Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

318 reviews

stitchbooks22's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

The silence of the girls wasn’t badly written and was easy enough to get into reading.

However, can publishers and marketing teams stop pushing the term “feminist retelling” onto books that are so clearly NOT a feminist retelling? That is my biggest issue with this book. If the book had been done differently, it had the potential to be a feminist retelling. But trying to focus a bit more on the women in a story that is male dominated and being unsuccessful at focusing on the women and their own lives does NOT make a book a feminist retelling. That is my main gripe with this book.

So if you’re looking for a feminist retelling of Greek mythology, this is not it. Otherwise it was an okay book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Toxic relationship, Suicide, War, Slavery, Infidelity, Medical content, Torture, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, and Violence

graecus_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

2.75

this was a reread and i liked this less than i did the first time. i had a hard time getting through the book at points. i found the writing jarring at times, and the dialogue was disarmingly british. i feel like the book had a lot of potential, but it didn’t hit for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, and Slavery

ltsang08's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Murder, Slavery, Sexual violence, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, War, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Suicide, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Rape

chialozito's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Pregnancy, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Suicide

rballenef's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and War

Interesting insight into the Greek/Trojan war

sakisreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.0

I was gifted a copy of ‘The Women of Troy’ but advised to read this first, and I’m so glad I did.

I’m not hugely into Greek mythology nor have I spent much time with Homer’s Iliad, but this feminist retelling was FANTASTIC. Gosh, I applauded Pat Barker so much for this one 👏🏼

Breseis is a fully formed character and her thoughts, feelings and concerns are all highlighted throughout the story. Of course the majority of the males made me cross, but when don’t men make me angry? 😂
I did appreciate Patroclus though, and if that’s not ✨ nuance ✨ I don’t know what is! 

Really loved the 🏳️‍🌈 energy in this book! Achilles and Patroclus’s relationship definitely have the Wattpad girls screaming 🙊

The way in which Achilles KNEW she had left and that she had made a conscious choice in coming back to be with him had me SHOOKETH 😳

4 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, War, Grief, Slavery, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

majoortizh's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

How I love Greek mythology retellings. I really enjoyed this book throughout every page. I just think at some point it lost sight of the girls at the camp to talk about Achilles and Patroclus. I love Achilles and Patroclus story, so I didn’t mind reading about it, but it unsettled me a little that Briseis became a secondary character on that part of the book, because this book was supposed to be about her. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Slavery, Rape, War, Sexual content, Murder, Violence, and Death

jose_kg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

I don't think you can really say you enjoyed this book, it's such a graphic retelling and so sad it isn't really something to be enjoyed, more endured along side the characters. That is not to say I didn't think it was a good book, I thought the writing was raw and reflective, but also unflinching. I always enjoy Pat Barker's work, and it was refreshing to have such a critical retelling of this story. This book was an experience, one I'm glad I had but also glad it's over, similarly to Briseis. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Death, and Sexual assault

noosayag's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Well that was a distressing read…

This was a bleak retelling of the Trojan War narrative, from the POV of Briseis, once a princess, now a captured slave. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, and Child death

rrio's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Slavery, Rape, and Murder