Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

35 reviews

nialiversuch's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, Animal death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Kidnapping, Slavery, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Suicide, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Vomit

alexiasophii's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Wow.
This is a hefty book, before anything else, please be careful of the content warnings, they are NOT a lie or minimized, this is a very heavy, graphic and pain-ridden book. However, it is incredible. It's amazingly sad, amazingly painful, but amazing nonetheless. 
I might come back and do a bigger review later because I'm still gathering my thoughts, but I really enjoyed this book (I had a nightmare related to this book, that's how well-written it is!) and I'm planning on reading the sequel as soon as possible! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Slavery, Alcohol, Excrement, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Torture, Genocide, Rape, and War

franzeerdbeerbacke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book needs a trigger warning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Infertility, Mental illness, War, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Death of parent, Deportation, Genocide, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Toxic relationship

ladyb00k's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Gore, Death, Grief, War, Blood, Colonisation, and Confinement

emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Deportation, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Cannibalism

emmacartlidge's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, Medical content, Pregnancy, Suicide, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, and Body horror

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Confinement

shadereads's review

I think reading about the brutality of the Trojan war was just too much for me. I wasn't enjoying the story because of the constant rape and sexual assault.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Gore, Blood, Pedophilia, War, Confinement, Violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy

sophiemag's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Rape, Sexism, Torture, War, Gore, Suicide, Slavery, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death, Confinement, and Sexual assault

beauvisseau's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One word: breathtaking. This retelling of a story as old as time was done so well, you can almost taste the love that the author has for Greek and Trojan mythology. The writing style was impeccable, and I can clearly see all of the conscious choices that the author made regarding things like speaking style, active versus  passive speaking styles and the investment in certain themes. 

Although the main character, Briseis, does not have a highly developed character, I feel that it fits with her state of being. The grief of losing her loved ones but also one's self can turn you into a shell of memories and thoughts.
One point of criticism though, is that I would have liked to see more perspectives of different women there. It is a missed opportunity to switch between Briseis, Patroclus and Achilles, when two of those three narratives have already been explored for centuries but so many narratives are missing.

Amazing work of fiction that truly expands upon the existing narratives and opened my eyes to many new ideas about war, feminism, story-telling, slavery and power. Would recommend to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, War, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Genocide, Gore, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Violence, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia

kredeprnz's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Wow. I am actually broken because of this book. I'm writing this fresh after finishing it and just, wow. 

I came for another retelling of the Iliad, hoping it would be as beautiful as so many others, and it was. It was beautiful because of the story of Briseis is not. Her story is absolutely ugly and terrifying, a true tragedy as the life for women in ancient times were. It's realistic and historic in it's own ways. Her reactions to the traumas were painted in a way that weren't triggering, but you still felt her raw emotion, the raw emotion of a human being so hurt and tortured. This book was amazing in telling her story and the stories of many other trojan women that were looked over and ignored so many times throughout history. A truly powerful story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, War, Blood, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Slavery

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Confinement, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Body shaming, Miscarriage, and Infertility