Scan barcode
A review by shivani_n
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
"i could recognize him by touch alone, by smell, i would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. i would know him in death, at the end of the world."
"but the memories well up like spring water, faster than i can hold them back. they do not come as words, but like dreams, rising as scent from the rain-wet earth. this, i say. this and this. the way his hair looked in summer sun. his face when he ran. his eyes, solemn as an owl at lessons. this and this and this. so many moments of happiness, crowding forward."
"i conjure the boy i knew. achilles, grinning as the figs blur in his hands. his green eyes laughing into mine. catch, he says. achilles, outlined against the sky, hanging from a branch over the river. the thick warmth of his sleepy breath against my ear. if you have to go, i will go with you. my fears forgotten in the golden harbour of his arms. the memories come, and come. she listens, staring into the grain of the stone. we are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both."
"but then i see the tomb, and the marks she has made on the stone. A C H I L L E S, it reads. and beside it, P A T R O C L U S. 'go,' she says. 'he waits for you.' in the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. their hands meet, and light spills in a flood, like a hundred golden urns pouring out the sun."
i actually have no words right now like i am genuinely speechless. holy shit this book is unlike anything i have ever read. i just finished it 5 minutes ago so everything is still so fresh and i feel so emotional. it's like that feeling where you want to cry but the tears just won't come. when i tell you this book through a JOURNEY bro i MEAN IT. first of all, it was an emotional journey just because of how sad it was but it's also happy at times and melancholy and god it just made me feel so much. secondly, because during the beginning i was enjoying it but not to a huge extent; i liked it but nothing was really happening plot-wise. then during the middle bit of the book it started to pick up and i was enjoying it more, i thought i was going to give it 4 stars, but then BOOM. THAT ENDING. oh my god. the last 50 or so pages of the book was what pushed it from a 4 to a 5 stars like holy shit. it truly shocked me to my core.. i'm going to be thinking about the last line of the book for months like i just know it. wow. the story of achilles and patroclus is one that all should be able to appreciate and i don't even know anything about greek mythology, yet i still loved it so much. i haven't read something that left me with such a heavy, aching feeling in my chest since i read the seven husbands of evelyn hugo. this book wholly beautiful and unforgettable❤️
"but the memories well up like spring water, faster than i can hold them back. they do not come as words, but like dreams, rising as scent from the rain-wet earth. this, i say. this and this. the way his hair looked in summer sun. his face when he ran. his eyes, solemn as an owl at lessons. this and this and this. so many moments of happiness, crowding forward."
"i conjure the boy i knew. achilles, grinning as the figs blur in his hands. his green eyes laughing into mine. catch, he says. achilles, outlined against the sky, hanging from a branch over the river. the thick warmth of his sleepy breath against my ear. if you have to go, i will go with you. my fears forgotten in the golden harbour of his arms. the memories come, and come. she listens, staring into the grain of the stone. we are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both."
"but then i see the tomb, and the marks she has made on the stone. A C H I L L E S, it reads. and beside it, P A T R O C L U S. 'go,' she says. 'he waits for you.' in the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. their hands meet, and light spills in a flood, like a hundred golden urns pouring out the sun."
i actually have no words right now like i am genuinely speechless. holy shit this book is unlike anything i have ever read. i just finished it 5 minutes ago so everything is still so fresh and i feel so emotional. it's like that feeling where you want to cry but the tears just won't come. when i tell you this book through a JOURNEY bro i MEAN IT. first of all, it was an emotional journey just because of how sad it was but it's also happy at times and melancholy and god it just made me feel so much. secondly, because during the beginning i was enjoying it but not to a huge extent; i liked it but nothing was really happening plot-wise. then during the middle bit of the book it started to pick up and i was enjoying it more, i thought i was going to give it 4 stars, but then BOOM. THAT ENDING. oh my god. the last 50 or so pages of the book was what pushed it from a 4 to a 5 stars like holy shit. it truly shocked me to my core.. i'm going to be thinking about the last line of the book for months like i just know it. wow. the story of achilles and patroclus is one that all should be able to appreciate and i don't even know anything about greek mythology, yet i still loved it so much. i haven't read something that left me with such a heavy, aching feeling in my chest since i read the seven husbands of evelyn hugo. this book wholly beautiful and unforgettable❤️