Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

La canzone di Achille by Madeline Miller

218 reviews

_david_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What a beautiful retelling of Achilles and Patroclus. It is very humane and easy to read. I empathized with Patroclus. Something I would like to highlight is how poetic the moments of sex were written. In general the style of writing is accessible without being simple. It is easy to imagine the ancient greek beliefs as an active religion when the legends and characters are told like this. 

The tale itself hurt to read. Especially the last part of the book made me want to read as slowly as possible to postpone the ending. Afterwards I grabbed my partner and hugged him as tight as I could. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Self harm, Abandonment, Child death, Homophobia, Outing, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, and Xenophobia

Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

venice_the_vampire's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

crying. crying so hard. screw you gay people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, War, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual content

kjm19's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Amazing writing - vivid and evocative. 

Love the realistic portrayal of how women are perceived in this world. I love that Patroclus grows in his opinions on women and people too. Contrasted with Achilles and his views because he can only be focused on himself. 

I think maybe a bit of pacing inconsistencies at the start of the war… partly felt rushed and partly felt weeded out a bit. 

More character distinction would’ve been good, but I’m being really picky now. 

The last chapter is amazing. Many tears fell. Amazing book and fleshed out story of a classic myth. 

I feel the 1984 pull to the book now. Beautiful and I loved it. I cried a lot in my final sitting of the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Biphobia, Death, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Slavery

Moderate: Biphobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Outing, Pregnancy, and Rape

Minor: Alcohol and Adult/minor relationship

fernandalaram's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, War, Sexual violence, Slavery, Self harm, Medical trauma, and Violence

z24's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This book has me very separated. I always liked the story of Achilles and perhaps that is the problem. The author changed the story in some key factors, and imo took away a lot from what makes this story great. The writing on the other hand is quite enchanting and beautiful.
Leaving out some parts (like rape

Patroclus saving Brisis instead of raping her, made a cute story-line

) is an understandable decision and makes the novel a lot easier to read. But to change the main character to a weak guy, when the fact that Patroclus and Achilles very equally talented, makes it.. quite homophobic. It even is mentioned in the book that the Greeks weren't accepting of homosexual relationships. Only in specific instances, but to have a couple that defies those rules, that is what made the whole story so iconic. Pushing them back into this heteronomative characteristics, takes that away.
There is the option of looking at Patroclus story-line and trying to interpret it in a way, that says "there's other ways to be great than physical strength" but to be honest it still feels like a slap in the face to one of the veeery few storys that portray a different, not-so-stereotypical gay relationship.
Additionally, looking at the way the book is talked about on social media, lets it seem a lot like a fetishisation fan fiction of a gay couple.
Edit: While some parts were left out, other rather unnecessary and misoginistic parts were added (example:

Deidameira raping both main characters

). Also I forgot to mention the Bi-erasure, considering both main characters were considered bisexual in the original text and are almost repulsed by woman in this version.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Self harm, Violence, Death, Homophobia, War, and Rape

Moderate: Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Medical content

eliya's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

✅ sobbing 
✅ sobbing many times 
✅ yearning 
✅ i will be thinking about this book for a long time 
✅ i am a love and my love is my love we are two beams of light connected to eachother 
✅ love is beautiful 
❌ the war bit was hard for me to get through, felt really slow from that 50-70% mark but i’m so glad i persisted 

this book is so beautifully written 
i’ve discussed the similes and metaphors painted in this with friends, and we all craved figs after this 
i want to experience live with the same absolute mindfulness as patroclus does

i could re read the first 50% and the last 10% of this book over and over and over again


edit: this book = unreal unearth hozier album
specifically francesca 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Misogyny, Classism, Grief, Pedophilia, Colonisation, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Blood

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

mitta_girl452's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I really liked this book. It was a good read. I really enjoyed Achilles and Patroclus's love for each other, and that it wasn't afraid to talk about how war, honour and pride can really negatively affect people, especially those like Achilles, who were in charge, had much at stake and had too much pride. 

I especially love Briseis, and how she is described and talked about. Patroclus tries to save her from being raped, and succeeds, and saves other girls from the same fate. He looks after those girls, with help from Breseis, who was the first, and they all become part of the camp, and can decide to have relationships if they want, and most do. But Briseis doesn't and becomes an aunt to the camp and a close friend of Patroclus. she supports him, and respects him when he doesn't return her love. She is a gorgeous, powerful, female character, who tries her best to write her own destiny, and I love her. 

I have heard some amazing things about this book, and personally for me, it didn't live up to the hype, which was VERY high. It was still a very good book! I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to others. The writing style was lovely and engaging, and I really enjoyed that it was obviously written by a woman and it wasn't over-sexualised or sexist, as books written about Ancient Greece often can be. 
Overall, I really like this book and it was a fun read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Murder, Death, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Medical content, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Classism

Minor: Suicide attempt and Cursing

niamphoone's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Pregnancy, Genocide, Gore, Death, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Grief, and Medical content

Minor: Sexism, Self harm, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

honeyteags's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I have never cried over a book before. Such an enthralling and devastating love story. I am not usually one for history, but the pacing of the story and the historical details blend perfectly. Definitely recommended to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Murder, Grief, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gore, Rape, and War

Moderate: Medical content, Slavery, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

rtorrey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Blood, Cursing, Self harm, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War