Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

106 reviews

lautlines's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I wanted less Achillies more Briesis/women…. since it’s called silence of the GIRLS but that’s just me. Still was interesting I just wanted less men but obviously with war men always gonna be there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and War

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

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

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

urtchen's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Violence, Vomit, and War

cannibalgender's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I’m now done with Silence of the Girls and I’m…disappointed. It does not feel at all like a narrative designed to craft and uplift female characters. Most of the book is internal, but I feel it really REALLY suffered because Brisies’ relationships with other women are glossed over and sort of…told, not shown, in favor of perceptions about Achilles and Patroclus. 

I didn’t pick up this book to hear more about Achilles and Patroclus and their relationship, but truthfully they were they only characters who got to develop complexities and drove the narrative forward. Once Patroclus died, it truly felt that nothing else was going to happen- his dynamic with Achilles and with Brisies drove much of the middle act, and Achilles’ own personal feelings drove much of the third. 

When his POV was introduced I was tempted to DNF. It genuinely felt like not only did the narrative revolve around these men, with the MC and the women around her serving as silently observing props, but this mindset is enforced by the narrative and the MC herself.

Brisies often addresses the audience, and emphasizes how she herself feels like an object, that slavery has made her owned in spirit as well, and although she mocks the women who grow to love their captors, she both grows to love Patroclus (who regularly rapes her supposed friend Iphis, his slave) but chooses not to escape from Achilles, claiming that sexual slavery is “her life now.” An odd narrative about slavery coming from a voice so clearly belonging to a British white woman. 

It’s all well and good to claim to speak for underrepresented characters, but they have to have a VOICE, y’know? An actual new perspective. My favorite parts were getting to see how Helen was viewed by a woman close to her staying in Troy, because like, that’s a character that has been legitimately maligned for centuries. Unfortunately, we don’t see much of her, or Brisies herself, outside of her orbit around Achilles. 

It felt as though the author realized halfway through that this book was not about women, it was about Achilles, and simply had her MC say “well, women are so silenced that I’m only a background player in his story” instead of…writing a story in which Brisies did NOT feel like a background character. 

Frustrating as all hell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

saskia_ej's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

amphytrite's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Fire/Fire injury

Content warning: plague, rats