Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

24 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

indigoimpulse'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

i actually really liked the fact that briseis wasn’t a perfect character and that she’s so judgemental of others around her, men and women alike - i feel like given her circumstances you can’t exactly expect her to act like a saint . her narration was very raw which i found gave her personality .

however the book promised me a story from briseis’ pov so i didn’t really appreciate so much of the book being taken up by achilles’ pov - this author writes grief excellently so his sections were great but it kind of took away from the fact that this was supposed to be briseis’ story . i don’t really think you can call this a feminist novel but i enjoyed it nonetheless 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pedophilia, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Torture, Blood, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, War, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, and Gore

acgeorge's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, War, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Sexual content, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

esterohman's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

This was a quick and easy read, although not my favorite Greek mythology inspired novel. I liked the focus on female perspective, and it was interesting seeing the missing viewpoint in the original stories. However, it just wasn’t that exciting to read. I think that it’s just my own perspective and not the fault of the book however. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Alcohol, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Chronic illness, Death, Animal death, Pregnancy, Blood, Child death, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and War

Minor: Vomit

milliewhattt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Opened really strongly, but the just got almost too repetitive. The ending was brilliant though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Child death, Misogyny, Rape, War, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Genocide, Suicide, Slavery, Murder, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Infidelity

ashybri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Genocide, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, War, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death

mushymargo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Loved seeing another POV of Achille’s story, about time. Felt real and raw and much closer to history then any other story of Troy. Loved the many mentions of other names from legends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Classism, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Rating and review to come

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Slavery, Child abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, and Classism

Minor: Cannibalism

nialiversuch's review against another edition

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

franzeerdbeerbacke's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book needs a trigger warning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Infertility, Mental illness, War, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Death of parent, Deportation, Genocide, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Toxic relationship