First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Craiglockhart War Hospital, Scotland, 1917, where army psychiatrist William Rivers is treating shell-shocked soldiers. Under his care are the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, as well as mute Billy Prior, who is only able to communicate by means of pencil and paper. Rivers’s job is to make the men in his charge healthy enough to fight. Yet the closer he gets to mending his patients’ minds, the harder becomes every decision to send them back to the horrors of the front…

Regeneration is the classic exploration of how the traumas of war brutalized a generation of young men.

It’s the end of the workweek—yay! I hope the week has been kind to everyone and that you’re all ending it on a high note. Just like that, we are already two-thirds of the way through the third month of the year. Whoa, how time flies! March was supposed to be a typical month, but then chaos ensued. I sure hope that the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict will de-escalate—or, if not, be resolved soon—since its impact is far-reaching. The world has become cruel and is growing even crueler every single day, as men in power continue to have no qualms about instigating hate and pandemonium. In a matter of days, is the world unraveling? On a brighter note, I hope the year is providing everyone with plenty of opportunities to grow and improve. With the weekend looming, I hope everyone has a great one and ends the workweek on a high note. It is now time to dress down and wear more comfortable clothes. Thankfully, today is a holiday here in the Philippines, as we observe it together with our Muslim brothers and sisters. Anyway, I hope everyone spends the weekend wisely—whether by resting from the rigors of a demanding career, pursuing passions, completing household chores, spending time with loved ones, or simply relaxing. I hope you’re all doing well—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Currently, my venture into European literature is in full swing. After spending the first two months of the year reading the works of Latin American and Caribbean writers, I decided to cross the Atlantic and explore the diverse tapestry of the European literary landscape. Honestly, toward the end of February, I had no idea what my March literary journey would look like. Then I realized that my reading challenges are also filled with works of European literature. This realization led me to dive into this vast and rich literary tradition. I began this new journey with Polish writer Władysław Stanisław Reymont’s (born Rejment) The Peasants. It was one of the books on my 2026 Top 26 Reading List. After finishing this massive work, I shifted to something more traditional: Jane Austen’s Persuasion. The switch also aligns with this month’s motif. March is, after all, Women’s History Month, and International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8. Since then, I’ve been reading works by female European writers.

My current read takes me back to the United Kingdom—after literary stops in Romania and France—to another familiar name. It was during the pandemic that I first came across Pat Barker, although I might have overlooked her name when browsing lists of Booker Prize winners. It was her Greek mythology–themed novels that first made an impression on me. During the pandemic, I read The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy. Interestingly, these were something of a deviation from her primary body of work. She first gained global recognition through her Regeneration Trilogy. The third book in the trilogy, The Ghost Road, earned her the prestigious Booker Prize. For this reason, I tried to secure copies of the trilogy. In 2024, I finally completed the set. However, they suffered the same fate as many of my other books: they gathered dust on my shelves. Honestly, I wasn’t planning to read any of Barker’s works this year. But then I realized I was focusing on works by European female writers—of which I have very few. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to reduce my backlist.

I am currently reading the first book in the trilogy, the one that gives the trilogy its title: Regeneration. Originally published in 1991, it introduces Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, an army psychiatrist stationed at Craiglockhart War Hospital. In the novel’s opening, he learns of poet Siegfried Sassoon’s declaration against continuing the war; interestingly, the narrative is interspersed with poetry. This raises the question: which war are they referring to? It is the First World War—a detail I already knew from reading blurbs about the trilogy. Sassoon, we learn, is also a lieutenant in the British military. Upon learning of his public denunciation, the military grew concerned about public opinion turning against the war, especially since there was no end in sight. The military then enlisted the help of Sassoon’s friend Robert Graves, a fellow officer and poet. Graves labeled Sassoon as “shell-shocked” after convincing him that his critique of the war would not lead to the court-martial he seemed to desire, but rather to public embarrassment. He then arranged for Sassoon to be sent to the hospital, partly to discredit him.

Back at Craiglockhart, Dr. Rivers felt uneasy about Sassoon’s admission, as the institution also functioned as a mental hospital. By agreeing to be admitted, Sassoon was effectively acknowledging a psychological condition, which undermined his protest. However, Dr. Rivers doubted the claims that Sassoon was shell-shocked. He was also reluctant to harbor a “conscientious objector”—someone who claims the right to refuse military service. Upon Sassoon’s arrival, he and Dr. Rivers begin discussing his objections to the war. His initial answer is straightforward: he objects to its horrors. Furthermore, the fact that his stance is not rooted in religion leads Dr. Rivers to classify him as a conscientious objector—apparently a common trait among them. I’ve just finished the first part, but I sense that Sassoon’s reasons are not as simple as they seem. They appear rational, yet there may be deeper motivations beneath them.

After all, the trilogy explores the horrors of war—a central theme in war fiction. The Regeneration Trilogy is essentially anti-war in nature, which reminded me of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, two renowned anti-war novels. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story develops. Interestingly, the novel is quite an accessible read, and I might finish it over the weekend. How about you, fellow reader? What are you reading this weekend? I hope you’re enjoying your current book. Happy weekend!