Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Iliad by Homer

20 reviews

mothstrand's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Incest and Rape

xandra_lyn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This was the translation I read in college, and I wanted to reread it before reading Emily Wilson's translation. It's an ok, but rather difficult to understand at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War

Minor: Rape and Trafficking

Trafficking and rape: although neither of these words are present in the text, slave girls are given and taken as gifts and are explicitly slept with. It isn't glorified or condemned - it is a fact in their world that this will happen to conquered nations.

qqjj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

introverted_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

rip achilles you would’ve loved grindr

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Cannibalism

syliu's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I had a lot of fun reading this, and I’m glad to have experienced some of Homer in this way. That said I was quite disappointed by the actual portion of the legend of the Trojan War presented here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Rape, Excrement, and Death of parent

prettiestwhistles's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Rape, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

gilnean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Genocide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Vomit

chaos_positive's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

as dense as a overbaked fruit cake but if you are willing to take the trudge, it has a lot of very poignant themes, Achilles being chronically very angry, so many different ways people get killed by spears, genuinely very impressive, and if you choice to listen to it, even the very very long lists of who killed who and who's son they were become very rhythmic almost like a drumbeat march of the dead. also if you're tired of men in media not showing emotion you best believe these murder hobos clad in bronze cry for their fallen friends. also it might even make you laugh a few times like

there is actually two ajaxes and they are by in large referred to as ajax and ajax , also my favorite quote is, "ajax, you are excellent at quarreling and terrible at thinking" an absolutely marvelous insult

you might not like it if you are really put off about women literally being treated as objects, it was written a few thousand years before the suffragettes made that unpopular. (if you want the same vibes but with women with more agency check out the odyssey, women hold more power in that one and aren't traded like baseball cards)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

it's very bloody and unforgiving, nobody is spared the suffering, but it's written in a way that distances you because it is so matter of fact about these things, a "this is how things are, no point dwelling on them unnecessarily" attitude.

starlesssky72's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

tourmaline1703's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense slow-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

4.0

Overall, I did enjoy this story, and I will accredit that to the translator. As a lover of the Classical world, it's obvious I read the Iliad, following my reading of the Odyssey and Metamorphoses last year (both in translation). Whilst this has not overtaken Metamorphoses as my favourite of the epics, it was still great.
The translation was witty and funny which helped balance the gritty violence of the war ongoing in the poem. Of course there are sectios which are just lists of names, but in this story, I needed the reminders of who was who because there was such a large amount of characters. I loved the dialoue in this, the humour was great and it captured the emotions of characters so well.
What confused me about this is it doesn't tell the story of the whole Trojan War.

It stops after Hector's death

which confused me because, whilst this is a crucial emotional moment, the war continued after this and the story feels unfinished. It does feel like an abrupt end which is confusing after you have read hundreds of pages of action. Despite it consisting almost entirely of battle scenes, it doesn't feel too repetitive and the different points of view help keep the story moving and interesting.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Rape, and Slavery