Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

64 reviews

megthepoet's review

dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, War, Blood, Violence, Slavery, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Child death

gondorgirl's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Blood, Child death, Pregnancy, Suicide, War, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

Moderate: Animal death

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

risaleel's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Blood, Slavery, Sexual harassment, War, Child death, Violence, Death, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, and Vomit

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

itsredandread's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Slavery, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Pregnancy and Death of parent

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

mushymargo's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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? No

5.0

Loved seeing another POV of Achille’s story, about time. Felt real and raw and much closer to history then any other story of Troy. Loved the many mentions of other names from legends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Classism, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail