The Silence of the Girls A Novel

The Silence of the Girls struck me deeply. Pat Barker retells the Iliad not as a heroic epic, but from the perspective of the women who were only “spoils of war” – and gives them back their dignity. The language is direct, often vulgar, but never gratuitous – it reveals the horror without softening it. Briseis’ view of Achilles, Patroclus, and the other men is sharp, sad, and brutally honest. At times it was hard to endure, but I couldn’t stop reading. A book about pain, powerlessness – and quiet humanity. I won’t forget Briseis.

Pat Barker manages to tell a tale known to most in a new and refreshing way - through the eyes of a woman, a queen, Briseis. After all her family was killed by the famous warrior Achilles, she is forced to stay in his camp, being his slave. And yet, Pat Barker manages to show, that she never loses the sense of her own worth through any of it. The insights into the live of former queens and noble women in a camp where they are treated badly can be quite harsh but I think Pat Barker manages to show what they are experiencing without it being too graphical and too much to bear. A great read and a most welcome retelling through the eyes of overlooked historical figures!

Am appauled by the previous reviews, who have got his book so wrong. The repeated mention of rape highlights how women were most likely treated in those times. A feminist perspective is not one that glosses over or ignores or tries to eradicate or hide from the the pain and suffering of women, but one that portrays this and deals with it in an honest manner. Nor is a feminist perspective one that completely eradicates the existence of the male (so yes, where Briseis is Achilles' slave, Achilles obviously has a big influence on the character and plot). Where the Iliad demonstrates the power and fight for glory of the men on the very public battlefield (glossing over the hideous and violent crimes against women), this book demonstrates the strength and resillience of women, who are ever fighting their own battles in thier private lives. It sheds light on such hideous and violent crimes that are otherwise disregarded by the male author and narrator. The female characters do not perpetuate this anti-feminist, idiolised image of the strong, independent, feisty, feminist woman, but are portrayed as human; with flaws and doubts and fears, as real women are. This doesn't make them weak or not feminist; it finally offers an honest portrait of a woman, a human being, not some idealised, unattainable idea of what the female should be. If you are looking for a feminist retelling, this is ome of the best. If you've read the Iliad, it highlights and opens doors to completely new interpretations. It also sheds light on many of the important female traditions, such as weaving, healing and lament, which has not had the same amount of attention in popular culture and academic study.

Vor zwei, drei Jahren habe ich Das Lied des Achill von Madeline Miller gelesen und absolut geliebt und ich denke, ich bin nicht alleine, wenn ich sage, dass ich griechische Mythologie seit meiner Kindheit faszinierend fand. Wer sich also für griechische Mythologie generell und den trojanischen Krieg im spezifischen interessiert und auch gerne mal altbekannte Geschichten neu betrachtet und hinterfragt, sollte The Silence of the Girls auf jeden Fall mal in die Hand nehmen :) „What will they make of us, the people of those unimaginably distant times? One thing I do know: they won’t want the brutal reality of conquest and slavery. They won’t want to be told about the massacres of men and boys, the enslavement of women and girls. They won’t want to know we were living in a rape camp. No, they’ll go for something altogether softer. A love story, perhaps? I just hope they manage to work out who the lovers were.”

I saw this book on one of the YouTube channels and was pretty motivated to read it. The story is narrated (mainly) from the perspective of Briseis who became Achilles' prize after he helped to take her native city Lyrnessus. It's an eulogy for Archilles, as it is a case in "The Song of Archilles"! What I didn't quite like about this book was the choice of words at some places...