The last couple of decades have produced a lot of loose talk about the “dysfunctional family,” whatever that might be. Every time a definition is attempted, its vagueness and generality point to the inevitable conclusion that there really is no such thing as a family that is not dysfunctional. Some families, to be sure, get along passably; but only permanent citizens of Cloud-Cuckooland would contend that love unalloyed by rage or jealousy can exist between any two family members.
Still, some clans are definitely more dysfunctional than others, and when emotions build to a crescendo there can develop a situation that amounts to a sort of war, whether it be declared outright or merely a cold one. It is fitting, therefore, that Pat Barker, who has written perhaps the best war novels of her generation, should now turn her attention to the subtler hostilities of family life.
With her Regeneration trilogy—Regeneration (1991), The Eye in the Door (1993) and The Ghost Road (1996)—Barker established herself as one of the foremost novelists in Britain. But those who are strongest at showing us the gore of the battlefield are not necessarily those best equipped to chronicle the repressed, unspectacular skirmishes of the domestic front. Another World, though, Barker’s first novel since the trilogy, is resounding testimony to the breadth and durability of her fictional powers.
Nick’s family has reached a crisis point, one that will sound familiar to a good many modern parents. It is a
