Just 6 Minervans were present for our discussion of this novel. Pat Barker is a critically acclaimed British writer best known for her Regeneration Trilogy set during the First World War, which included the Booker prize winning The ghost road. The Women of Troy is the middle book of another trilogy also dealing with war, but set in the mythical past. The first in the series, The Silence of the Girls deals with the Trojan War from a woman’s perspective, and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. The Women of Troy mainly deals with the aftermath of the war as Troy falls and the Greeks wait for the weather to allow them to voyage home.
As usual, we began with our first impressions …
- Enjoyed it and found it a page turner and a good read. Watched Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Brian Cox in the movie Troy as preparation.
- Worth reading but not immersive. Meaning obvious and intent clear.
- A readable story from Briseis’s point of view, but it assumes that you already know the story of Troy which is mainly about men. It was great to read an insightful perspective from a woman.
- Was lost as didn’t know the background. Felt she should have read The Silence of the Girls first. A difficult read and a bit “ho hum”.
- Didn’t like the modern language but really liked Briseis’s story. There was real depth to her and to other characters depicted. Tired of feminist revisitings though, and prefer to read about modern feminism. Enjoyed that the women had agency and played with their anonymity to achieve things in a world so dominated by men. Didn’t think it mattered that it was the second book in a trilogy.
- Quite enjoyed the book and was already familiar with the male and female characters from Homer’s Iliad and the Greek myths.
The ensuing discussion …
… jumped about a bit, but the following were some of the threads:
History or mythology?
We wondered why the book was written. Is she bringing reality to the mythology or is it a vehicle for exploring life for ancient Greeks? The Trojan War seems to be at the border between history and mythology. While none of the characters are historical some of the places mentioned by Homer did exist and the war itself was probably historical. It is supposed to have taken place in the 11th or 12th century BC, while Homer is supposed to have composed The Iliad some 400 years later in about 800 BC. It was mentioned that the book is not actually based on Homer (whose Iliad ended with the burial of Hector and didn’t cover the Trojan horse or the fall of Troy) but more on Euripides’ play The Trojan Women. Did the author choose to take advantage of these women’s voices from the mythic past rather than create new characters? The myths are based on history in many ways anyway. For example the practice of slaughtering all the males of a defeated enemy and taking all the women as slaves or concubines still happened even in classical Greek times. Myths are stories written to explain why life is as it is, giving a moral code. The captured Trojan woman and now slave, Amina was determined to do what her tradition demanded to give King Priam a good burial at whatever cost to herself.
Brutality of war
Barker’s Regeneration trilogy was also about war, the First World War in the early 20th century. In the present book, set in the mythic past she seems to write so as to demythologize war. For example, waiting in the wooden horse, Pyrrhus is worried about the possibility that his bowels will loosen – the actual text being far more earthy. We contrasted the high-flown, heroic tone of the Iliad with the bleak and brutal language with which this story is told. Several of the captive women had been so traumatized by what they had seen and experienced that they could no longer speak. Most of the Greek “heroes” we meet are quite unheroic in the eyes of the women, getting drunk every night for example. We thought the same could happen to the King Arthur legend if retold from a different viewpoint.
Characters
Several of the women were really interesting characters, such as Cassandra, Hecuba, Andromache, and Briseis through whose eyes the story is told. Unlike most of the Trojan women (even the former Queen and Princesses who are now slaves and concubines) Briseis, who had once been a Queen (before Achilles murdered her husband and brothers and took her as his concubine) is now married to one of the Greeks and has a little more status. We enjoyed the way the women took advantage of their low status – so low as to be unnoticed by the men – to exercise what agency they could to manipulate events. After all they were just as clever as we are. It took the wind out of Pyrrhus’s sails that it was women who had buried Priam. Also despite being a woman, Briseis was consulted as to whether Priam was a guest-friend of Pyrrhus and therefore entitled to a good burial, so women could have influence.
Some of the men were also drawn as interesting characters – Calchas for example, and especially Pyrrhus, who, though brutal, was only about sixteen, a very young man obviously struggling to cope with being the son of Achilles and trying to make sense of his life.
Language
Some of us found the modern language off-putting. Others thought that we have no idea how people actually spoke in 1100 BC, long before the classical Greek era even, and they could well have had an equivalent of “As you do” to ironically imply that behaviour is bizarre. The use of brutal coarse language was also off-putting to some, but we agreed it reflected the brutality of the story. The Greeks were trapped on the shore until the wind would change so that they could sail home with their trophy captive women. We tried to estimate the length of time they waited – perhaps a few weeks? It all took place during Briseis’s pregnancy. There’s nothing grand or beautiful about the sea when they go to check the weather. It’s miserable and the beach is strewn with dead sea creatures. We noticed the use of birds as metaphor. Sea Eagles meant power and men. Crows represent death.
“Crows were everywhere now and they seemed so arrogant, so prosperous…” p.119
But everything wasn’t bleak. There was some elegant, uplifting prose too.
“The music started again – only now there was foot-stamping as well and our shadows, thrown by the flames, leapt over the walls that fenced us in and escaped into the night.”
The last book in the trilogy where the Greeks return home focuses on one of the many interesting characters, Cassandra, the prophetess doomed to have her predictions ignored.
Present: 6 members
Minerva Reads ACT 