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A review by lena_and_her_books
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
This book is in my opinion not the female centered retelling of the trojan war, as wich it was marketed. It was just another book about men.
I can excuse bad characterization, but I draw the line at Achilles and Patroclus being cishet bros. To qoute the book: "(they) fell into bed and slept - as naked and sexless as two beans in a pod". Also they´re not characterized as friends more like Patroclus having developed stockholm syndrome and being unable to leave (to be fair the author says that their relationship is something deeper than love...whatever that means).
I mean all the characters where flat and boring (I can excuse the men being boring, bcs the book was written from a female perspective, but there is no excuse for the women being badly written). The only characterization that was on point was Achilles mommy issues.
The way slavery was talked about came across as very white and privileged.
Another thing that was really off-putting for me was the use of very modern words, that ruined the flow of the storyline for me a bit.
What I liked about this book was the way the author described the living conditions of the camp. I thought that was very well executed and very realistic.
I can excuse bad characterization, but I draw the line at Achilles and Patroclus being cishet bros. To qoute the book: "(they) fell into bed and slept - as naked and sexless as two beans in a pod". Also they´re not characterized as friends more like Patroclus having developed stockholm syndrome and being unable to leave (to be fair the author says that their relationship is something deeper than love...whatever that means).
I mean all the characters where flat and boring (I can excuse the men being boring, bcs the book was written from a female perspective, but there is no excuse for the women being badly written). The only characterization that was on point was Achilles mommy issues.
The way slavery was talked about came across as very white and privileged.
Another thing that was really off-putting for me was the use of very modern words, that ruined the flow of the storyline for me a bit.
What I liked about this book was the way the author described the living conditions of the camp. I thought that was very well executed and very realistic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and War