A review by streamthief
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

Amazing book, wonderful retelling of the Iliad from the pov if Briseis, a captured and enslaved queen from Troy who becomes an object of conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon. It shows Achilles, and other Greek heros, as being complex people who can do awful things. Nearly all the male characters have slaves, some used for sex and other just for labor. I think largely the point of the book was to demonstrate that instead of simply retelling the tale of Troy. The book is fundemntally about Achilles and his story, but isn't told from his perspective. The writing was magical, and everything was paced in such a lovely way. It wasn't as 'enjoyable" of a read as other books may be, but it was engrossing and really makes you think. I read the entire thing in a day.
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