The Silence of the Girls

The silence of the girls, indeed. This is not a book about girls, or women. It's (still, always) a book about Achilles.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I could not be more disappointed. If you think, like I did, you're going to read some kind of feminist retelling of the Trojan War from women's points of view, readjust your expectations right now. This book, like most others, is not about the always overlooked women, it's about Achilles, and the other men of the war. Yes, there are women, as slaves, scattered throughout the book. Yes, parts (and only parts) of this book are told from Briseis' point of view. But it's not about her forming friendships and alliances with other women, it's not about her life before being captured, it's barely even about her emotions and desires. It's sometimes about her pain and suffering, but not even in any meaningful way—and usually just to show the brutality of men, rather than show the strength of women.

And probably half of it was from Achilles' point of view??? As if there aren't enough books and movies and plays from his perspective. And look, I have nothing against that, I love that shit as much as the next person, but this book promised me something different, something new. And it's just...not. It's not a bad book. It just did not deliver what it promised. I wanted Helen, I wanted Andromache, I wanted Hecuba, Thetis, Penelope. I wanted more Briseis, for goddess' sake, even though she was the “protagonist.”

Also, (and I'm not considering this a spoiler), at the end of the book Briseis is happy she “chose life” instead of killing herself before she was captured, only because she's PREGNANT WITH HER RAPIST'S BABY. COOL. BARF.

I hope A Thousand Ships, which claims to be an “all-female perspective” of the Trojan War, will actually give me what I wanted this book to be.