A look at the Illiad from the viewpoint (mostly) of Briseis, a complex woman who was a Queen of a Trojan tributary and then became a slave/war prize of Achilles. I have never seen a lyrical telling of the gender roles of ancient Greece shown so compelling. We learn about the Greeks and specifically Achilles, Patroclus, and Agamemnon as Briseis does, showing them to be complex flawed humans, not just distant half-gods of ancient myths.

Loved reading this version of The Iliad through the female perspective. I was amazed at the untold story of war and seeing Achilles through different eyes. Briesis is a strong dynamic character.

In this re-telling of Homer’s "The Illiad," we are promised the female perspective. During the end stages of the Trojan war, Queen Briseis sees her husband and brothers killed by Achilles before she is awarded to him as a war trophy/sex slave. But I was disappointed that the focus was not on the women – individual characters, their personal histories, how they were dealing with their captivity, a sense of friendship (or not) amongst them. No, it was simply the Trojan War, its key players and camp life as seen through Briseis’ eyes and sensibilities. A ton of gore and slaughter if you’re into that sort of thing.

a female slave's view of the Iliad

Patriarchy is not only amongst the Greek gods, but also in the perspectives of the storytellers. We hear about the heroes in the Trojan War, we hear about goddesses and witches taking sides, but what about the mortal women? Casualties of the Trojan War, they become dehumanized, prizes of the victors.⁣
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Briseis the protagonist, captured and awarded to Achilles when her city falls to the Greeks, is known as the symbol of honor that causes starts a chain of events in the Iliad. Yet who is she beyond the symbol? ⁣
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Pat Barker examines these women and the “heroes” in question. Some women are martyrs, other struck numb, still others fall in love with their captors. Some captors are kind, others loyal, some cowardly. Barker creates characters that keep the reader on her toes, because although she knows their fates, she becomes too attached to them to remain detached.⁣
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I cannot help but compare this retelling to Circe, which I just finished 2 days ago. If you look back to my previous post, you will see that I have given its first half 2.5 stars. I had attributed my boredom to the fact that I knew the characters’ endings already, but I still enjoyed The Silence while knowing its ending. I did some further analysis:

- The stories in the first half of Circe are more of a chronology for us to get to know the protagonist. The episodes are loosely related and not explored enough, so the reader is unable to form an attachment to anyone. ⁣
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- Circe the character is not developed enough in the first half of the book. She is too passive and while Briseis is also passive, she explains her mindset in detail while Circe just watches.

Anyway, if you are a fan of Greek mythology and retellings, or just want a story on compassion, pain, and humanity, this is your read. Highly recommended. ⁣

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Good to have the woman's viewpoint .
Would have helped to have read some background.
Thanks to those who offered a couple of references.

Tells a gripping story and with a voice not heard before

The illiad's Trojan War from a woman's perspective. As a former royal female Briseis is a prize awarded to legendary warrior Archilles. Her view of the Trojan War from a female slaves perspective is engaging and reminds us that their is more to war than the victor's version of events

Nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019.

Told from the point of view of a captured Queen that was given as reward for battle we are given a look into the camp of the greeks durning the war of Troy. The only part that is odd about this book is that our narrator was in Troy as the battle to retrieve Helen had begun. How'd did she get out? Things of that nature make you think along the way, but you also get a sense that even though captive and fighting against her feelings she does become emotionally attached to the greeks. Even though she rages mentally about how any could fall "in love" with those that took bother her family and burned her city to ash. It is good and give a nice fresh look at an old war.