Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

18 reviews

ltsang08's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Murder, Slavery, Sexual violence, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, War, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Suicide, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Rape

lautlines's review

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense 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? No

3.0

I wanted less Achillies more Briesis/women…. since it’s called silence of the GIRLS but that’s just me. Still was interesting I just wanted less men but obviously with war men always gonna be there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Rape, Body horror, Murder, Death, Animal death, Blood, Slavery, and War

annasbookreviews's review

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Excrement, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

chloj_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

review: 

first things first: i love a greek mythology retelling, and this did not disappoint. however, this is something a lot more than simply a mythology retelling. this is such an amazing reflection of womanhood. barker does such a beautiful job of relaying the female experience, with all it’s varying emotions and complexities. depictions of war are typically male dominated; blood, gore and war is so often synonymous for masculinity. while her portrayal of masculinity is complex and very well-written (particularly that of achilles), the raw vulnerability of the story’s women is breathtaking to behold. it was powerful, incredibly moving, and truly (in my opinion) a modern masterpiece.

               !!spoilers ahead!! 

• ‘his idea of female beauty was a woman so fat if you slapped her backside in the morning she'd still be jiggling when you got back home for dinner.’ damn me too 
• ‘she could’ve been kind to me and she wasn’t; she could’ve helped me find my feet and she didn’t.’
• ‘when i got to the door i paused with my hand on the latch and looked back, but she’d already turned away’ 
• the main character’s relationship with femininity is so cleverly written- both her relationship with other women, and with her own femaleness 
• ‘but the dying man, his face wiped clean of pain, cradled his spilling intestines as gently as a mother nurses her newborn child.’
• ‘“it’ll be alright,” i said, knowing it wouldn’t.’ 
• ‘he fucked as quickly as he killed, and for me it was the same thing. something in me died that night.’ 
• the emotions in this book are soooo beautiful done 
• ‘the bed was cold.’ this one sentence is so incredibly powerful 
• ‘no girl ever dressed more carefully for her wedding than achilles for the battlefield’
• ‘as long as i lived and remembered, [my brothers] weren’t really dead.’
• the relationship between briseis and iphis is SO special- it is born entirely from shared tragedy and the kindness only women can share with each other. 
• that depiction of wasteland at the end of 46/start of 47 is SUCH a beautiful depiction of the waste of female beauty (both physical and mental) at the hands of men 
• ‘the world began to close in around me, and i realised that the songs belonged to my brothers and not me’ 
• ‘i always remember that she wept for me when i couldn’t weep for myself’ 
• the list format of the people Achilles killed / how they died is SO good- it really displays how the repeated trauma and war has made tragedy something clinical.
• ‘before leaving, he always bent down and kissed him in the mouth, though the lips had darkened and begun to retract.’ 
• ‘Why him? Why not me? He asks the questions over and over, as if one day they might have a different answer, and the burden of guilt be lifted at last.’
• achilles grief is written so beautifully 
• ‘and i do what countless women before me had been forced to. i spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and brothers.’ 
• ‘now my own story can begin’

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Cursing, and Pedophilia

amphytrite's review

challenging dark reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Animal death, Suicide, Confinement, Medical trauma, Murder, Slavery, Child death, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abandonment, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Rape, and Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Fire/Fire injury

Content warning: plague, rats

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

redheadorganist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Slavery, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Medical trauma, Blood, War, Murder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pregnancy and Alcohol

queen_of_the_rats's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Body horror, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, War, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Misogyny, Animal death, Blood, Death, Torture, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

velokei's review

dark sad fast-paced

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

3.25

How do I even begin to describe how I feel about this book. 
I like it in the way you like an ugly but healthy puppy, is it ugly? Yes, but it’s still living and breathing and you end up developing an attachment to it anyway. I could barely put it down, but at the same time I really wanted to put it down. 
Briseis (our main character) is boring and just bland. I don’t like her and that should not be the case!  In a book supposedly meant to be centred around women, why is there only one woman’s pov but two mens? And why are both the men far more interesting than the woman? Pat if you wanted to write specifically just about Patroclus and Achilles, that’s okay! My favourite parts of the book involved just the two of them. 
I also don’t get why the last line is ‘Now, my own story can begin’ if the books whole point was supposed to be the story of Briseis, and I didn’t like the changes to the myth including who she marries and

The reveal of her pregnancy, like??? Bit weird but okay 


Tldr
Loved Patrochilles moments 
Hated Briseis she was boring 
Didn’t like the changes to the myth 
This didn’t feel very feminist 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Death, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Vomit, Sexism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and War

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