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A review by cannibalgender
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I’m now done with Silence of the Girls and I’m…disappointed. It does not feel at all like a narrative designed to craft and uplift female characters. Most of the book is internal, but I feel it really REALLY suffered because Brisies’ relationships with other women are glossed over and sort of…told, not shown, in favor of perceptions about Achilles and Patroclus.
I didn’t pick up this book to hear more about Achilles and Patroclus and their relationship, but truthfully they were they only characters who got to develop complexities and drove the narrative forward. Once Patroclus died, it truly felt that nothing else was going to happen- his dynamic with Achilles and with Brisies drove much of the middle act, and Achilles’ own personal feelings drove much of the third.
When his POV was introduced I was tempted to DNF. It genuinely felt like not only did the narrative revolve around these men, with the MC and the women around her serving as silently observing props, but this mindset is enforced by the narrative and the MC herself.
Brisies often addresses the audience, and emphasizes how she herself feels like an object, that slavery has made her owned in spirit as well, and although she mocks the women who grow to love their captors, she both grows to love Patroclus (who regularly rapes her supposed friend Iphis, his slave) but chooses not to escape from Achilles, claiming that sexual slavery is “her life now.” An odd narrative about slavery coming from a voice so clearly belonging to a British white woman.
It’s all well and good to claim to speak for underrepresented characters, but they have to have a VOICE, y’know? An actual new perspective. My favorite parts were getting to see how Helen was viewed by a woman close to her staying in Troy, because like, that’s a character that has been legitimately maligned for centuries. Unfortunately, we don’t see much of her, or Brisies herself, outside of her orbit around Achilles.
It felt as though the author realized halfway through that this book was not about women, it was about Achilles, and simply had her MC say “well, women are so silenced that I’m only a background player in his story” instead of…writing a story in which Brisies did NOT feel like a background character.
Frustrating as all hell.
I didn’t pick up this book to hear more about Achilles and Patroclus and their relationship, but truthfully they were they only characters who got to develop complexities and drove the narrative forward. Once Patroclus died, it truly felt that nothing else was going to happen- his dynamic with Achilles and with Brisies drove much of the middle act, and Achilles’ own personal feelings drove much of the third.
When his POV was introduced I was tempted to DNF. It genuinely felt like not only did the narrative revolve around these men, with the MC and the women around her serving as silently observing props, but this mindset is enforced by the narrative and the MC herself.
Brisies often addresses the audience, and emphasizes how she herself feels like an object, that slavery has made her owned in spirit as well, and although she mocks the women who grow to love their captors, she both grows to love Patroclus (who regularly rapes her supposed friend Iphis, his slave) but chooses not to escape from Achilles, claiming that sexual slavery is “her life now.” An odd narrative about slavery coming from a voice so clearly belonging to a British white woman.
It’s all well and good to claim to speak for underrepresented characters, but they have to have a VOICE, y’know? An actual new perspective. My favorite parts were getting to see how Helen was viewed by a woman close to her staying in Troy, because like, that’s a character that has been legitimately maligned for centuries. Unfortunately, we don’t see much of her, or Brisies herself, outside of her orbit around Achilles.
It felt as though the author realized halfway through that this book was not about women, it was about Achilles, and simply had her MC say “well, women are so silenced that I’m only a background player in his story” instead of…writing a story in which Brisies did NOT feel like a background character.
Frustrating as all hell.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Rape