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annierosalinde's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I'd heard a lot of hype about this book for years, and have recently stepped into a mythological retelling phase so thought I'd give it a go.
It was honestly just fine? It was a bit boring in parts, but the premise of perspective of these great stories from the powerless people present was a good one.
However. It was framed as "feminist" but honestly despite it being (mainly) from the perspective of Achilles's slave, this is not a story about the women - this is about how women serve men, and without much critical analysis from the characters regarding this. The MC was potentially the least interesting character and fleshed out character of them all despite her being the one who we hear most from. The glorification of the men of the story from her, despite claiming she is not, was a bit tedious at points (hence my boring statement) and her desire to keep them all invested was yawn.
Glad I've read it, won't recommend it
It was honestly just fine? It was a bit boring in parts, but the premise of perspective of these great stories from the powerless people present was a good one.
However. It was framed as "feminist" but honestly despite it being (mainly) from the perspective of Achilles's slave, this is not a story about the women - this is about how women serve men, and without much critical analysis from the characters regarding this. The MC was potentially the least interesting character and fleshed out character of them all despite her being the one who we hear most from. The glorification of the men of the story from her, despite claiming she is not, was a bit tedious at points (hence my boring statement) and her desire to keep them all invested was yawn.
Glad I've read it, won't recommend it
naela's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
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? No
4.5
goslinggander's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-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
5.0
isastork's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.5
bookishsumaiyah's review against another edition
3.0
I was so sympathetic to this book and had high aspirations: how could I not? The ‘Silence of the Girls’ by Pat Barker is a feminist revision of the Iliad, as Barker rightly points out, the voiceless women within the Trojan War and the complex lives they had led have been grossly simplified by mere footnotes. The root of the Trojan War, Helen, is barely spoken about apart from lust and vulgarity from the Greek camp. However, it is the same ‘feminist retellings’ that disillusions me even further, as they’re not as progressive as they sell themselves to be. No doubt can be made of the beautiful writing within this, and at some points, it is thought-proving - but the ‘Silence of the Girls’ ultimately fails as a feminist retelling.
This literary revision does well in the accurate portrayal of women within the Trojan War and their mundane daily life: which consisted of wartime rape at night, and a counsellor for the soldiers at day. Supplemented by the lack of glamorisation and the rawness of the conditions for women is evident through the account of the protagonist: Briseis, Archilles’ slave. She narrates very vividly:
“I do what no man before me has ever done, I kiss the hands of the man who killed my son.”
(…)
I thought: “And I do what countless women before me have been forced to do. I spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and brothers.”
* Pat Barker, ‘The Silence of the Girls’, p.267
The jarring problem I have with this novel is the fact despite Briseis is the one who is narrating her own story - I cannot help but feel Achilles is still the most multi-layered character within the whole book. Yet, the rationale of this book was to give voices to women who had their voices eradicated during the war. Yes, the continued references to sucking Briseis's breasts (the deeper meaning of this is stemmed from Archilles’ thorny relationship with his mother/sea goddess, Thetis and his abandonment issues that have spiralled) are very off-putting and distasteful. Despite this, Achilles still remains the most singlehandedly interesting character, despite how veiled he is. Hence, the switching to Achilles’ narrative throughout further illuminates this point. If it’s about Briseis and her experience, why is parts of the book then narrated in the 3rd person?
Apart from mass wartime rape, (which I am not disputing by any means), the whole narrative is Briseis observing the interaction of Achilles and Patroclus, and other events during the Trojan War. Female solitary is briefly mentioned and is pushed aside to make clearance for the most ‘juicy’ parts of the Iliad, such as Agamemnon and Achilles’ later confrontation, or detailed descriptions of looting and bloodshed during the culmination of the war. I am not saying to exclude these core chapters of The ‘Silence of the Girls, but any sign of female empowerment or solidarity is non-existent. Rather, Trojan women seem to internalise the sexist and misogynistic language and actions that are being leveraged against them. Even the most passive, exploited and mistreated female characters within English literature, such as Offred in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, even attempts to resist the tyrannical Gilead through small acts of subversion.
