Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

11 reviews

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

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

civetta's review against another edition

challenging informative sad slow-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

beesleybob's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage and Suicide

lottie1803's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

dismantlethepatriarchy23's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

readingoccasionally89's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

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

3.75

it started off well and the change of perspective (to the women’s perspective) is definitely a plus for me, but it was WORK reading this book, especially in the middle. 
one thing that bothered me aswell was how the relationship between patroclus and achilles is described, especially because i read this after tsoa, (which i definitely liked better.) but that’s just my personal opinion and NOT a flaw of this book. 
i think the intention of this book was to show the hopelessness, troubles and crimes in the trojan war from a woman’s perspective, in which pat barker definitely succeeded, but stil i wouldn’t call this book a favourite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

sapphicpenguin's review against another edition

4.0

SO much potential. A very present, hard story, that definitely captures the spirit of the Iliad as well as bringing you closer to the pain of women in war. I love the parallel of Helen and Briseis—I've always felt they occupy similar places in the narrative. Briseis's story is so unexplored, and it was so lovely to get her perspective. Quite enjoyed it, but did have some issues.

I didn't like some of the punctuation/format choices, and especially at the beginning a lot of the language felt cliche. After every mediocre sentence, though, was a paragraph that blew me away, so I couldn't dislike the writing. 

My main issue was how much of the book—a first-person POV book, too!—didn't center Briseis. This book is from her perspective, marketed itself on being her story—and yet multiple chapters don't include her. It felt like the author just felt we would be too bored without some of Achilles's story as well—but doesn't that defeat the point? Of course that's the issue you run into—all the exciting bits of the Iliad happen with zero women present, that's the challenge of a retelling centering women. It just didn't feel like the author completely overcame the urge to just write a story about Achilles and Patroclus.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Cannibalism

The worst/most violent of the sexual assault is skipped over, but it is very present. The aftermath is discussed.

eza008's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Self harm, Torture, Xenophobia, Excrement, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

kredeprnz's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

Wow. I am actually broken because of this book. I'm writing this fresh after finishing it and just, wow. 

I came for another retelling of the Iliad, hoping it would be as beautiful as so many others, and it was. It was beautiful because of the story of Briseis is not. Her story is absolutely ugly and terrifying, a true tragedy as the life for women in ancient times were. It's realistic and historic in it's own ways. Her reactions to the traumas were painted in a way that weren't triggering, but you still felt her raw emotion, the raw emotion of a human being so hurt and tortured. This book was amazing in telling her story and the stories of many other trojan women that were looked over and ignored so many times throughout history. A truly powerful story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Body shaming, Infertility, and Miscarriage