Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

3 reviews

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

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