By Pat Barker
I've noticed a recent trend of novels based on Greek and Roman history or mythology, often with the aim of highlighting a woman's perspective. Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls is the first I've read of this group, so I can't compare it to others, but I would recommend giving this one a read. The plot follows a portion of The Iliad, beginning with the destruction of Lyrnessus before the Greeks' arrival on the beaches of Troy. For those whose mythology is a little rusty, the royal Briseis is taken captive in Lyrnessus and awarded to Achilles as a slave after seeing her family murdered. In this novel, Briseis is protagonist and narrator, a welcome change from her status as plot device and object in the original text. We hear her experiences, opinions, and fears while the war carries on in the background.
Reader beware, this is not only a war novel, but one centered on the sexual violence that so often accompanies war. While not the goriest novel I've ever read, the violence can be startling in both its frank, "this is war" attitude and the humanity Briseis's narration gives to her fallen family and countrymen. Even the "faceless" dead are given something resembling faces in Briseis's thoughts, wondering about their farms, homes, and families left behind. Aside from giving Breseis a voice, this is probably the novel's biggest success—stripping away the glossy heroism of mythology and showing a human reality. Achilles loses his demigod image, called "the butcher" on the very first page, and is motivated largely by his dysfunctional relationship with his mother. While the subject matter is not particularly light reading, Barker's style is elegant while deceptively simple, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
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