Book Review: Silence of the Girls

The Silence of the Girls, by Pat Barker

Another Man Booker prize winner, and another fine read.

I enjoy novels that tell a different side of the story. In this case, Barker tell the story of Achilles and the Trojan Way from the perspective of Briseis, a high-ranking woman from Troy whom the Greeks captured and gave to Achilles as a war prize, as a slave.

It can sometimes be confusing to read such a book, as it gives details and tells anecdotes that are new, and sometimes contradictory to the stories you have heard before. But that's the point.

Barker tells it well, in succinct, well-written prose. Briseis' anger, her regret, and her longing for her past life and her family come through loud and clear. She also tells of the women with her, who are living a life as bad or worse than her own. Briseis is unflinching in her disgust at the men and their killing, at the viciousness and thoughtless hatred that fills the rage of Achilles and the other warriors. 

This is Briseis' story, as she explains near the end of the book.

"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 are 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. His story. His, not mine. It ends at his grave."

It's a fascinating read that tells the experiences of the captured women, whom no one listens to and no one hears. Silence becomes a woman, says Ajax, one of the Greek fighters. Barker replies with the  sounds of silence.