Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

47 reviews

lexlibris's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I love any Greek myth novel but this one was definitely difficult & didn’t really say much besides how awful it was to be a Trojan woman after the fall of Troy. Which was very difficult to read through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, and Torture

victoria_catherine_shaw's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Rape

saoirsebb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture

amylynch's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

The Women Of Troy follows on from The Silence Of The Girls. Troy has fallen and the Greeks are now awaiting a change of winds to return home, with the Trojan women they have captured during their campaign. 

The narration is mostly via Briesis, who is now a wife of a Greek soldier, who feels a responsibility to the recently captured women of Troy who lack even Briesis' small amount of status in the camp.

Although an interesting perspective on this well known tale, the plot seemed to lack a central driving force. In The Silence of the Girls both the Greek soldiers and the Trojan women have a vested interest in the outcome of the war. Although there is little to nothing at all for the Trojan women in Troy anymore, leaving its shores to the Greek homelands isn't in the women's interest either. So The Women Of Troy is focused on the Trojan women coming to terms with the bleakness of their new lives. This means that the events of The Women of Troy are somewhat detached from one another. And while the variety of responses of the women to their new lives was interesting, their characters didn't really develop. So the events of the book have little ability to change the Trojan women's fortunes, nor do they develop their characters. Which meant the book lacked momentum. I didn't find myself wondering what would happen next or really feeling the tug to pick it back up. When I did pick it up though, it is well written and the characters themselves interesting. So a good read, although not a gripping one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I’m usually hesitant to pick up sequels, but I’m really glad I read this one.
“The Women of Troy” follows Bresis after Troy has fallen, though the Greeks are not able to return home quite yet. The Gods are angered, resulting in impossible sailing weather and rising tensions. But above all, we see the trojan girls/women forced into slavery, telling a story of those left out in the epics.
Bresis character arc took a significant shift from “Silence of the Girls,” as she is no longer a slave, but the wife of a Greek fighter and the mother of Achillies baby. While her station is improved, Breisis finds her internalized conflict emphasized, because no matter how far she has come, slavery always seems to loom behind her. 
The feminism aspect of this book was phenomenal, and all women got their turn in the spotlight, even if Breisis was telling the story. I appreciated how Breisis tried to understand Helen and didn’t continuously slut shame her as other retelling tend to do. 
I did wonder, however, why Barker chose to include perspectives of the men in the duology, since the purpose was to explore experiences of the women.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, and Kidnapping

itsdanibee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Vomit

emiliaphrodite's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The first half was monotonous, and I only kept going because I read the audio and I liked the narrator's voice. I wish there had been more of

Alcimus and less of Pyrrhus

. Pyrrhus was boring. But all in all, it came to a satisfying end. It was not the book to start the year with and frequently made me feel dismal and cynical. I feel like the book takes it so close to where I want it to go, but then never quite reaches that place, and so I'm left feeling bereft, like I should go and make a fanfiction. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence

sb_037's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.75

Was struck by how Pat Barker is able to do justice to a "feminist re-telling" by including actually complex women insomuch that they actually disagree with each other on how best to survive in their given circumstances. Pat Barker humanizes her characters and doesn't let you forget about the atrocities her women have had to face - reminding her readers continually that the pregnancy Briseis bears is wrought with confusion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

selkelite's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty

hannae's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Sexual violence