat Barker

...what people don't realize is that knowing that you're your own worst enemy doesn't automatically turn you into your own best friend. Insight. The psychologist Mother had insisted on sending him to, when he was fifteen, had gone on and on about insight. Rubbish. He had insight by the bucketful and it did him no good at all.

This is a well-crafted book covering the lives of several art students as World War I is breaking out. Like other books by Barker, the interplay of war on the lives of individuals is the focus. I liked the contrast of students in a school for the arts as the inhumanity of war moves into their insular world. Barker is an excellent writer and the winner of a Booker Award for a prior book. She is intelligent and creates interesting characters.

The time period in England, and later in Europe, is depicted in a realistic style. The writing is straight-forward whether describing art or war. The horrors of war and how it changes lives is both enlightening and disturbing. The book examines how humans react to war and what compels us to artistic expression.