Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

15 reviews

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

readingoccasionally89's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

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

3.75

it started off well and the change of perspective (to the women’s perspective) is definitely a plus for me, but it was WORK reading this book, especially in the middle. 
one thing that bothered me aswell was how the relationship between patroclus and achilles is described, especially because i read this after tsoa, (which i definitely liked better.) but that’s just my personal opinion and NOT a flaw of this book. 
i think the intention of this book was to show the hopelessness, troubles and crimes in the trojan war from a woman’s perspective, in which pat barker definitely succeeded, but stil i wouldn’t call this book a favourite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Violence, and Slavery

irgendwieantonia's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, War, Violence, Death, Deportation, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Grief, and Sexual violence

ladyb00k's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Gore, Death, Grief, War, Blood, Colonisation, and Confinement

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

emmacartlidge's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, Medical content, Pregnancy, Suicide, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, and Body horror

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Confinement

florana's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Slavery, War, Death, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Grief, Rape, and Sexism

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

ellida's review

challenging dark sad medium-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? It's complicated

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Child death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

streamthief's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

Amazing book, wonderful retelling of the Iliad from the pov if Briseis, a captured and enslaved queen from Troy who becomes an object of conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon. It shows Achilles, and other Greek heros, as being complex people who can do awful things. Nearly all the male characters have slaves, some used for sex and other just for labor. I think largely the point of the book was to demonstrate that instead of simply retelling the tale of Troy. The book is fundemntally about Achilles and his story, but isn't told from his perspective. The writing was magical, and everything was paced in such a lovely way. It wasn't as 'enjoyable" of a read as other books may be, but it was engrossing and really makes you think. I read the entire thing in a day.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and War