A review by clarissep
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
1.0
Not sure what this book was trying to tell me but it certainly was not what I expected from a retelling of a Greek myth. And I usually love those.
Achilles is an ass and Briseis draws my sympathy in a detached sort of way. I listened to the last few parts of the audiobook in fast-forward. So much time was spent showing us that the men of The Iliad were a bunch of hotheaded idiots, and while I loved the sisterhood formed amongst the captive girls, I wasn’t sure what the author was trying to tell me about “the silence of the girls” during this time. There’s a lot of brutality, which was just fitting, but about 80% of this book is about said brutality and the rest is kind of just... I don’t know... Drifting thoughts? I couldn’t care less about Achilles‘ feelings. It just wasn’t what I was expecting at all.
Achilles is an ass and Briseis draws my sympathy in a detached sort of way. I listened to the last few parts of the audiobook in fast-forward. So much time was spent showing us that the men of The Iliad were a bunch of hotheaded idiots, and while I loved the sisterhood formed amongst the captive girls, I wasn’t sure what the author was trying to tell me about “the silence of the girls” during this time. There’s a lot of brutality, which was just fitting, but about 80% of this book is about said brutality and the rest is kind of just... I don’t know... Drifting thoughts? I couldn’t care less about Achilles‘ feelings. It just wasn’t what I was expecting at all.