Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

346 reviews

risaleel's review against another edition

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: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Sexual harassment, and War

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

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

annasbookreviews's review against another edition

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: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

sr_marshrat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

Silence of the Girls had the potential to be an enlightening, if depressing, view of the Trojan War from the perspective of women in the Greek camps. Instead, it's overwritten version of the myth we already know. A few chapters from Briseis' perspective (that truly had potential to be engaging on their own, hence the 1 star) and some ham-handed emotional dialogue between Achilles and Patroclus do not make this a more "real" Troy story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal death

lycheeteareads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, and War

bloempje's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Sexual harassment, and War

savalentine_'s review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

I didn’t feel much emotions, beside perhaps anger. The whole book felt like a cry of anger, a demand from these women to be read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Murder, and War

prlprl's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

The Iliad retelling we needed, albeit undeserved. Barker’s eloquent story of suffering and survival is articulated by sharp stitches of sorrow, and brutal humanity behind the glossy-eyed mythology of other interpretations of the Trojan War.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Incest, Misogyny, Suicide, and Pregnancy

yorozuya's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

My book club chose to read 'The Silence of the Girls' by Pat Barker- which suits me well because I absolutely adore Greek retellings!!!

It's the story of the Trojan War that we all know and have heard many times - but told from the  female perspective this time: The Trojan women who were taken as slaves by the Greek.

The prose is overall beautiful and I paused just to admire how the words were arranged several times. There were also some expressions that took me by surprise in the context of this narrative, though perhaps the author wanted to show the coarser side of our more romanticised view on Ancient Greece.

Towards the middle/end, the book shifted to the male perspective a bit too much for my liking. I loved the insight into Achilles's mind (don't I always) and how the same scene could look from both his and Briseis's (the main narrator) point of view but despite the book's title I don't want these women's voices to be silenced.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

melissafelicia's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

The perspective in this book was very interesting, to hear the famous Illiad story from the point of view of a woman whose city is ransacked by the Greek soldiers.
I found it hard to relate to the main character. She seems to not care much about rape, even defending it. She also barely mourns her family, friends and neighbors. I could understand it if that were out of a sort of survival mode, but then we would at least have caught some glimpses of emotional distress?
Also for a book about Bryseis' perspective on the war, it still seems to be about the male fighters and kings most of the time instead of about the relationships between Bryseis and the other women, about her thoughts on the war, about her identity.
So even though it was an interesting perspective, I think it could have been more interesting and engaging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War

nats2643's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War