Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

58 reviews

caelfind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

“Because isn’t that, ultimately, the way we cope with grief? There’s nothing sophisticated or civilised about it. Like savages, we ingest our dead.”

This was an exquisite story of the complexities of war, freedom, and womanhood, set amidst the immediate aftermath of the Fall of Troy. Barker crafts a harrowing, raw tale, never flinching from the realities of ancient warfare, and offering us fresh, nuanced depictions of well-known characters. Her characterisation is the shining star of this book; the characters’ deeply complex, and sometimes contradictory, personalities perfectly mirror the horrific war they grapple with. The Greeks must find a way to return home and face the violence they wrought, while the women wait to meet their uncertain futures. And all the while, the countless dead seem to hover in the corner of every hut, watching with judgemental eyes. This was a truly masterful work and I can’t wait to pick up the third book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, and War

Minor: Child death

mblanke's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, Torture, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Sexism, Slavery, Death of parent, Infidelity, Grief, Rape, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and War

Minor: Animal death

lauramay_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Pregnancy, Murder, Rape, Suicide, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Rape

anima_vestaa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

Very interesting concept and in some instances brilliantly told story. However, it’s not very clear what the logic behind the lore is, as there are many details true to the Homer epics and mythology overall, but then some characters and scenes were added by the author. The style was at some points rather naive as characters from that time simply would not have used some expressions of today’s common language. Together with the inconsistency of the mythology, the novel loses focus in my opinion that sadly distracts too much from scenes that were insanely original (e.g. the opening in the Trojan horse or the dialogue between Pyrrhus and Helenus about their fathers). Would still recommend as a filler read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual violence, and Violence

theothergrl's review against another edition

hopeful sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed The Women of Troy as a sequel. It was really interesting to read more about the politics of the camp, especially through the POV of a seer navigating these power dynamics very consciously. It was great to read an author write that power is the root of all the violence and misogyny, that these things are distributed by normal men, 'good' men.
I didn't enjoy it as much as the 1st, and I felt there was fatphobia that wasn't just through the 'eyes of the men' as it claims. So I give it a 4.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Trafficking, Violence, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Medical content, Fatphobia, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit and Torture

historychatter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Sexual assault, Slavery, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Violence, and War

capybara5's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Rape

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

laure_frompariswithbooks's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual assault