Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

16 reviews

theothergrl's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book does a wonderful job of showing us how patriarchy harms both women and men. It's a retelling of Achilles' story of the Battle of Troy from the perspective of his bed slave, Briseis. Their horrific and very sad relationship is explored earnestly. It's not a story about love, it's about two people pushed into bed and how they grieve immense loss not together but side-by-side. In different ways they are both denied the ability to process these emotions. They both grapple with their anger at the wasteful and pointless reasons for their loss. The loneliness and pain they both experience come from two hands of the same body, patriarchy. I think the way this is shown so paralleled throughout story, not in comparison to one another, is what makes this such brilliant feminist literature.

And, of course considering everything else, this book is a wonderful example of how we can tell stories with even the extremes of sexual violence, and tell them well without gratuitousness nor overly graphic. I did not once feel that there was no need for a particular sex/rape scene, when they were there, it added to the story. 

The 3 main characters in this book are loveable (and 2 very much despiseable) in a very complicated and heart wrenching way. But you'll definately enjoy spending time with them and hearing their story, I would 100% recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Sexual violence, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Blood, Infidelity, and Rape

Minor: Infertility, Vomit, Child death, and Pregnancy

jessellisx's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Infertility, Misogyny, Grief, and Sexism

Minor: Suicide, Slavery, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

dismantlethepatriarchy23's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, War, Slavery, Sexism, and Genocide

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

this is very good quality stuff, but too much for me 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Death, Gore, Infertility, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, and Grief

gracewiley's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Slavery, War, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Death, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, and Sexism

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Infidelity, Vomit, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Abandonment, Excrement, Domestic abuse, and Infertility

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

sapphicpenguin's review against another edition

4.0

SO much potential. A very present, hard story, that definitely captures the spirit of the Iliad as well as bringing you closer to the pain of women in war. I love the parallel of Helen and Briseis—I've always felt they occupy similar places in the narrative. Briseis's story is so unexplored, and it was so lovely to get her perspective. Quite enjoyed it, but did have some issues.

I didn't like some of the punctuation/format choices, and especially at the beginning a lot of the language felt cliche. After every mediocre sentence, though, was a paragraph that blew me away, so I couldn't dislike the writing. 

My main issue was how much of the book—a first-person POV book, too!—didn't center Briseis. This book is from her perspective, marketed itself on being her story—and yet multiple chapters don't include her. It felt like the author just felt we would be too bored without some of Achilles's story as well—but doesn't that defeat the point? Of course that's the issue you run into—all the exciting bits of the Iliad happen with zero women present, that's the challenge of a retelling centering women. It just didn't feel like the author completely overcame the urge to just write a story about Achilles and Patroclus.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gore, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Alcohol, Excrement, Physical abuse, War, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Self harm

Minor: Cannibalism, Infertility, and Miscarriage

The worst/most violent of the sexual assault is skipped over, but it is very present. The aftermath is discussed.

guivx5's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

God, this took me ELEVEN days to read. Thank God it’s over

“The Silence of The Girls” relies on the famous Iliad story, a tale with so many different takes and interpretations that it has come to be known, even if just a bit, by everyone. I myself have started to enjoy stories based on greek epics when I first read Madeline Miller’s books. So I had high hopes on this one. And, honestly, it had everything to be really good. The dense characters; the abuses inflicted towards women, usually omitted in retellings; a rich scenario to explore. It had the bread and cheese, and it could’ve been a hell of a lunch. If the writing wasn’t such a slog.

Look, I’ve really tried to like this one. I really did. But getting through the chapters turned into a battle. The author writes like this, using commas repeatedly through the paragraphs, often turning phrases into a mess, a big mess, of convoluted information, agonizing confusion, crossing each other, making the long paragraphs often composed of one or two sentences. It. Is. Really. Exhausting. This, mixed with the questionable narrative choices, made this book the biggest slog for me.

Overall, it’s The Iliad in some way, so it’s good in some way, although I do feel that this book is not so friendly towards people who don’t have much knowledge about the original story. It’s sad it turned out this way for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexism, Sexual violence, Body horror, Infertility, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Domestic abuse

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

It is very sexual and has so much rape in it. I realize that’s because it is a retelling of the Trojan War, but I did not like this. It is cruel. 

However, the writing, while not my cup of tea, is quite good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Genocide, Alcohol, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Self harm, Infidelity, Gore, Child death, Slavery, Suicide, and War

bectothebooks's review

adventurous emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Cursing, Gore, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Vomit