Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

18 reviews

glutenfreemaggie's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The title of the book is contradictory in that only the first part of the book is from Briseis’ perspective. The second and third parts rotate between Achilles’ POV, Briseis’ POV and like a third person narrator? Idk it took away from the story a little bit for me because it was literally a silencing of the girls. Not sure if that was intentional. I understand why we got heavily into Achilles’ perspective once Patroclus died, but the story was supposed to be about Briseis’ experience so the story lost its structure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

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

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was an amazing look into more of Briseis’ story. It tells her as a main character, instead of usually having her as a side character with Achilles as the main character. It was incredibly refreshing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Gore, War, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Suicide, Sexual content, Sexism, Rape, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

jessy_03's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

kitkatkick's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

A fascinating recount of the story of the Iliad, The Silence of the Girls strongly embraces the current push toward reframing history as HERstory. We see the see the infamous tale through the eyes of Briseis, Achilles’ concubine slave and former Queen of Lyrnessys. Despite the fact that her existence was pivotal in the Trojan War, as the cause of the dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon and Achilles’ resulting refusal to fight, we so rarely hear from Briseis or see her discussed as more than an object to be owned, a prize to be won. The Silence of the Girls turns the focus onto her, considering her thoughts and emotions throughout her ordeal and using that perspective to reveal the experiences of other women in her situation.

The Silence of the Girls didn’t strike me as a book that required a background in Greek history or mythology. I’m not saying you’ll get it if you have no idea who Achilles is, but if you’re unfamiliar with Briseis, or Patroclus, or any of the other actors, it seemed like you would get along just fine. And for those of you who do have that background, you get to feel extra smart when you recognize a new character or know what’s coming up.

The reason I gave this book three stars as opposed to more is that to me, the story didn’t do the premise justice. Barker’s writing is certainly wonderful, and in Part One, she captures emotions and truly makes the reader empathize with Briseis. But as we enter part two, we encounter a sudden, jarring shift to including chapters from the male point of view. And not only do we suddenly hear from Achilles, Patroclus, and others, but we shift from first to third person. I understand that it was intended to cover parts of the story that Briseis’ point of view likely couldn’t, but I can’t help but feel it was poorly executed, or even a form of cheating. We picked up this book to hear from Briseis, but as we continue on past the story of Patroclus, we hear more and more of Achilles’ point of view, and less and less of Briseis’. And in that, there seems to be some sort of comment on the overshadowing of “herstory” by history that I don’t particularly have the energy to make.

Overall, I do think this book was interesting, and for fans of Greek mythology I would certainly recommend it for it’s mostly unique perspective. But I feel that it’s more apt for calling attention to the horrors of war than it is to do it’s intended job of illuminating the stories of the women of Troy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Toxic friendship, War, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Genocide, Murder, and Slavery

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Pregnancy, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Child death, Classism, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Torture, and Panic attacks/disorders

radfordmanor's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol and Incest

ananko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, War, and Vomit

Moderate: Infidelity, Torture, and Suicide

tashadandelion's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Though this store illuminates how a women such as Briseis might have experienced the tragic circumstances around the sacking of Trojan cities by the Greeks, the story's vibrancy is ultimately hampered because Briseis -- like all mortal women in this time and place -- has no agency. We see her thoughts and feelings as she's treated like a thing, not a person, while she has no choice but to be submissive, quiet, and obedient for survival's sake. The most compelling aspect of this book is the attention given to the grief of the women who have lost male loved ones to the never-ending wars. Every soldier who falls in a war is someone's beloved child, and every death ruins a whole family, not just that one person's life. I've given this 3.5 stars because the writing is well-done and I think Barker has faithfully portrayed the martial world of Ancient Greece and Troy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Grief, Gore, Domestic abuse, Death, and Child death