Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

87 reviews

jenna2234's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was one of my favorite books of the year. Madeline Miller is definitely one of my new favorite authors. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Child abuse, War, Abandonment, Rape, Blood, Death, Murder, and Slavery

wintah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense slow-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? No

3.0

good bood, good story, super sad last chapters that had me absolutely weeping, but sadly didn't really catch me or held me captive, personally didn't love the writing style, simply didn't keep me hooked eventhough it's a good book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gore, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Slavery, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

ankiaisreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, Violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, War, Pregnancy, Outing, Kidnapping, Incest, Genocide, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Sexual content

Moderate: Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Death, Homophobia, Gore, Emotional abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Genocide, Child abuse, and Bullying

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

kyrakaw'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

4.75

Absolutely beautiful writing by Madeleine Miller. I would love to see more from her!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Animal death, War, and Genocide

Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Rape, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Slavery, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment, Child death, and Death of parent

ashwaar's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I will admit that I think it’s tough to successfully write a mythological retelling. Most of these stories are tragedies, with characters that are stubborn, ill-fated or downright psychotic. As a result, it was hard for me to connect with or find sympathy for either Patroclus or Achilles in Madeline Miller’s ‘The Song of Achilles’.

The story, as you can probably tell, follows Achilles, the child of King Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis. Achilles is referred to as the greatest of all the Greek warriors and is known for his role in Trojan War. Miller retells the relationship between Achilles and his companion Patroclus, from their meeting in his father’s palace to their education with Chiron and their participation (or lack of) in the siege of Troy.

I love mythological stories, and I enjoyed Circe, which was written by the same author. But that novel showed the reader a different version of a well-known tale. I feel that The Song of Achilles just retells what we already know but with more focus on the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles. And I don’t think it’s a very good relationship.

Patroclus worships Achilles from a young age and you never really know how Achilles sees Patroclus, because the story is all told from the former's point of view. If Patroclus sees Achilles as a god (which he essentially is), you as a reader don’t see any other side of him. He feels untouchable and, as a result, incredibly distant and unsympathetic. I didn’t feel any connection to either of these characters throughout the whole novel, because there is no actual exploration of their relationship, or who they are as individuals.

I understand it’s hard to achieve this emotional integrity whilst also hitting the same beats as the original myth. But it just didn’t work for me. These characters felt so distant from actual people and their roles in the story were so rigid, I couldn’t understand or connect with them.

Read more on Wordpress at Bookmarked by Ash: https://book990337086.wordpress.com/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, War, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Murder, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy

i_am_tilde's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Death, Sexual violence, Blood, Violence, Rape, and War

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Trafficking, Torture, and Self harm

Minor: Animal death

addienoah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

This book was a slow start but once it got Achilles introduced I was captivated. And it just kept getting better and playing out every scene in my head while reading brought them to life. This was very well written and the characters were so interesting. Even after Protroclus died, he still narrated and the ending with Thetis brought me to tears. 
I finished this in a short period of time because I am a fast reader that frequently reads. But I considered this a slow read because of how long it felt. Each page you had to pay attention and digest. The language was something you also had to adjust to. In all this was a medium read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gore, Pregnancy, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Slavery, War, Confinement, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Torture, Hate crime, and Physical abuse

gabriella_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

“I thought, This is what Achilles will feel like when he is old. And then I remembered: he will never be old.”

I have never read a love story convey so much closeness. Even the physical gap between their bodies must have been too much distance for them to bear.

The prose reads like poetry. The story was incredibly satisfying and kept my interest. I got teary-eyed a few times. This is a story where two characters dare to love in a world where marrying for love is an outlier.

Odysseus was the only other person who was truly in love in this book?

I am at a loss for words for how beautiful this story was. It has renewed my interest in Greek Mythos, which is a tough task.

“Patroclus, I have given enough to them. I will not give them this.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Alcohol, Animal death, Pregnancy, Murder, Child death, Medical content, Torture, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Death, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, War, Blood, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Outing, and Violence

kpraetori's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Good book, well written, great that it follows the characters from upbringing to death instead of just the height of war, and there are nice of little details, foreshadowing, etc. It is enjoyable to read and I would rate it higher if this sub-genre was my cup of tea

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Torture, Sexual content, Sexism, and Violence