desertcart.com: The silence of the girls: 9780241983201: Barker, Pat: Books Review: A Retelling of the Iliad from Briseis' point of view - I didn't even remember Briseis from the Iliad. Why is that? Because 1) I read it decades ago, and 2) Homer includes Briseis only as the instigation of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles. Briseis is given to Achilles as a war prize, and when Agamemnon takes her from Achilles, Achilles retaliates by refusing to fight. For Homer, who only mentions Briseis 3 times, she is a pawn to urge the quarrel forward. The Silence of the Girls, however, gives voice to all the women who have been captured and enslaved either as concubines or slave labor. Here, we have Briseis's version of her capture, enslavement as a concubine and her observations of the war, of Achilles and Patroclus and Agamemnon, and of the other captured women. The story is dark, as war stories generally are, but it is compulsively readable, perhaps because Briseis and the women knew what to expect and because the narrative keeps an observational distance. Do you need to have read the Iliad? No. Read it as a retelling from another point of view. In its way, it is a story of all wars with violence, death, and abuses of every kind. A different time, different cultures, but as current as Ukraine and the Middle East with different weapons. Recommended. I immediately got the next book in this trilogy by Pat Barker Review: A Worthy Read, Yet Not A Stand-out - Having read the works of Margaret Atwood and Madeline Miller, I may be a bit impaired/biased in my critical thinking (which is no longer truly critical thinking, then), yet telling the woman's side of the epic tales of Greek mythology has been done before and done far better. Although, I did enjoy Pat Barker's novel, it just does not stand up in the light of the works that have gone before it. I was very pleased with how Barker painted Brisies, and she paced the story well. There are moments in this book that truly shine, yet her usage of "We-ll," and her habit of using a phrase verbatim in other parts of the book were an irritant and in my opinion, lazy writing. So, why would I even give it 4 stars? Barker delve deeper into the day-to-day life of the fallen women in the Trojan war. She demonstrates what it truly means to be a slave. It is not merely a title, it is a state of mind that is at once abhorrent and, oddly a balm at times. She speaks to the true strength of women, the ones who endure rather than choose a swift death. She demonstrates the intricacies of relationships between the slaves and conquerors, as well as exploring the relationship of Kings and princes fighting in a war under the leadership of a frankly terrible man and King. We see Achilles and the ever loving Patroclus set in a different light, and the tale told anew in different aspects. Because these stories have withstood millennia, yet the details are conflicting and murky, we are both fascinated and repulsed by how they behaved and lived, falsely thinking that we are better than they. I am no misanthrope, but I do not see much difference in the world of the 21st century and the world of ancient Greece. Women are still the lesser, women still have to fight harder to win respect, women are still raped, women are still very much under the thumb of men. And war is the same now, yet we see it from our televisions and nobody goes to the battlefields to see the young men and women rallied to do the bidding of old men and women in the interests that are often contrary to their own and they died for this, are permanently maimed for this, and are left with the traumatic experiences marking their minds, souls and futures. Where I really think Pat Barker needed to have focused on to better the book is to decide whether or not the gods play a part actively or as a part of ancient Grecian life. In the book she does hem and haw about it, never truly commiting one way or the other. Brisies has dialogue with herself in which she sighs to her self saying "God only knows", when
| Best Sellers Rank | #95,420 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #38 in Ancient History Fiction (Books) #169 in Feminist Theory (Books) #598 in Sociology Reference |
| Book 1 of 3 | Women of Troy |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (14,900) |
| Dimensions | 5.04 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches |
| ISBN-10 | 0241983207 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0241983201 |
| Item Weight | 8.5 ounces |
| Language | English |
| Print length | 336 pages |
| Publication date | April 20, 2019 |
| Publisher | PENGUIN |
K**R
A Retelling of the Iliad from Briseis' point of view
I didn't even remember Briseis from the Iliad. Why is that? Because 1) I read it decades ago, and 2) Homer includes Briseis only as the instigation of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles. Briseis is given to Achilles as a war prize, and when Agamemnon takes her from Achilles, Achilles retaliates by refusing to fight. For Homer, who only mentions Briseis 3 times, she is a pawn to urge the quarrel forward. The Silence of the Girls, however, gives voice to all the women who have been captured and enslaved either as concubines or slave labor. Here, we have Briseis's version of her capture, enslavement as a concubine and her observations of the war, of Achilles and Patroclus and Agamemnon, and of the other captured women. The story is dark, as war stories generally are, but it is compulsively readable, perhaps because Briseis and the women knew what to expect and because the narrative keeps an observational distance. Do you need to have read the Iliad? No. Read it as a retelling from another point of view. In its way, it is a story of all wars with violence, death, and abuses of every kind. A different time, different cultures, but as current as Ukraine and the Middle East with different weapons. Recommended. I immediately got the next book in this trilogy by Pat Barker
