Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

166 reviews

gkm00's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sakisreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-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

I was gifted a copy of ‘The Women of Troy’ but advised to read this first, and I’m so glad I did.

I’m not hugely into Greek mythology nor have I spent much time with Homer’s Iliad, but this feminist retelling was FANTASTIC. Gosh, I applauded Pat Barker so much for this one 👏🏼

Breseis is a fully formed character and her thoughts, feelings and concerns are all highlighted throughout the story. Of course the majority of the males made me cross, but when don’t men make me angry? 😂
I did appreciate Patroclus though, and if that’s not ✨ nuance ✨ I don’t know what is! 

Really loved the 🏳️‍🌈 energy in this book! Achilles and Patroclus’s relationship definitely have the Wattpad girls screaming 🙊

The way in which Achilles KNEW she had left and that she had made a conscious choice in coming back to be with him had me SHOOKETH 😳

4 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

alice451's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, and War

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

embreads98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? No

4.5

I read this book directly on the heels of Song of Achilles, so I could not help but compare and contrast. While SoA reimagines the story of Patroclus and Achilles as a coming of age love story, steering mostly clear of the gore and horrors of war, Silence of the Girls spares no gruesome detail. Hearing the story from Briseis’ perspective forces the reader to consider the reality of those who are neither victors or losers in the clash of Trojans and Greeks, but merely collateral damage. Throughout the book, Briseis grapples with her powerlessness as a woman and a slave, and ultimately concludes that the story isn’t about her and that she will be remembered as a footnote in Achilles’ legend. I took a half point off of my rating because I felt like the story dragged a bit after Patroclus’ death, but otherwise I would highly recommend Silence of the Girls for anyone craving a different perspective on one of the most well-known stories of the western world. 

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Content Warnings

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

theothergrl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book does a wonderful job of showing us how patriarchy harms both women and men. It's a retelling of Achilles' story of the Battle of Troy from the perspective of his bed slave, Briseis. Their horrific and very sad relationship is explored earnestly. It's not a story about love, it's about two people pushed into bed and how they grieve immense loss not together but side-by-side. In different ways they are both denied the ability to process these emotions. They both grapple with their anger at the wasteful and pointless reasons for their loss. The loneliness and pain they both experience come from two hands of the same body, patriarchy. I think the way this is shown so paralleled throughout story, not in comparison to one another, is what makes this such brilliant feminist literature.

And, of course considering everything else, this book is a wonderful example of how we can tell stories with even the extremes of sexual violence, and tell them well without gratuitousness nor overly graphic. I did not once feel that there was no need for a particular sex/rape scene, when they were there, it added to the story. 

The 3 main characters in this book are loveable (and 2 very much despiseable) in a very complicated and heart wrenching way. But you'll definately enjoy spending time with them and hearing their story, I would 100% recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death, Infertility, Vomit, and Pregnancy

indigoimpulse's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

i actually really liked the fact that briseis wasn’t a perfect character and that she’s so judgemental of others around her, men and women alike - i feel like given her circumstances you can’t exactly expect her to act like a saint . her narration was very raw which i found gave her personality .

however the book promised me a story from briseis’ pov so i didn’t really appreciate so much of the book being taken up by achilles’ pov - this author writes grief excellently so his sections were great but it kind of took away from the fact that this was supposed to be briseis’ story . i don’t really think you can call this a feminist novel but i enjoyed it nonetheless 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

acgeorge's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

lapistea's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

farah24's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt