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cerilouisereads's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and War
anousha_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, War, Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
just be forewarned, typical greek mythology stuff.aseel_reads's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Sexual assault, War, Child death, Death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, and Vomit
elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, War, and Slavery
ashleycmms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and War
jeannekmele's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
An exceptional collection of nearly universal tragedy across its heroines, pyrrhic victories are the norm for women whose darkest moments shine with vibrant human spirit on the pages of A THOUSAND SHIPS.
So often left footnotes--wives, mothers, sisters, sluts and daughters written to live, die, and love for the storied men of old--any background knowledge of the classical canon will lend an unerring hand to the conclusions we know these women will come to. Yet you cannot help but root for their success, or their peace if no such thing exist; despite the ends long since written for them, their human resilience and fragility and the womanly grit behind it all almost feels as if history could rewrite itself this time.
It doesn't, of course, but this in of itself is the devoted intersection of care and craft.
Though ATS is tragedy from the first page to last, the deluge of misery and loss roils and settles with the comfortable shape of a story until you're left with a sense of resolution that is not gratifying, but it is real. And that is the way of tragedy, trauma, and war: these things cannot be reversed, nor smoothed over, nor sated.
What of Eris, the instigator? What of Helen, the adulteress, the end of a kingdom? It is very easy, in a song about war, to glorify and vilify to the whims of one's own biases, or heroes, or chosen themes. I don't believe you will find such binary in this book.
I will quote Natalie Haynes' afterword: 'Survivors, victims, perpetrators: these roles are not always separate. People can be wounded and wounding at the same time, or at different times in the same life.'
It would be erroneous to go into A THOUSAND SHIPS expecting anything less than complex women with rich inner lives under extraneous circumstances. In the man-made disaster that is war, it becomes impractical and impossible to keep an orderly measure of right and wrong. The human condition warps into something immeasurable under such extreme duress. Though by no means a soothing read, I nonetheless devoured ATS as I haven't done with a book in a long time.
I will close with this: Grief is a long-lived creature with many faces that may come in any amount or combination at any time, in three days or five years, or decades hence. Grief is angry, and loud, and dead-eyed; it is wasting away and endless tears and twists in our chests that by right of anatomy shouldn't twist there; it is jealousy and accusation and cruelty and violence and submission and insanity.
Grief is ugly, and so often in contemporary western culture it is unsightly and to be repressed. In women, grief is mockingly anticipated, oppressively levied, and mercilessly culled. A THOUSAND SHIPS is an excellent read across the board, but for those who are processing grief and trauma, who may be unsure how to (especially women), it is a cathartic and humanizing portrait of the externally-inflicted and yet worst, most unacceptable parts of ourselves that are too big for our bodies, and too loud for the world.
Graphic: Grief, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Murder, War, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, and Suicide
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Incest, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Classism, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Vomit, Alcohol, and Confinement
crazytourists_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
This book started nicely, the prose is definitely beautiful. But it lost its grip on me for a couple of reasons.
I wanted more of Helen, the perspective of the woman that "started" a war would have been quite interesting. However, we only heard her voice a couple of times, as an afterthought, merely because she was present at the scene.
I didn't particularly like the chapters dedicated to Penelope, not because they were not nicely written, but because it was a summary of the Odyssey. Nothing new.
I wanted more of the women of Troy, during the siege and after the destruction of the city. That would have been an amazing retelling.
Graphic: Violence, Rape, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Murder
faithmari's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Grief, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide
marisa_n's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gore, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War
barb_christensen's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Child death, Grief, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Infidelity, and Sexual assault