B**E
A Worthy Read, Yet Not A Stand-out
Having read the works of Margaret Atwood and Madeline Miller, I may be a bit impaired/biased in my critical thinking (which is no longer truly critical thinking, then), yet telling the woman's side of the epic tales of Greek mythology has been done before and done far better. Although, I did enjoy Pat Barker's novel, it just does not stand up in the light of the works that have gone before it. I was very pleased with how Barker painted Brisies, and she paced the story well. There are moments in this book that truly shine, yet her usage of "We-ll," and her habit of using a phrase verbatim in other parts of the book were an irritant and in my opinion, lazy writing. So, why would I even give it 4 stars? Barker delve deeper into the day-to-day life of the fallen women in the Trojan war. She demonstrates what it truly means to be a slave. It is not merely a title, it is a state of mind that is at once abhorrent and, oddly a balm at times. She speaks to the true strength of women, the ones who endure rather than choose a swift death. She demonstrates the intricacies of relationships between the slaves and conquerors, as well as exploring the relationship of Kings and princes fighting in a war under the leadership of a frankly terrible man and King. We see Achilles and the ever loving Patroclus set in a different light, and the tale told anew in different aspects. Because these stories have withstood millennia, yet the details are conflicting and murky, we are both fascinated and repulsed by how they behaved and lived, falsely thinking that we are better than they. I am no misanthrope, but I do not see much difference in the world of the 21st century and the world of ancient Greece. Women are still the lesser, women still have to fight harder to win respect, women are still raped, women are still very much under the thumb of men. And war is the same now, yet we see it from our televisions and nobody goes to the battlefields to see the young men and women rallied to do the bidding of old men and women in the interests that are often contrary to their own and they died for this, are permanently maimed for this, and are left with the traumatic experiences marking their minds, souls and futures. Where I really think Pat Barker needed to have focused on to better the book is to decide whether or not the gods play a part actively or as a part of ancient Grecian life. In the book she does hem and haw about it, never truly commiting one way or the other. Brisies has dialogue with herself in which she sighs to her self saying "God only knows", when
S**N
My last read of 2018 - will go on my top reads of the year list.
I am a sucker for anything having to do with Greek mythology and I am also a fan of this author’s novels, so I was really looking forward to reading this book. I was not disappointed. I’ve read the Iliad and the Odyssey and have read many stories and seen many movies that retell those stories. When I was young I thought the Odyssey was the more interesting of the two with the many tales of monsters and evil sorceresses. It was only when I was older did I really appreciate the Iliad and how deeply the story resonates still in modern times. What this book does - which is remarkable both in its execution and in its originality - is have us view the story of the the Trojan War from the viewpoint of the women involved. Most of the time the story is narrated from the point of view of Briseis, the princess given as a war prize to Achilles. (Occasionally we get a few short chapters from Achilles point-of -view.) When we read the story from Briseis and witness what we do from her eyes, this story will be changed for you forever. At least it was for me. This is not the retelling of a classic book with a modern feminist viewpoint coming in as an anachronism; that makes me a little crazy. Instead we see what life was like in that time not just for the men, but for the women too. As awful as it was for the men, the horrors for the women was even worse. Forced to witness the slaughter of their husbands and children then given to the victors as either war brides (if they’re lucky) or else given to the soldiers, the women suffer unimaginable atrocities. You are always aware of this when you read books and stories - that the women suffer - but you’re so used to getting lost in the heroic and adventurous tales such as those of Achilles and Hector that you can forget about what’s happening just out of view. This book makes us look. For me, one of the signs of a good book is whether or not I want to pick it up again. This absolutely passed that test. I loved this book and when I read the last page I experienced that “reader’s high” that you get when you’ve really read something that has moved you. Highly recommended.
A**R
This story takes a new perspective, from Achilles’ slave Briseis. It’s a beautiful read that I managed in just a day. I didn’t want to stop reading despite it being the most brutal and harrowing story of Troy that I’ve ever read- and I’ve read a few.
Z**T
Wonderful account of the Trojan war - a brilliant description of the truth behind its “heroes” and what it really took to take Troy.
A**E
Eine Geschichte über einen Krieg kann wohl nur grausam sein. Insoweit hätte mein Geschichtslehrer gesagt: "Nur für starke Nerven!" Lesenswert ist, wie die Autorin herausarbeitet, welche eigentlich sehr lächerlichen Gründe hinter dem ganzen Gemetzel stehen: Kindsköpfe, die wie kleine Jungs handeln, die sich im Sandkasten das Spielzeug wegnehmen wollen. Gerade heute ein sehr wichtiges Buch. Beim aktuellen Krieg in Europa dürfte es im Grunde kaum anders sein.
V**D
Very original rewriting of the Iliad! Achilles' myth is deconstructed to erect a new narrative, the one of Briseis, the slave.
G**A
10/10 writing & well described emotions
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