The Women of Troy: A Novel

Buen libro, fácil de leer pero no te emociona.

Only half way through, but an enjoyable book. Advisable to start with "The Silence of the Girls", the first book in this Trilogy. Of most interest to those who enjoy history and in particular the Greek stories and mythology.

This is the second of the trilogy - MUST read the first one ‘The Silence of the Girls’. Amazing. As is ‘The Women of Troy’.

Pat Barker schafft eine Geschichte, die so leise und fein erzählt wird und dadurch umso mehr sagt. Ein mitreißender Roman über den trojanischen Krieg und seine männlichen Protagonisten, erzählt aus der beobachtenden Sicht von Briseis, die als Preis an Achilles vermacht wird. Dialoge, oder besser, der Mangel an ihnen, wird kunstvoll als Stilmittel verwendet und macht die Stille der Frauen als Spielball der Männer nur umso lauter. Doch das Buch schafft es gleichzeitig die Ambivalenz zwischen Unterdrückung und stiller Macht, Schweigen und Reden, Handeln und zum Handeln veranlassen, perfekt in Szene zu setzen. Eine volle Empfehlung!

Women of Troy The story is taken up from The Silence of the Girls with the Greeks entering Troy in the belly of the wooden horse. The men are lead by Pyrrhus, son of Achilles whose actions the novel centres around. Pyrrhus is not a likeable character and lives in the shadow of his late father. The women in the Greek camps outside Troy are all fighting their own personal battles of surviving following the slaughter of husbands, brothers and sons and living a life of slavery. Families have been torn apart, murdered or taken their own lives to avoid capture. Priam’s family of women folk live lives dominated by males and they and the women in the camp use their invisibility to their advantage wherever they can to try and gain a small degree of the smallest of victories where they can. This however often leads to further loss. The Greeks are seemingly held captive at Troy by the Gods and await a turn in the weather in order to sail home. In order to appease the Gods the Greeks have to atone by undertaking the burial of King Priam who has been laid in the open festering under the elements. The scene of Hecuba observing the burial rites of her husband is heart wrenching and further compounded by her suicide as she sails away as a slave with Odysseus. The novel examines the lives of the captured Trojan women, their relationships and interactions with the Greek men and also with each other. The outcome of the war does not always see family pulling together but rather emphasises the differences and divides between them. I look forward to the next novel to be published in August 2024- The Voyage Home.