Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Le silence des vaincues by Pat Barker

83 reviews

eabhasinnott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Great observation of grief, rage and gender norms surrounding those emotions 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

It's an important read. I recommend reading it all if you read it at all. Your opinion of it changes as you finish it

texas118_mbs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Suicide, Violence, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

joanabrt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.25

incredible!
I started the book with a different idea of what it would be. I was, not really sure why, expecting something else, so at first I felt a bit bored and as if nothing was really happening. Thankfully I soon enough realized that I already knew the story and that I wasn’t there for it, per se… I was there for who was telling it, for the perspective in which the story was being told and for all the characters, the girls and women that had been left out before. This changed the way I read the book and allowed me to understand and appreciate it as it deserved. 
It’s a violent, tragic and brilliant story, where the silence, the suffering and the courage of the girlsare the main focus, the story. Where the heroes and victims are no longer the men in combat, as the stories have always made us believe, but the women who continue to live, who find ways to carry on after being taken from their homes and families, after being abused, raped and stripped of all their rights and their humanity. And it's a painful read, because it's not just fantasy and it's not just set in the past or in distant places, it's the present, the now, the world we live in. 
A retelling of Greek mythology like never before. Incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide

baconbit95's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

naoml's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This is masterful. This is a beautiful critic of what voices are deemed important. How are people remembered? Who gets to tell the stories? Is it even possible to know a full truth?

The story follows the myth of Achilles but for once not through his eyes or the eyes of someone who adores him. We see that "heroism" is sometimes simply violence, depending on the lens you are viewing it through. However, this also gives us the nuance of sometimes evil doesn't always look that way, and even worse: not everything and evil person does is bad. Humanity is more complex than that, and you own no one forgiveness based on a single action or moment.

I can't fully put into words my thoughts and feelings on it, but I do know that it is incredible. The story will keep permeating my thoughts for a long time to come. 

**please read the trigger warnings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

tetedump's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

drj's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and War

Moderate: Gore, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Confinement, Blood, and Alcohol

ylimets's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and War

Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

cthulhu_calamari's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I read this right after re-reading The Iliad, which is not as great as its expectations. This book gives so much deeper and resonant context and meaning to the Trojan War that it should be considered a required companion to its source. Greek myths were meant to evolve with their audience, and *this* is the form that should be considered canon in the current age. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Confinement

islamaunder21's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

• Considering how patriarchal Ancient Greek culture was, I found it refreshing to read the famous tale of the Battle of Troy from a woman's perspective. This book certainly lives up to its title, brutally portraying the traumatic and tightly restrained experience of women in this period, especially from the perspective of captured women turned war trophies and sex slaves. I also enjoyed how accessible Pat Baker made this story since ancient history is often portrayed in an either far fetched and overly fantastical way, or through a stuffy super-academic lens. Therefore, despite this being a mythological retelling, the book didn't feel overdone and sadly some aspects of the women's experience still ring true today and felt somewhat relatable to real life, albeit in a watered down way. I also liked the emphasis on female friendships which was a welcome change from the competitiveness so often encouraged between women in Western society.
• I guess if it's a retelling there's not all that room for adapting the story too much, and maybe this is because I've already read 'The Song of Achilles' so the narrative wasn't new to me, but I did find a lot of this book a bit boring and the narrative style itself wasn't especially captivating. I was expecting there to be some kind of rebellion or assertiveness from the captured slave women but it was a bit disappointing that for the most part they were passive and resigned to their imprisonment,
  apart from Briseis's attempted escape which she gives up on
    , although obviously a sex slave isn't going to be able to just girl boss their way out of violent oppression and perhaps this portrayal was more realistic. Maybe my issue isn't with this itself, but with the concequential monotomy and lack of depth/expression of the female characters. Also this is pedantic of me but some of the story was told from Achilles' and Patroclus' perspective so it didn't feel like it was that ground-breaking in championing and empowering women's storytelling or centering the female experience.
• However, I do feel like I learned a bit more about the traditions of Ancient Greece and undervalued women's work which made an important contribution to society in this period. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic