The Silence of the Girls (Women of Troy, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Nov 07, 2019 Astrid Lim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, borrowed, women, mythology, war

It's hard to like a story if you've already read it in another version and found that one perfect. Song of Achiless is THE BOOK about Achiless and Patroclus - and nothing can beat that. The Silence of the Girls tried to look at Achiless's legend from another point of view: Briseis, the former princess turned slave. The complexity of Achiless's character and background were seen in different light, is it true that he is incapable of love and only thinks about himself? Well - after reading Song of ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 24, 2022 Ann rated it it was ok

The second star is only because there were decent lines like the spider metaphor, the island of efficiency metaphor, the walnut simile which was repeated exactly in the same situation.
So this was recommended to me after Song of Achilles and while I wasn't expecting the same cryfest I had, I was close to tears of rage. 27% in, I wrote this note: if I have to excuse away a character's behaviour without evidence, it's not well written. Even Briseis herself keeps excusing her own behaviour when the ...more

Like · see review

Feb 13, 2022 Jillian rated it really liked it

3.5 stars.

I'm a huge, huge fan of fictionalized retellings of Greek mythology. Possibly my favorite book of all time is Circe by Madeline Miller which is full of magic and feminine power. The biggest problem I had with this book is the absolute flatness of Briseis's character. I understand the point the author was trying to make: that the myth and story is about Achilles, Agamemnon, and Patroclus, and that people (like me) are not going to want to hear about Briseis's story and the experience o 3.5 stars.

I'm a huge, huge fan of fictionalized retellings of Greek mythology. Possibly my favorite book of all time is Circe by Madeline Miller which is full of magic and feminine power. The biggest problem I had with this book is the absolute flatness of Briseis's character. I understand the point the author was trying to make: that the myth and story is about Achilles, Agamemnon, and Patroclus, and that people (like me) are not going to want to hear about Briseis's story and the experience of women being enslaved, raped, and silenced. The reality is that if you're going to tell a story about a character to whom nothing momentous happens in any kind of positive way, then you have a story about a depressed, enslaved, raped, and abused woman, too downtrodden to have a strong voice or personality. If there was some greater inner fire that we saw here, more complexity of emotion and perspective, I could've seen this as more compelling. It took me so long to get through because the narrative loops around and around. And of course, the most interesting parts of the story are about the men. Which sucks, but is also kind of her point. I can't help but compare this unfavorably to A Song of Achilles, also by Madeline Miller. And I get it, factually and historically speaking, what Pat Parker has written here is probably closer to the reality of ancient war, etc.

But when you're writing about mythology, there has to be MORE presence of the gods, more of the magic of the story, or else...why not just write about some other deeply depressing ancient war? All said and done, this was hard to get through, deeply depressing, with circular storytelling and flat characters. I give it 3.5 stars for historical insights, some moments of commendable imagination, and ultimately a message I agree with.

But damn, what a bummer of an experience to the absolute last moment.

PS. I had to go back and round up to 4 instead of down to 3 because some of the imagery would not leave my mind, and I found myself thinking about this book regularly. No small feat! I am genuinely so surprised by my immediate desire to read Women of Troy (the second book). I guess it was depressing but hit me harder than I'd thought. ...more

Like · see review