Review: The Silence of the Girls

The Silence of the Girls

By. Pat Barker

☕☕☕☕

"Every man in the city died that day..."

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Synopsis

    The Silence of the Girls is a story the Trojan women who were captured and used for the soldiers pleasure during the Trojan War. We follow Breseis, the wife of the son of the King of Lyrnessus which has been overthrown by the Greeks; all the men and boys butchered, and all the women allocated to their new owners. Breseis is rewarded to Achilles, the commander of the troop that overthrew her city and killed her brothers and father. She is a strong women, learning to adapt with her new life as a slave with as much dignity as the men will allow her (which isn't much). Achilles is a quiet but brutal man, his mother is a sea goddess and his father is a king. He has the mindset of a child, mourning his mothers touch, but the rage and brutality of a starving bear in a cow field.

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My Review

    I need to start out with a confession. I actually have read this book before...4 years ago..in High School. Its been a very memorable book for me, a certain disgusting line randomly pops into my head (if you read it and you get there...you know what I'm talking about...) and for what ever reason it makes me want to read this again and again (even though once I get to said line I have to put the book down and try not to throw up because *shudder*). I also want to say every review on this book I've rea has compared this book to The Iliad...which I find super strange considering The Iliad was the inspiration for this book...so of course they will be similar, they're telling the same story just from a different perspective (kind of...we'll get to that). So having not read The Iliad, I'll be able to review this book without that comparison. 

    The Silence of the Girls is a great story with such brutal description it really helps you build an image for what's going on, however the world building was pretty much non-existent. There was very few descriptions of rooms and the camps layout and yet there was a ton of movement within them. I found it a little bit difficult to navigate the encampment because there was no map made or described, then Breseis is going between buildings I wanted to feel like it was tiring and brutal for her but I had no idea how far apart different tents were so it was hard to sympathize with her labor. While we're on the topic of labor, I found it super strange that she didn't seem to do the same tasks as other women even though the other women were given to men of similar rank to Achilles. Most of the women were weavers or cooks or nurses, Breseis seemed to just float around jobless until there was a battle and then she was a nurse but at that point most of the women were so that was expected. The most labor she had was filling drinks during meals, cleaning up afterwards, and then going to Achilles so he can use her for the night and then go to sleep. Like...it's a brutal thing the war is but honestly compared to what most women in her situation had, she had it VERY easy, which I thought was a bit strange but maybe that's the story!

    I really loved the "relationship" between her and Achilles. I love that she stays firm with her hatred of him to the end (sorry romance readers!), maybe it softens slightly but she still very much does NOT like him and makes it clear that she never will. The only Greek she genuinely likes in Patroclus, but he's an actually decent guy so of course she likes him, but throughout the book she has to remind herself who and what he is, and I like that. I would've absolutely hated it if Breseis dropped her hatred for the Greeks just because a few of them were nice to her. 

    I love how strong she is. She holds her head high (internally because she'd probably get beaten for actually raising her head at her captors). I love how she supports her fellow women in this terrifying time while still keeping herself safe. I will not lie and say she's selfless here, but she is definitely generous and caring to say the least, and for that she has my utmost respect.

    I also have a slight problem with how little Breseis starred in her own story. This was clearly meant to be a telling of the Trojan War in the perspective of the woman (mainly Breseis) but instead we follow Achilles and his personal problems much more. It's almost like she's a side character in her own story. I can see the poetic meaning to this; "women back then were supposed to live in the background." but that's not what it felt like. It felt like it was trying to be from her perspective, but not much of her perspective was given until she was in bed or serving the rare occasions at night. I really wish the story was told from maybe a different woman and we got to hear the behind the scenes banter of the loom tents. I would be very interested in a book of that manner (And I believe Pat Barker did give us this in Women of Troy.) 

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My Thoughts

Honestly I cannot stress enough how solidly this book is imprinted on my brain. I have ADHD so not many things stick in there but my god this book is STUCK in there! I loved it! I really love the strong female character roll, I only wish we saw more of her and less of her captor. If you would like to read this book I want to warn you of the triggers; Rape, abuse, death, gore, suicide, death of children, mutilation of children, mutilation of adults...I think that's all of them. There's a lot. This is not a soft gentle read and for those who want this to be a love story between Breseis and Achilles, I'm sorry to say it definitely is not that!

I will for sure be buying Women of Troy, I love Pat Barker's writing style and am so excited to rad the next book in this story!