Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

24 reviews

ccee's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

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

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

_tabby_'s review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

I love retellings of famous stories when they're rewritten from the woman's point of view and Pat Barker did this incredibly well.
It made me hate Achilles even more than I thought possible but it wasn't her version of Achilles I hated- this book just made me realise how horrible of a man he really is despite the version of the myth being told. Eye opening moment.
Patroclus remains as sweet as ever but Barker doesn't let you forget that he was no exception to keeping a slave girl (she goes into detail about the other slave girls too which emphasises the title)
Briseis was possibly the best choice of female character for the lead of this book and her personality doesn't feel forced or made up- it feels natural to her character and like the personality and thoughts she was always meant to have (if Homer spoke about her more ofc) 
Loved this book and currently reading the sequel, "The Women of Troy".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and War

Moderate: Child death, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

shellybelly's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

tuskany1066's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Suicide attempt, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Grief, Death, War, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Violence, Slavery, War, and Death

Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicide

longhairzuko's review

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Death, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Vomit, War, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

swhite34's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

carolinasbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I don’t even know where to begin with this book. 

I read this soon after I read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller which made it so jarring. In TSoA, Achilles and Patroclus are lovers and it’s beautiful. However, in The Silence of the Girls, they aren’t lovers and Achilles is a horrible person - he slaughters everyone in his path and essentially rapes Briseis over and over. 

It’s very brutal and some things like smells or the way a corpse looks are described so well and realistically that there were a few moments that made me gag. 

This is such an important read because The Iliad is so focused on men and this book flips that on its head because you get to see it all through the eyes of the women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and War