The Silence of the Girls, a Review
0.75/5.0 Stars
Spoilers for the entire book follow, but it's basically just the Iliad so...
I also recommend not reading if this is like your favoritest book ever because I do NOT hold it in any good favor whatsoever. However, you're more than welcome to have a constructive discussion with me, as long as your sole goal isn't to try and change my mind.
Cross posted review from my Storygraph.
This was chosen as this month's book for a book club. I began to read it thinking it sounded rather interesting from the summary, so I was looking forward to it.
I was rather quickly put to sleep by how BORING the first part is. NOTHING happens. It takes about 30% of the book to get to the start of the Iliad, and NOTHING happens before then! Briseis laments that she is a slave every page but nothing is actually DEMONSTRATED, and we just have to take her word for it! Everything is TOLD; nothing is SHOWN! Now, I'm not a fan of always "show, not tell" because there are plenty of times when it's actually appropriate to "tell", but Briseis is ALWAYS TELLING and it's ALL ANECDOTAL. This trend continues throughout the book, not just the first part, and it is infuriating because, in addition to this, none of the characters actually interact or speak with each other on the page. It's ALL ANECDOTAL. It's ALL Briseis basically summarizing what has happened between two characters or between herself and Achilles or herself and others. It reads like a first-person SparkNotes of the Iliad.
But it was just boring, okay? The moment Part 2 hits, it goes from "just boring" to "really bad". For whatever reason, parts of chapters are told from Achilles's point of view. About half the chapters of Parts 2 and 3 are told from his POV. I cannot fathom why. Was Barker trying to suggest that the girls were so silenced so she has to write it from the man's POV to reiterate that?
Speaking of the girls, don't get your hopes up that this is about anyone BUT Briseis. She rarely interacts with any of the women (or really, anyone else, for that matter) to the point where the others are, ironically, extremely forgettable. From the title, my impressions before going in were "Briseis will breathe life into the women of the camp and show the bonds, or lack thereof, between them". But that's FAR from what the book actually is! The title is deliberately misleading! No one has any bonds, actually!
For instance, Achilles and Patroclus are kept vague. We're not even really told about their bond besides one or two points before Patroclus dies, and then Achilles goes through such intense grief you can only wonder why. They were cardboard cutouts. Even in Achilles's chapters, they barely interacted in a way that suggested a deep bond. Once again, it's all anecdotal. Every. Single. Thing. NOTHING actually happens on the screen!
Speaking of Patroclus, Briseis is meant to have a deep bond with him too. He was the only man she liked in the camp. They interact exactly one time on screen, one time where they actually speak words to one another, and it's for Patroclus to say to Briseis he can make Achilles marry her. When he dies, Briseis grieves him, but we don't know why. Funnily enough, we weren't told anything about their bond, even anecdotal.
Every single character seems so flat that a piece of paper has more volume than them.
There were other things, too, that were infuriating. Why did Achilles need to get up onto the stern of a ship to track Patroclus on the battlefield, but Briseis could see with perfect clarity which man Achilles was killing, how he was doing it, and what their names were, all from the huts? A battlefield that is like two whole miles away? I have trouble believing even Achilles on the ship could see!
EVERYONE uses modern slang. WHY on this great Earth does everyone read like a modern day English gentleman? Since I read the audiobook, it may just be a quirk for some reason, of that edition, but I'm tempted to say it isn't because there's a MARKED difference between the pronunciation and slang in the narration vs. the dialogue. The narration is fine and readable. The dialogue (what little there is) is stilted and makes me feel like I'm in the grimiest pub in England.
The ONLY part I liked was the scene at the end, with the baby on the shield. It was just about the only scene where people felt like they were actually DOING SOMETHING rather than just RECOUNTING EVENTS.
Otherwise, the prose wasn't even that good. Barker repeats and repeats but not in a very talented or witty or emphasizing way. It's as if she had forgotten she used a certain phrasing five minutes ago so she uses it again, then she forgets and then uses it five minutes later. Either that, or she just is absolutely dog shit at blending certain elements together and is trying way too hard.
I read that Barker once said she doesn't want to be seen as "just" a feminist writer, but Jesus Christ does this book come across as "I'm marketing it as feminist literature because I know it's bad". Like, I GET IT! Briseis and all the women are slaves! War is bad! But you're not even SHOWING ME how war is bad or how slavery is bad! You're holding my hand, saying, "These women were raped, and their children killed," and patting yourself on the back before walking away! If you make it a POINT to say at the end of the book, "People will make this a love story, and they won't want to see or hear about the traumas and horrors of war," YOU SHOULD HAVE ELABORATED ON THE TRAUMAS AND HORRORS OF WAR.
This book should not have mentioned the battlefield whatsoever. It should have been told entirely within the camp and the women's huts. Briseis should have been told by the wounded men updates. She should have actually fucking done something.
Make NO mistake: This is DEFINITELY not Briseis's story, this is Achilles's. She says this no less than three times in the end. You would be able to read this faster, and maybe have a better time, if you just read a summary of the Iliad. It adds nothing of value to the epic.
I DO NOT recommend you read this, even to see how bad it is. I think you should read anything else. I actually do NOT understand how people enjoyed it whatsoever. Usually I can see the merits of a book that I did not enjoy or can see how someone can still end up liking it. This was BAD. It was AWFUL. It was SLOPPY AND BORING. I genuinely regret not stopping and DNF'ing this gods damned book and wasting my time. It does NOT get better, and do not trust anyone who thinks it is telling a worthwhile story.