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BOOKS&CULTURE
LISTENER OCTOBER 13 2018by LAUREN BUCKERIDGE
T
he Iliad is one of the earliest and
most widely read works of Western
literature. Even those who have
avoided the text will know some of
it, especially if they have suffered through
120 minutes of Brad Pitt in Troy.
Written by the Greek poet Homer, it
recounts the final weeks of the Trojan
War, a battle for Helen of Sparta. The
Silence of the Girls, by Booker prize-win-
ning Pat Barker, follows the trend to retell
classics legends from a female perspec-
tive – that of Briseis, former Queen and
Achilles’ prize of war (played in Troy by
Rose Byrne).
Disappointingly, Barker restricts Briseis
to being a witness to history. Perhaps
Barker intended to stay historically
accurate – although there are
inaccuracies – but this leaves the
story lacking purpose. Briseis was
a commodity in the Iliad, and it’s
not evident she’s been upgraded
here.
Flipping a classical tale lends
the author endless creative pos-
sibilities, yet here, Briseis remains
a passive object, and the story
becomes disheartening. Even
though Briseis is a slave,
a tenacious protagonist
would be more
satisfying.
During the
sacking of
Briseis’s city,
Lyrnessus,we see strong female characters like
her cousin Arianna, who jumps to her
death to avoid Greek capture, or Briseis’s
mother-in-law, who, bedridden, clutches
a dagger as she awaits the invaders. Her
inability to match the strength displayed
by the other female characters makes
Achilles outshine her, even if she is the
narrator.
Barker details the pathos brilliantly,
however, and is Homeric in her raw and
touching descriptions of grief and pain.
The language makes this book worth
reading, but Barker’s failure to
empower Briseis proves this
novel’s own Achilles heel.
Maddeningly, Briseis’s
strength is realised only
in the last sentence:
“Once, not so long ago, I
tried to walk out of Achil-
les’ story – and failed.
Now my own story can
begin.” It’s an under-
whelming ending
which might
leave the reader
wondering what
the point of
the story is. If
only Briseis had
been liberated
earlier. l
THE SILENCE OF
THE GIRLS, by Pat
Barker (Penguin
Random House $37)Hostage to
fortune
A reworking of
the Iliad from a
female character’s
perspective has its
own Achilles heel.
ALAMY
by ANN PACKER
I
n an all too believably imminent
world – beset by climate change and
overrun by refugees – who is safe?
Mhairi is a survivor. She’s managed
the long journey from Equator Central
(Khartoum) to Equator North (London)
armed only with a gun but no bullets,
her identity papers and a grubby cloth
to hold food scraps. She’s survived
disease and detention, assassins, heat
and cold.
Almost at the border with Scotland,
Nicky Singer’s canny lass is making
her way home to Arran, after being
stranded with her aid-worker parents
in Africa. She is within a burn’s reach
of safety – except now, she has a
companion, a child who is both mute
and dark-skinned. Her biggest survival
challenge yet? She must pass the child
off as her kin.
Constantly guided by her Papa’s
words of wisdom – “Who knows what’s
useful nowadays?”, he once warned her
mother – Mhairi’s world is described in
bleakly beautiful prose. Storms are one
of the penalties the north (and south)
pays for the increase in global tempera-
tures, an uprooted tree is like a giant
mushroom, a tepid shower is a cloak of
water and home is walking somewhere
where you don’t need a map – “Where
the landscape is laid in your heart.”
In spite of the pervading theme of
survival, the title only really becomes
pertinent in the last chapters, when a
chilling twist pulls all the threads into
alignment.
In the end, as Papa
said, “You have to
believe in the goodness
of people.”
THE SURVIVAL GAME, by
Nicky Singer (Hachette,
$20)A forecast
odyssey
Extreme weather is
just one obstacle to
getting home.
Pat Barker: failure
to empower.