Even after Achilles makes a grand speech wishing Briseis were dead, lamenting ‘she’ had been the reason Agamemnon and Achilles had fought - she displays no visceral reaction to this. No element of anger when she is held hostage, raped, or her family had been killed or wished dead - and to be numb and devoid of emotion, comes after anger. She does curse to Apollo to bring down the plague, but this doesn’t make her unique as we do know other characters has wished this as well. Where is her individual outrage or anger? She had never been subjected to this before, her life of royalty in the past - hence the novel would’ve done a lot better talking about Briseis disruption of her social class, and how she struggles to adapt to her new status. Archilles only views her as disposable, which is evident when she attempts to escape, and he had been apathetic towards it. My problem arises further here: the recycling of the same tropes of the female body. Disposability, exploitation and broken goods. Barker doesn’t challenge this narrative. Perhaps, there could be a bigger distinction of how the displaced Trojan women were equally important in winning the battle at home: for providing food for soldiers, nourishment and healing those who are wounded. To write a ‘feminist book’: the empowerment of women needs to be equally vocalised as well as the exploitation of women. The men, despite their ego-boosting competitions and depravity of humanity enacted on women and children: the Greek men of all ages had united in one single body to defeat the Trojans.
Another unappetising element was the continuous reference to Briseis's slavery, in which she is held hostage by the Greeks and is solely used as a ‘war prize.’ While she is a slave, from the years she is forced within the Greek camp, and her purposes are only sexual - my displeasure comes from the fact, before the war, she had been a beautiful princess, and in the legends, Briseis was the wife of King Mines of Lyrnessus. During this, a reasonable estimate would be her household also had slaves. Albeit, they hadn’t been treated as inhumanely as Briseis and the others in the Greek camp - the continuous reference to slavery had seemed out of touch. While all women are subjugated and invalidated by men, those born from slavery or who are from a primary lower social class have a multifaceted definition of subjugation: first by men, second by the economy.
Further, there were missed opportunities to create greater harmony and concord among the displaced women through Chrysalis. Chrysalis is also a sex slave of Agamemnon, however, matters become complicated when her father, the priest of Apollo begged for his daughter's return bearing the god’s sacred symbols and bounty of gold and silver. The public humiliation enacted by Agamemnon to the priest had created a plague which had swept through the Greek armies as revenge. This could have created a perfect bonding opportunity for all the displaced women to band together and comfort Chrysalis at the sight of her father, rather than a meaningless discourse on Archilles’ and Patrolecu's tender affection for each other because it doesn’t nothing to advance the novels plot. Rather, it just feeds into the imagination of more famous retelling of the Trojan War, Madeline Millers “The Song of Achilles” which most readers read before tackling ‘The Silence of the Girls.’ Profiting of Achilles’ and Patroclus love story by foreshadowing this in the background, does make sense in a commercial sense as we saw the commercial reception and acclaim to Miller’s novel and the heightened interest in Patroclus, despite being a minor character - does literally nothing for this novel. Further, Briseis’ mentions how Patroclus was her dearest friend - yet, nothing is mentioned on their friendship dynamics or bond apart from superficial details that he was ‘nice’ to her at some points. Further, for a novel which candidly talks about the proliferation of wartime rape - nothing is mentioned when Chryses, the priest, who thought kindness had been extended after his daughter was promptly returned to him, had later facilitated his daughter to be brought her BACK to the camp for Agamemnon to have? This deliberate omission in a novel about the powerlessness and defencelessness of women is a grave oversight and further solidifies the novel only being conceptually focused on Achilles and his story, just through the facade of a women’s voice.
Don’t be fooled. This is a story primarily about men, and their actions critically analysed from the lens of women. Not a story about women.
This literary revision does well in the accurate portrayal of women within the Trojan War and their mundane daily life: which consisted of wartime rape at night, and a counsellor for the soldiers at day. Supplemented by the lack of glamorisation and the rawness of the conditions for women is evident through the account of the protagonist: Briseis, Archilles’ slave. She narrates very vividly:
“I do what no man before me has ever done, I kiss the hands of the man who killed my son.”
(…)
I thought: “And I do what countless women before me have been forced to do. I spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and brothers.”
* Pat Barker, ‘The Silence of the Girls’, p.267
The jarring problem I have with this novel is the fact despite Briseis is the one who is narrating her own story - I cannot help but feel Achilles is still the most multi-layered character within the whole book. Yet, the rationale of this book was to give voices to women who had their voices eradicated during the war. Yes, the continued references to sucking Briseis's breasts (the deeper meaning of this is stemmed from Archilles’ thorny relationship with his mother/sea goddess, Thetis and his abandonment issues that have spiralled) are very off-putting and distasteful. Despite this, Achilles still remains the most singlehandedly interesting character, despite how veiled he is. Hence, the switching to Achilles’ narrative throughout further illuminates this point. If it’s about Briseis and her experience, why is parts of the book then narrated in the 3rd person?
