Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

146 reviews

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Blood, Child death, Pregnancy, Suicide, War, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

Moderate: Animal death

filipapintovieira's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Death, Grief, Rape, Violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

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

amberrose27's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Ik hou van briseis altijd en Pat Barker heeft dit heel mooi geschreven. Ik merkte wel op dat het soms wat langzaam was voor mij, maar dat kan ook liggen aan het genre. Ik heb nog niet veel historical fiction gelezen om te weten of het lag aan het genre of het boek in het algemeen. Ik heb wel heel erg genoten en hield van de complexe gevoelens die Briseis had. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ sterren

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, War, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Physical abuse and Slavery

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

this is very good quality stuff, but too much for me 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Death, Gore, Infertility, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, and Grief

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

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

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

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

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

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

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