Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Troy: Our Greatest Story Retold by Stephen Fry

8 reviews

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Another great installment in the epic mythology and history of Ancient Greece. I find it ever fascinating how much can be interpreted as fact and how much can be legend. The blend of it all and how closely interwined the people of the time lived with their gods is so interesting.

The story of Peleus and Thetis' wedding was perfectly accompanied by The Day I Fell into A Fairytale, which was reimaging Briar Rose/Sleeping beauty's story and I couldn't help but notice the themes of a women scorned from not being invited to a celebration.

This was such a great account of the rise and fall of Troy. There's was so much I hadn't ever gotten to the point of understanding before, by Fry takes us through all the players and events of this dramatic period of time.

I read this and listened, simultaneously and adored that combination.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Infertility, Torture, Cannibalism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, War, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Gore, Death of parent, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Child death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gaslighting, and Vomit

noosayag's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

Incredible!!

Whilst not fitting to the cookie cutter, short story formats of its predecessors, Troy illustrates the (practically) complete story of the Trojan War. It utilises all the different books and texts on the topic; if I were an academic, I could probably tell you some of them outside of Homer’s Iliad but alas, I am not. :(

This is a great read for anyone interested in the Trojan War, and wanting a good understanding of all the different story threads which fill the narrative.

Fry’s storytelling and accompanying footnotes are once again perfect to form the world building and audience engagement in what would normally be a treacherous task of a book to read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

javafenn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Stephan Fry is brilliant and his story telling makes my heart so happy. As someone who views all religion as a sort of mythos and knowing Fry is a self described atheist as well, I read and listen to these stories for their window in time and purely for their stories! Fry is one of my favorite story tellers at this point and I will read anything he writes. I only give this one 4 stars simply because it really is so graphic and the death of children is just hard to read/listen to.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Abandonment, Death, Confinement, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Self harm, Violence, Death of parent, War, Grief, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Excrement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Slavery, Confinement, and Pregnancy

em_davies7019's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Blood

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Gore

camoo3032's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and War

Minor: Violence

The sexual assault is written as if it's not sexual assault. The language around it is quite blase and almost normalising

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

3.0

If you aready know the myths surrounding Troy then you won't get much from this book. I feel like this would be perfect for those who are first getting into the myths, but are unsure where to start, since they are presented in the order they occurred. 

It took forever for me to get through this book. I found myself really losing interest after the first 100 pages. It's actually quite easy to read, besides some of the names, but that's to be expected. However, I didn't find Stephen Fry's voice here to be very interesting. I mean, yeah, he's certainly telling us the myths, but it's just not the fresh take that I think most are looking for when it comes to retellings. 

The actual book ends on page 333 (paperback version), with the last 100 pages being the Appendix, List of Characters, Picture Credits, Acknowledgements, and Index. So it's at least less of a beast to read than it first appears. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Infidelity, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Murder, War, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Gore, Rape, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide

bookiewithacookie's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Child death

cacticacti's review against another edition

informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Gore