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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
War violence and the brutality of the Trojan War depicted with realism; deaths of major mythological figures
Language
Some
Moderate literary language throughout
Sexual Content
A lot
Sexual slavery and rape are central to Briseis's situation; depicted with honesty rather than gratuitousness; the reality of being a war prize
Substance Use
Barely any
None
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The sustained psychological reality of powerlessness; the horror of being the property of a man who is the hero of someone else's story
What this book is about
Briseis, a queen captured as a war prize and given to Achilles, narrates the fall of Troy from inside the Greek camp—as a slave, as Achilles' prize, and as a witness to the heroic narrative that will erase her. Pat Barker's retelling of the Iliad gives voice to the women behind the famous story, and does not sanitize what it meant to be a woman in a war.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Sexual slavery and rape are central to the narrative
The female experience of the Trojan War is unflinching and disturbing
Reader Verification
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