Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

38 reviews

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Pregnancy

asternautt's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit and Cannibalism

withlivjones's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

A retelling of the Trojan War that provides a particularly graphic and brutal depiction of the Greek army as the bloodthirsty villains instead of the heroes presented in the Iliad. 

I tried and failed to read this book twice before finally getting through it. It is a very slow-paced book that only really picks up in the second half. What really threw me off, however, is that while this book is marketed as being narrated by Briseis, there are many chapters (starting from about a third of the way in and gradually getting more frequent) where the point of view suddenly shifts to some of the men - most often Achilles, but also at points Patroclus and Priam. While this does provide an interesting perspective of the war, since few writers have dared to examine the depths of Achilles’ psyche in such detail, it was really not what I was expecting from a book that wanted to tell a more female-focused version of the myth. The dilemma is this: women are notoriously silent in Greek mythology and hardly ever have the freedom to tell their own story, so why, then, in a novel where Briseis is presented as reclaiming her own narrative, is a male perspective inserting itself into said narrative just like they have done for the last two thousand years? 

The novel is still very enjoyable and well-written, and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in Greek mythology, but I can’t help feeling a little disappointed that I seemed to be reading a different book to the one that was advertised. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Suicide, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Period-typical attitudes

jnichols's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

queen_of_the_rats's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

emilyandthewhippet's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Cannibalism

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

emmacartlidge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Confinement

owlbear425's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Medical content, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

karendarias's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and Medical content