Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

66 reviews

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Slavery, Sexual assault, Suicide, and War

sarah_speaks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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: Slavery, Violence, War, Animal death, Child death, Pregnancy, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Torture

secre's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

I probably ought to have read The Silence of the Girls first. I didn't actually check before starting it and only remembered that Pat Barker was on my 'to read' list. So when it came up as a Kindle deal, I snatched it and started reading. I therefore felt a tad lost to begin with. I'd missed the first chunk of the tale and, not being particularly good with my mythology to begin with, found myself floundering. None of the characters are explained - the assumption being that you've either read the first book or that you at least know your Greek historical figures. I had neither. It's therefore a mark of the author's skill that after a few chapters she managed to ground me in the narrative.

Our narrator is Briseis, wife of the late Achilles and now married to Alcimus whilst carrying Achilles child. It's a clever choice of narrator as her position allows her a view into both the male and the female spheres, even if she is mostly with the women. It's slow, and offers glimpses into the lives of the women taken from Troy, those with far less freedom than Briseis herself. Where I think it lets itself down is that despite being the 'women of Troy', it still largely centres itself on the men. Part of this is undeniably necessary; it is the men making all the decisions in camp and their behaviour has a direct impact on the women. However, the switch into the men being the narrators felt unnecessary and detracted from the story I think Barker was trying to tell.

Because this should have been the story of the powerless, the enslaved, the crushed. The women whose children had been taken and killed. Those who had lost husbands, fathers, sons and unborn child. Those taken into slavery and given no choice as to where their lives would inevitably lead. Yet I felt those voices were often muted, with more time being given to the enslavers, the rapists, the killers. It would have been a more powerful novel if those muted by time and historical retelling were given that voice. I felt Natalie Haynes managed it better in A Thousand Ships, which is a book that has stayed with me since I read it.

I'm still interested in reading the first in the series, but I'll go into it with a little more hesitation now. Because this was certainly well written. Parts of it were poignant and moving. But it didn't really do what I thought it was going to do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Child death

mylou's review against another edition

emotional sad

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Misogyny, Rape, Death of parent, Confinement, Sexual violence, Child death, and War

Moderate: Suicide and Fatphobia

matthiasreads's review against another edition

dark reflective

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual violence, Violence, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Rape, Murder, Child death, Slavery, and Suicide

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

This book was fine but a rather dull conclusion to the story it told. Very little happened in the way of plot and much of the text was told through dialogue rather than anything else which got repetitive. It was ok but certainly not very high up on my list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Grief, Murder, War, Child death, Alcohol, Blood, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, and Rape

polles_bookclub's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective sad fast-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? Yes

3.75

The ending was an anticlimax. But the story is a good retelling of the Ilias. I liked every second but the ending could be so much more.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Rape, Suicide, Slavery, and Domestic abuse

thehyacinthgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, War, Confinement, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Death, Violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Blood, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Vomit

mooglemania's review

slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Miscarriage, Fatphobia, Torture, War, Murder, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Rape, Cultural appropriation, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

Honestly mid. Plot goes nowhere. Characters unlikable, especially the Trojans. Somehow manages to make a book about the Trojan side of the war where the Trojans are more unlikable than the Greeks. The MC is so inconsistent (and not in a character growth kind of way, in a character has no real alliegance sort of way) and is constantly criticising traumatised women and comparing them to one another and just being the worst. Meanwhile the Greeks are portrayed as these backwards savages who have no respect for anything but the MC is still bending over backwards to praise them every chance she gets. Honestly the author writes well but has no business writing these stories. Can't take these Greek soldiers with their "ullo guv'nor" British accents seriously.

pobi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.75

I didn't ENJOY this book, but it was a really good book. It's just depressing to read about such sad things. I like this one better than the 1st book tho!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, and Child death

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, War, Grief, Excrement, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment