Reviews tagging 'War'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

331 reviews

auroraks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

Really enjoyed this, an easy read of a hard topic (read trigger warnings) and I'm looking forward to reading the next two in the the trilogy.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

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 

---

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

---

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide

3arth2kaye's review against another edition

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Grief, and War

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

ewwa18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Grief, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ekclar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Rape, Blood, and War

rbadz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

helen's review against another edition

4.0

Great companion to Emily Wilson's translation of The Iliad.
Wilson, through her choice of words, reminds us that the women taken as "prizes" and living as "concubines" during the Trojan War are in fact slaves subject to rape. Barker gives voice to one of these women, Briseis.

There are quite a few anachronisms (battlefield hospitals in the mythical bronze age?) and modern idioms ("gagging for it"), but I liked this because this is not historical fiction, it's a myth. Barker is retelling The Iliad for our age and reminding us that the treatment of women in war zones is still very much relevant in our world.

Four stars not five because a) although important, it's a pretty unrelentingly grim read and b) I really wished the whole book was from the women's point of view. I really wasn't interested in the chapters told from Achilles' point of view. But then that's actually quite meta because at one point Briseis comments: "...make no mistake, this was his story - his anger, his grief, his story. I was angry, I was grieving, but somehow that didn't matter."

Speaking of meta - Barker's twist on Homer's tendency to make lists of the dead was very effective.

I listened to the audiobook: Kristin Atherton was excellent. Michael Fox wasn't as good, but my opinion was probably clouded by my dislike of those Achilles' focused chapters 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Slavery, Violence, and War

Moderate: 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

---

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