Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

116 reviews

pagesofplatypus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A riveting tale of the Battle of Troy through the eyes of Brisies, slave to Achilles. In an era of Greek myth retellings with a feminist twist, this one sits in the top. The stories of the women taken captive by the Greeks are all varied and equally gripping and understandable in each woman's reaction to her situation.

The chapters are mainly from Brisies' pov, which I found to be the most interesting, but a few were from third-person pov mainly centering on Achilles. These chapters were also very different and engaging because it shows Achilles in a very different light than what many may typically view him and his story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death

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

vouija's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War

stitchbooks22's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

The silence of the girls wasn’t badly written and was easy enough to get into reading.

However, can publishers and marketing teams stop pushing the term “feminist retelling” onto books that are so clearly NOT a feminist retelling? That is my biggest issue with this book. If the book had been done differently, it had the potential to be a feminist retelling. But trying to focus a bit more on the women in a story that is male dominated and being unsuccessful at focusing on the women and their own lives does NOT make a book a feminist retelling. That is my main gripe with this book.

So if you’re looking for a feminist retelling of Greek mythology, this is not it. Otherwise it was an okay book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

chialozito's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Suicide

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

starlesssky72's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Violence, Pregnancy, 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