Reviews with content warning for Grief - A Thousand Ships

“… this is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s, and the poet will look upon their pain – the pain of the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story, victims of men, survivors of men, slaves of men – and he will tell it, or he will tell nothing at all. They have waited long enough for their turn.”

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skateybarb's review

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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paperback_moon's review

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adventurous dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was written with quite beautiful language throughout. There was some variation in tone to reflect the different women’s voices in each chapter, which was also good.

It was a little difficult to differentiate between original mythological stories and characters and the author’s inventions, although perhaps a better educated reader would find this easier. There was also a lot of violent description throughout that at times felt unnecessary.

Despite the violence, a lot of the book was very emotionally well-written and many of the characters were easy to empathise with. It is true that the effect of war on women and children is often considered in a single sentence, perhaps a death toll, rather than in personalised stories. This was therefore more emotive for women to read, I think.

It was clear that the author’s intention here was to bring to light the experiences of women in Greek mythology, since these stories are often sidelined. Perhaps this was a new perspective at the time of writing, but to me it now feels a little overdone and unnecessary. Greek retellings are very popular at the moment, and I wasn’t sure if this book was truly trying to tell the stories of women, or just capitalising on the popularity of both feminism and Greek mythology. Because of this mix of perspectives too, there was regular switching between characters that did lend the story some confusion (especially with all the Greek names!).

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kris_tea516's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This book is a modern epic. It follows the time just after the Trojan War and in parallel with “The Odyssey” but from the perspective of the women. This book tells the story of several women including Eris (goddess of discord & strife), Penthesilea (an Amazon queen), Thetis (mother of Achilles), Oenone (Paris’ wife), Penelope (Odysseus’s wife), and a few others.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like the book at first. There were so many perspectives & I was worried I was going to get lost in all the characters but the author did the narration for the audiobook and did an amazing job. She added sigh’s, sarcasm, and passion where just reading the physical book I think I would have missed.

Since this follows the aftermath of war, especially ancient world war, it deals with a lot of really hard realities that most definitely happened to the conquered people, particularly the women & children. It discusses the killing of children and the elderly, the enslavement and rape of women, the trauma of mothers losing their children and husbands (even a very traumatic scene where an infant is murdered). I know these things did (and likely still do) happen & it is good for us to face the realities of war & consider the cost but it is still very difficult to read. There were times I had to take a break to keep from breaking down.

I will say, my favorite character is Penelope and her “letters” to Odysseus and her growing anger and irritation with him. Her sarcasm was excellent and I wanted cry out, “You tell him, Penelope!”

If you enjoy Greek history and mythology, especially “The Iliad” &/or “The Odyssey,” I would highly recommend this book.

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kate_arts's review

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Damn. This book was really hard for me to pick up, but once I did I loved it. Natalie Haynes said that she set out to write an epic and I think she succeeded handily. This book is full of emotion in the best way possible. And I think it does an amazing job giving women from one of the most popular stories of all time such dimension and intrigue that they lack in their source material. I also think that, even though each individual story was different in its subject matter, they were all so relatable in their grief and humor. I also couldn’t help thinking of Gaza and the current socio-political landscape of America right now. The idea that these “great” men make these over arching decisions that affect women and POC is one that I really resonated with. I also really resonated with the idea that little people can be important me hero’s in their own right and just because the world maybe doesn’t want to hear a story doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s unworthy of being told.

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not_another_ana's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

1.25

When a war was ended, the men lost their lives. But the women lost everything else.

Once all fighting has stopped, what happens to the women? The survivors, the wives, the sisters, the daughters, the fighters. Natalie Hynes takes the Iliad as a starting point to explore the lives of these women and the complicated and complex feelings they experience due to their fates. We get to observe the women of Troy deal with their grief after the fall of the city and their anxiousness at their unknown future, Penelope during her long wait for Odysseus and all the bitter feelings this inspires, even the goddesses make an appearance in here. Yet, with every single point of view I encountered, I still didn't feel a thing.

I think this book stretched itself too thin trying to include as many women as possible to back up its central thesis and reason of being, in an effort to cause a greater emotional impact it actually managed to do the opposite. With such a high quantity of characters, it's difficult to create interest in them or to give all the women a particular voice. On top of that you have diverse style, prose, and tone in each chapter, and a non linear narrative which muddles everything further. My experience was closer to reading vignettes than an actual fully realized book, a reference manual in a way.

My main gripe with this book is that it didn't feel like Hynes was saying anything new. In this day and age, it seems like every day there's a new "feminist" retelling of Greek myths and stories, the market is saturated enough that you need something to make you stand out and here it lacked anything distinct. I was especially bothered by the character of Calliope, clearly an author avatar, whose sole existence was to be a mouthpiece for Hynes and to go "get it?" hint hint at the reader. Yes, I actually got it from the very summary, I don't need to be led like a blind horse. For a story about women, I thought it revolved too much about the men, and yes it would be impossible to tell these stories without their influence, but perhaps the author could have focused more on the emotionality of these characters in the face of their individual situations. There was just this general sense of resignation permeating the book that made me disengage from the very beginning. Tragedy for tragedy's sake.

Some miscellaneous complaints over here. First I found the lack of Helen baffling. I could even understand the bashing from the other characters in the book, I too would be mad at her for the part she played in the conflict whether it was logical to blame only her or not, but the author not giving her a space to speak and tell her story when she is one of the pillars of the Iliad was odd. Made me think all the Helen bashing was serious and not a narrative choice by the author. I already mentioned Calliope as the author's mouthpiece, but I would also like to add that she sounded like she knew what an iPhone was and it got on my nerves. Then there was Penelope retelling the whole plot of the Odyssey to her husband... Odysseus himself, which struck me as lazy even with all the quips and petty dialog from her. The last chapter from her point of view frustrated me because it was way more interesting than all the past ones and showed the squandered promise of this book.

Maybe the feminist retelling was the friends we made along the way.

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catievalentino's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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