Scan barcode
sas_lk's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
The entire time I was reading, I so desperately wanted the women to fight, to try different things, to escape this hell. But at the same time, you know that they will never be able to get out of that situation. It is so sad how a lot of the events are not even historical, in the sense that many women are still treated like this.
At the end, it still ended up being quite a bit about Achilles. While i understand why Barker wanted to do it, I still wish the focus was even more on the women because in the end, it almost felt like the book was forgiving Achilles and the men for what they had done.
That said, when Achilles grieves Patroclus, Barker wrote it extremely well.
Graphic: Animal death, Slavery, Child death, Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Kidnapping, Rape, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Violence
sophiesmallhands's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Blood, Sexual assault, Gore, Sexual violence, War, Violence, Slavery, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Blood, Alcohol, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy and Vomit
acaciaplaceholder's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Sexual violence, Sexism, and War
luke_jpg's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, War, Sexual violence, Slavery, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Violence
guivx5's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“The Silence of The Girls” relies on the famous Iliad story, a tale with so many different takes and interpretations that it has come to be known, even if just a bit, by everyone. I myself have started to enjoy stories based on greek epics when I first read Madeline Miller’s books. So I had high hopes on this one. And, honestly, it had everything to be really good. The dense characters; the abuses inflicted towards women, usually omitted in retellings; a rich scenario to explore. It had the bread and cheese, and it could’ve been a hell of a lunch. If the writing wasn’t such a slog.
Look, I’ve really tried to like this one. I really did. But getting through the chapters turned into a battle. The author writes like this, using commas repeatedly through the paragraphs, often turning phrases into a mess, a big mess, of convoluted information, agonizing confusion, crossing each other, making the long paragraphs often composed of one or two sentences. It. Is. Really. Exhausting. This, mixed with the questionable narrative choices, made this book the biggest slog for me.
Overall, it’s The Iliad in some way, so it’s good in some way, although I do feel that this book is not so friendly towards people who don’t have much knowledge about the original story. It’s sad it turned out this way for me.
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexism, Sexual violence, Body horror, Infertility, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Domestic abuse
florana's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Slavery, War, Death, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Grief, Rape, and Sexism
andjeluh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Rape, and Misogyny
avatarofthefrog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: War, Violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Misogyny
Moderate: Pregnancy, Torture, and Sexual assault
karendarias's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Murder, Violence, Slavery, War, Sexual assault, Grief, Death, Child death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexism, Violence, Medical content, Misogyny, and Torture
kt2e56's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
But holy SHIT what an abysmal execution.
First of all: there’s the obnoxious overuse of very modern phrases and concepts (I mean modern as in there’s no way someone in Ancient Troy would even know what this MEANS let alone say it) which kept taking me out of the story. The author also straight up has no idea how to write dialogue. Each character sounds the same. They all speak the same. Exactly the same. And there’s ZERO consistency. A character will go from speaking fairly normally one chapter to speaking like a British chav the next (no joke. “Me mam bloody well told him to sod off, the wanker.” That’s the level of bizarre random, nonsensical dialect the reader is subjected to. It makes ZERO sense and comes and goes in such an alarming rate) then back to normal a sentence later. It’s insanity.
Most egregiously though, halfway through the book Barker decides to abandon the purpose. It’s no longer the Iliad from Breises’ point of view and told in her voice (granted her voice sounds like everyone else’s but still) but now we’re being subjected to jarring chapters told in third person all about Achilles and events that Breises wasn’t even around for. So the author essentially took back the idea that made this so interesting in the first place by tossing Breises aside and making this all about Achilles and his mommy issues.
Like I truly don’t know what editor approved this. This genuinely felt like I was reading an outline let alone an actual published novel. And a novel that people are apparently fawning over and think is really good and ~feminist~!? I’m just astounded by the praise this mess of a book has received. The one good thing honestly was Achilles being portrayed as a petulant toddler obsessed with breast-feeding a la Homelander in The Boys. That’s it. I hate comparing books but honestly just read Madeline Miller’s “Song of Achilles” even THAT is much more graceful and lyrical and does an infinitely better job of fleshing out Breises (AND SHE IS ONLY A SIDE CHARACTER!!! SHE ISN’T THE CHARACTER TELLING THE STORY!!!) than this drivel did. Both SOA and Circe were so well done and beautifully written that they felt like myths in and of themselves. This is just bizarre.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual violence, War, Gore, Rape, Child death, Excrement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Cursing, Grief, and Medical content