The Silence of The Girls
by
Pat Barker
Title: The Silence Of The Girls
Author: Pat Barker
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Publication Date: 30th August 2018
Genre: Fiction
Summary:
ISBN: 978-0-241-98320-1
When the Greek Queen Helen is kidnapped by the Trojans, the Greeks sail in pursuit, besieging the city of Troy. Trapped in the Greek soldiers camp is another captured queen, Briseis. Condemned to be a bed-slave to Achilles, the man who butchered her family, she becomes a pawn in a menacing game between bored and frustrated warriors. In the centuries after this most famous war, history will write her off, a footnote in a bloody story scripted by vengeful men - but Briseis has a very different tale to tell.....
ISBN: 978-0-241-98320-1
Review:
March's book choice came from the shortlist of books on the women's prize for fiction 2019, minus one as we'd already read Circe in December.
After reading Circe I was excited to see this book win the vote! As soon as I read the synopsis I knew I had to vote for it :) Recently I seem to have found some fab books based around Greek mythology and I've added many to my to-be-read pile(one day I suspect ill be found buried under my tbr pile!)
What I loved about this book is that its told from a woman's perspective and, for a change, the woman isn't Helen of Troy! I'd never heard of Briseis before reading this book but then again I only know the basics about the Trojan war and I've never read around the subject, I suspect I will in the future (another addition to that tbr pile).
Now the book doesn't shy away from the brutality of the situation Briseis (and various other women) is in, it tends to be quite graphic, to be honest. The detailed description of her situation and what happens/is done to her means that you do think well what would I do in her place, would I have chosen to follow the same path or would I have jumped at the beginning as her cousin did. It's also easy to forget that this brutality does still occur and women are still subjected to this treatment in some parts of the world (I'll be honest while reading this book I forgot that and was reminded by the lovely Val during our meeting). Now don't get me wrong, I really loved this book but I did think that occasionally she used quite modern phrasing/words and it felt out of place. Not quite jarring but borderline.
It's definitely a book I would read again and I've already recommended it to a few people!
Krystina xx
Book Club Score- 7/10
March's book choice came from the shortlist of books on the women's prize for fiction 2019, minus one as we'd already read Circe in December.
After reading Circe I was excited to see this book win the vote! As soon as I read the synopsis I knew I had to vote for it :) Recently I seem to have found some fab books based around Greek mythology and I've added many to my to-be-read pile(one day I suspect ill be found buried under my tbr pile!)
What I loved about this book is that its told from a woman's perspective and, for a change, the woman isn't Helen of Troy! I'd never heard of Briseis before reading this book but then again I only know the basics about the Trojan war and I've never read around the subject, I suspect I will in the future (another addition to that tbr pile).
Now the book doesn't shy away from the brutality of the situation Briseis (and various other women) is in, it tends to be quite graphic, to be honest. The detailed description of her situation and what happens/is done to her means that you do think well what would I do in her place, would I have chosen to follow the same path or would I have jumped at the beginning as her cousin did. It's also easy to forget that this brutality does still occur and women are still subjected to this treatment in some parts of the world (I'll be honest while reading this book I forgot that and was reminded by the lovely Val during our meeting). Now don't get me wrong, I really loved this book but I did think that occasionally she used quite modern phrasing/words and it felt out of place. Not quite jarring but borderline.
It's definitely a book I would read again and I've already recommended it to a few people!
Krystina xx
Book Club Score- 7/10
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