The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker - 292 pages

Briseis was a Trojan queen before she was captured by the Greek Achilles and forced to be enslaved to him. In this retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of a woman enslaved to one of history’s greatest “heroes”, Pat Barker explores what femininity is in Ancient Greece through the eyes of a young girl forced to grow up far too quickly.

Okay - I understand what Barker was trying to do with this novel. It was fine -  I didn’t love it. And I certainly did not love the ending and the strange message that Barker tried to convey. I did not enjoy how Briseis’s tragedy was downplayed and her feelings were partially invalidated by the narrative. I did not enjoy how the reader was made to feel bad for someone who enslaves people and treats them horribly. I read this book as a “transition” into leisurely reading after finishing my History degree in May - that was a mistake. I am *that* person, I’ve found out. If there are severe historical inconsistencies, it is difficult for me to move past them. In this particular book, there are many inaccuracies for the sake of drama, which I understand, but it was created for the cause of sympathy for a character that was quite abhorrent as a human or demigod or whatever you want to call him. Although the Trojan War is wrapped in historical mystery, many of the books ideas did not match up with the actual, oral retelling of Greek history nor did it match up with actual evidence from the history of the Bronze Age. All of this was done to tell a story of a strong woman who defied and who faced the impossible, but her story was severely downplayed by Achilles and his triumphs. Ultimately and unfortunately, I did not understand why this book was so well-acclaimed. Long story short: 2.5/5 stars.