Apart from mass wartime rape, (which I am not disputing by any means), the whole narrative is Briseis observing the interaction of Achilles and Patroclus, and other events during the Trojan War. Female solitary is briefly mentioned and is pushed aside to make clearance for the most ‘juicy’ parts of the Iliad, such as Agamemnon and Achilles’ later confrontation, or detailed descriptions of looting and bloodshed during the culmination of the war. I am not saying to exclude these core chapters of The ‘Silence of the Girls, but any sign of female empowerment or solidarity is non-existent. Rather, Trojan women seem to internalise the sexist and misogynistic language and actions that are being leveraged against them. Even the most passive, exploited and mistreated female characters within English literature, such as Offred in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, even attempts to resist the tyrannical Gilead through small acts of subversion.
Even after Achilles makes a grand speech wishing Briseis were dead, lamenting ‘she’ had been the reason Agamemnon and Achilles had fought - she displays no visceral reaction to this. No element of anger when she is held hostage, raped, or her family had been killed or wished dead - and to be numb and devoid of emotion, comes after anger. She does curse to Apollo to bring down the plague, but this doesn’t make her unique as we do know other characters has wished this as well. Where is her individual outrage or anger? She had never been subjected to this before, her life of royalty in the past - hence the novel would’ve done a lot better talking about Briseis disruption of her social class, and how she struggles to adapt to her new status. Archilles only views her as disposable, which is evident when she attempts to escape, and he had been apathetic towards it. My problem arises further here: the recycling of the same tropes of the female body. Disposability, exploitation and broken goods. Barker doesn’t challenge this narrative. Perhaps, there could be a bigger distinction of how the displaced Trojan women were equally important in winning the battle at home: for providing food for soldiers, nourishment and healing those who are wounded. To write a ‘feminist book’: the empowerment of women needs to be equally vocalised as well as the exploitation of women. The men, despite their ego-boosting competitions and depravity of humanity enacted on women and children: the Greek men of all ages had united in one single body to defeat the Trojans.
Another unappetising element was the continuous reference to Briseis's slavery, in which she is held hostage by the Greeks and is solely used as a ‘war prize.’ While she is a slave, from the years she is forced within the Greek camp, and her purposes are only sexual - my displeasure comes from the fact, before the war, she had been a beautiful princess, and in the legends, Briseis was the wife of King Mines of Lyrnessus. During this, a reasonable estimate would be her household also had slaves. Albeit, they hadn’t been treated as inhumanely as Briseis and the others in the Greek camp - the continuous reference to slavery had seemed out of touch. While all women are subjugated and invalidated by men, those born from slavery or who are from a primary lower social class have a multifaceted definition of subjugation: first by men, second by the economy.
Further, there were missed opportunities to create greater harmony and concord among the displaced women through Chrysalis. Chrysalis is also a sex slave of Agamemnon, however, matters become complicated when her father, the priest of Apollo begged for his daughter's return bearing the god’s sacred symbols and bounty of gold and silver. The public humiliation enacted by Agamemnon to the priest had created a plague which had swept through the Greek armies as revenge. This could have created a perfect bonding opportunity for all the displaced women to band together and comfort Chrysalis at the sight of her father, rather than a meaningless discourse on Archilles’ and Patrolecu's tender affection for each other because it doesn’t nothing to advance the novels plot. Rather, it just feeds into the imagination of more famous retelling of the Trojan War, Madeline Millers “The Song of Achilles” which most readers read before tackling ‘The Silence of the Girls.’ Profiting of Achilles’ and Patroclus love story by foreshadowing this in the background, does make sense in a commercial sense as we saw the commercial reception and acclaim to Miller’s novel and the heightened interest in Patroclus, despite being a minor character - does literally nothing for this novel. Further, Briseis’ mentions how Patroclus was her dearest friend - yet, nothing is mentioned on their friendship dynamics or bond apart from superficial details that he was ‘nice’ to her at some points. Further, for a novel which candidly talks about the proliferation of wartime rape - nothing is mentioned when Chryses, the priest, who thought kindness had been extended after his daughter was promptly returned to him, had later facilitated his daughter to be brought her BACK to the camp for Agamemnon to have? This deliberate omission in a novel about the powerlessness and defencelessness of women is a grave oversight and further solidifies the novel only being conceptually focused on Achilles and his story, just through the facade of a women’s voice.
Don’t be fooled. This is a story primarily about men, and their actions critically analysed from the lens of women. Not a story about women.
aleesi's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
hollyhobbit101's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book had its flaws and it wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever read but
’One thing I do know: they won’t want the brutal reality of conquest and slavery… No, they’ll go for something altogether softer. A love story, perhaps?’
The people saying to just read song of Achilles instead really missed the point of this line
The people saying to just read song of Achilles instead really missed the point of this line
remmslupin's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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
3.0