The Silence of the Girls (2018)

This is a difficult book, violent and brutal, which is true to the subject matter - the story of the silent/silenced women of the Iliad. I didn't enjoy reading substantial sections of it, but in the end I loved it. It's a brilliant retelling, thoughtful and moving. I also love the way Barker "translates" - using coarse British idiomatic English to represent the no doubt coarse language of the ancient Greek soldiers. ( )

Have to shout this from the rooftops -- a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant book -- stayed up late to read and woke early to finish. Pat Barker can be both lyrical and dry as dust when it serves this story, one of the most familiar ever, the siege of Troy. But in Barker's magical hands, the story is refreshed since it's told through the eyes (mostly) of Briseis, the Trojan noble taken captive in Achilles' siege of a city near Troy. All of the moments come straight from the Iliad, with a couple of additions from other interpretations of this all-to-familiar tale of hubris, vanity, greed and slaughter. Barker has written movingly -- searingly -- about slaughter in her World War I novels, and it's on vivid display here, a frontal assault on the stupidity and pointlessness of war. Briseis both accepts her fate and rails against it, as the slave to the thuggish Achilles -- who, at the same time, is as fastidious about the cultural rules of battle and diplomacy as anyone. Women have no hope here - either they are prizes to be distributed by fathers, brothers, and sons or they fall to the worst sort of degradation as slaves, subject to every abuse. Yet women fight to claim their stories, to see and be seen throughout the book. I'll keep this book alongside the brilliant [b:Circe|35959740|Circe|Madeline Miller|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1508879575s/35959740.jpg|53043399] by [a:Madeline Miller|176372|Madeline Miller|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1322861610p2/176372.jpg] as well as [a:Emily Wilson|478455|Emily Wilson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1523444389p2/478455.jpg]'s gripping translation of [b:The Odyssey|34068470|The Odyssey|Homer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487351579s/34068470.jpg|3356006]. Women face these same fates today -- in Yemen, in Iraq, in North Korea, and among those desperate families seeking asylum in the United States. It's both a current story and the oldest one in the world. ( )

1143 ( )

Hmm! This was a fascinating take on the side of the Trojan War you don’t hear enough about: the women and what the ego-driven and male anger centric war meant for them and their lives. Loved Briseis as a narrator and the descriptions of the brutality, the rat infested camps, and the violent men were appropriately disturbing and vivid. I did feel like at times the language wasn’t quite right (some of the dialogue and phrases just... weren’t right for ancient greece) but overall this was something special.
Also loved the way Achilles’ and Patroclus’ relationship was written, 10/10.

Probably will write a full review soon.

Triggering warning for: rape & self harm ( )

This is one of those books that sits with you, long after you've finished reading. I was absorbed. Briseis' grief and anger are so tangible, I could feel them in the room like Achilles could feel Patroclus' ghost. I loved Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller and was delighted to receive this book as a gift and can honestly say I was not disappointed. It's feminist, it's heartbreaking, and it tells a side of the story often ignored. This is not a book easily forgotten, although neither is Briseis. ( )