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A review by tasto777
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
wow. this book got to me more than i thought it would.
i picked the audio book up because the book was in my recommended, it was said to be about a gay romance and i had seen people praise it before on social media. i was not really familiar with the myth of Achilles and Patroclus before but i knew a bit from the story about Alexander the Great and him comparing his and Hephaistions relationship to the former two's.
there were parts in the book where i was a bit bored and zoned out just listening to the narrator as background noise. but i think that's okay i listened to a lot of audio books and didn't expect full concentration on this.
i liked the part where they were at the centaurs the most because it felt so light and just beautiful. the whole troy thing bored me more. but i know it is just part of the myth and it was well written after all. the way they had to face their responsabilities after their escape into the mountains hurt but it was absolutely apropriate. it was interesting to see them face a sort of homophobia then and how they worked with it (i know it's not really possible to apply our modern termes onto ancient stories but i think it descibes it best for my purposes) differentiating the childish interest in same sex experience to their own desire for each other that the other men show for women. it felt really natural how this was described.
the ending of the book is really heart wrenching. how Achilles' own son does not want to hear about what his father would have wanted and who he loved. how he ignored all his wishes just so Achilles wouldn't be dragged down in his honour by being buried with Patroclus. i really enjoyed how the growth (kind of) of Odysseus was shown as he was trying to change the mind of Achilles's son. and the growth of Achilles's mother as she had to realize her son is dead and she wanted him to be remembered but he wouldn't be remembered for something he was if she did't changed the tombstone and the engraving. he was not just the fighter he was born to be but a caring human.
Patroclus stayed a bit blunt during the whole book but since he is the ine telling the story and experiencing it we don't need too much from him. standing up to Achilles a to do the right thing was a nice thing to see from him though.
tl:dr
would i recommend this book?
yes. just yes. to all the lovers of greek mythology or lgbt books and those who want to look into either of those. it is a beautiful story very beautifully written and you don't need any knowledge of greek mythology to understand this book. it tells you all you need to know for the story.
i picked the audio book up because the book was in my recommended, it was said to be about a gay romance and i had seen people praise it before on social media. i was not really familiar with the myth of Achilles and Patroclus before but i knew a bit from the story about Alexander the Great and him comparing his and Hephaistions relationship to the former two's.
there were parts in the book where i was a bit bored and zoned out just listening to the narrator as background noise. but i think that's okay i listened to a lot of audio books and didn't expect full concentration on this.
i liked the part where they were at the centaurs the most because it felt so light and just beautiful. the whole troy thing bored me more. but i know it is just part of the myth and it was well written after all. the way they had to face their responsabilities after their escape into the mountains hurt but it was absolutely apropriate. it was interesting to see them face a sort of homophobia then and how they worked with it (i know it's not really possible to apply our modern termes onto ancient stories but i think it descibes it best for my purposes) differentiating the childish interest in same sex experience to their own desire for each other that the other men show for women. it felt really natural how this was described.
Patroclus stayed a bit blunt during the whole book but since he is the ine telling the story and experiencing it we don't need too much from him. standing up to Achilles a to do the right thing was a nice thing to see from him though.
tl:dr
would i recommend this book?
yes. just yes. to all the lovers of greek mythology or lgbt books and those who want to look into either of those. it is a beautiful story very beautifully written and you don't need any knowledge of greek mythology to understand this book. it tells you all you need to know for the story.