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A review by halthemonarch
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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? No
3.0
The most impactful and Briseis-centric narrative is told in the beginning. After a certain point, this becomes a story about Achilles and Patroclus, and to a lesser extent Agamemnon and all the men around a helpless Briseis.
We begin at the sacking of her town. Achilles’ war cry grew closer and closer until his army was at their gates. He felled them easily and Briseis watches him kill her brother. She had a husband, parents and siblings, but in one fell swoop, she and all the women not brave enough to jump from their chambers become sex slaves for Achilles’ army. Briseis is highborn and thus is designated to Achilles himself, who is mostly uninterested in her until Briseis begins to bathe regularly in the ocean. Achilles’ mother is a sea nymph, so anything that reminds him of her stokes him. For a while that is their way until Agamemnon disrespects a priest by denying his daughter, his sex slave, to be returned to him. The camp falls ill, no longer under Apollo’s protection and the girl is returned. Agamemnon demands Briseis in return.
Later, when making the final efforts to fell Troy, Agamemnon and the rest of the main forces need Achilles, but he refuses to go for the disrespect shown to him. Patroclus, his more-than-a-bestie bestie suggests he go in Achilles’ stead and fight in his armor to inspire the men. Achilles sees the sense in this plan but Briseis (silently and to herself) predicts this will be the end of Patroclus. Indeed Hector kills him and Achilles falls apart, avenges him, and falls apart again. The king pleads with him for his son’s body, to which Achilles relents. Then Achilles is slain in battle, something he was yearning for after losing Patroclus. His son vows to avenge him, and Briseis meditates on how the story of Troy would live on in the sons these women had; that their lives weren’t glamorous or pretty, but history would remember the silent girls.
Like in The Wolf Den, I found the constant “you wouldn’t get it, you’re not a slave” aside to be condescending. A reader should be able to empathize with a protagonist who has no agency over what horrible things happen to them. Like Amara, Briseis is pushed around her story and the only agency and defiance we see of her is her introspection. When that introspection stops and begins to split off into other characters, she becomes weaker in comparison. The other characters are doing things, or their active refusal to do things is part of the narrative-- Briseis gets raped repeatedly, disrespected by Agamemmnon, and then disregarded by the story up until her final cry-- a flickering match in a dark room-- “the children at our breasts now will remember the women of Troy” type shi. I enjoyed the bit where she attempted to run away because of course she would (although the result frustrated me)
As always, books from this period in time captivate me. The literary voice is nice, and I do appreciate the intention of illuminating mostly anonymous women from mythology. I believe Briseis in Homer’s source poem is simply a woman from Lyrnessus who was given to Achilles and then later given to Agamemnon. In this book she still felt like that to me, she just had far more speaking lines. Barker wasn’t altering the story, but expanding it within the mythology. I don’t like that a book that promised to be about the girls became mostly about the boys, Achilles, Patroclus, and Agamemnon, and to a lesser extent the war system all around them all. I'm giving this the good ol' three star special.
We begin at the sacking of her town. Achilles’ war cry grew closer and closer until his army was at their gates. He felled them easily and Briseis watches him kill her brother. She had a husband, parents and siblings, but in one fell swoop, she and all the women not brave enough to jump from their chambers become sex slaves for Achilles’ army. Briseis is highborn and thus is designated to Achilles himself, who is mostly uninterested in her until Briseis begins to bathe regularly in the ocean. Achilles’ mother is a sea nymph, so anything that reminds him of her stokes him. For a while that is their way until Agamemnon disrespects a priest by denying his daughter, his sex slave, to be returned to him. The camp falls ill, no longer under Apollo’s protection and the girl is returned. Agamemnon demands Briseis in return.
Later, when making the final efforts to fell Troy, Agamemnon and the rest of the main forces need Achilles, but he refuses to go for the disrespect shown to him. Patroclus, his more-than-a-bestie bestie suggests he go in Achilles’ stead and fight in his armor to inspire the men. Achilles sees the sense in this plan but Briseis (silently and to herself) predicts this will be the end of Patroclus. Indeed Hector kills him and Achilles falls apart, avenges him, and falls apart again. The king pleads with him for his son’s body, to which Achilles relents. Then Achilles is slain in battle, something he was yearning for after losing Patroclus. His son vows to avenge him, and Briseis meditates on how the story of Troy would live on in the sons these women had; that their lives weren’t glamorous or pretty, but history would remember the silent girls.
Like in The Wolf Den, I found the constant “you wouldn’t get it, you’re not a slave” aside to be condescending. A reader should be able to empathize with a protagonist who has no agency over what horrible things happen to them. Like Amara, Briseis is pushed around her story and the only agency and defiance we see of her is her introspection. When that introspection stops and begins to split off into other characters, she becomes weaker in comparison. The other characters are doing things, or their active refusal to do things is part of the narrative-- Briseis gets raped repeatedly, disrespected by Agamemmnon, and then disregarded by the story up until her final cry-- a flickering match in a dark room-- “the children at our breasts now will remember the women of Troy” type shi. I enjoyed the bit where she attempted to run away because of course she would (although the result frustrated me)
As always, books from this period in time captivate me. The literary voice is nice, and I do appreciate the intention of illuminating mostly anonymous women from mythology. I believe Briseis in Homer’s source poem is simply a woman from Lyrnessus who was given to Achilles and then later given to Agamemnon. In this book she still felt like that to me, she just had far more speaking lines. Barker wasn’t altering the story, but expanding it within the mythology. I don’t like that a book that promised to be about the girls became mostly about the boys, Achilles, Patroclus, and Agamemnon, and to a lesser extent the war system all around them all. I'm giving this the good ol' three star special.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery, Violence, and War
Minor: Physical abuse and Rape