Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

36 reviews

theweepingwillow_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Great, but sometimes forgettable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Violence, Trafficking, War, Slavery, Rape, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

beauvisseau's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One word: breathtaking. This retelling of a story as old as time was done so well, you can almost taste the love that the author has for Greek and Trojan mythology. The writing style was impeccable, and I can clearly see all of the conscious choices that the author made regarding things like speaking style, active versus  passive speaking styles and the investment in certain themes. 

Although the main character, Briseis, does not have a highly developed character, I feel that it fits with her state of being. The grief of losing her loved ones but also one's self can turn you into a shell of memories and thoughts.
One point of criticism though, is that I would have liked to see more perspectives of different women there. It is a missed opportunity to switch between Briseis, Patroclus and Achilles, when two of those three narratives have already been explored for centuries but so many narratives are missing.

Amazing work of fiction that truly expands upon the existing narratives and opened my eyes to many new ideas about war, feminism, story-telling, slavery and power. Would recommend to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, War, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Genocide, Gore, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Violence, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia

bectothebooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Cursing, Gore, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Vomit

glutenfreemaggie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The title of the book is contradictory in that only the first part of the book is from Briseis’ perspective. The second and third parts rotate between Achilles’ POV, Briseis’ POV and like a third person narrator? Idk it took away from the story a little bit for me because it was literally a silencing of the girls. Not sure if that was intentional. I understand why we got heavily into Achilles’ perspective once Patroclus died, but the story was supposed to be about Briseis’ experience so the story lost its structure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

revolutionwithoutdancing's review

emotional informative reflective slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Slavery, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

shellybelly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

4.0

This was an amazing look into more of Briseis’ story. It tells her as a main character, instead of usually having her as a side character with Achilles as the main character. It was incredibly refreshing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Gore, War, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Suicide, Sexual content, Sexism, Rape, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

lotten4's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gore, Blood, Violence, Rape, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Animal death, War, Murder, Misogyny, and Genocide

Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

Minor: Vomit, Self harm, Medical content, and Alcohol

jessy_03's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

teddywinter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

anyone who enjoyed the song of achilles should read this too. not because you’ll necessarily enjoy it, but because it’s necessary to confront.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, Sexual violence, Slavery, Child death, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Murder, Kidnapping, Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Medical content, Gore, and Blood