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A review by brennieree33
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Holy shit, this book was written so beautifully. Patroclus was such an amazing character to follow, and I loved his story. Miller did such a great job with the character work and her writing was beautiful. She gave so much life to this tragic tale.
- I loved Miller's take on Patroclus. He was so kind and gentle. I love that he is a healer rather than a fighter. I loved his friendship with Briseis. A lovely take.
- I really started to not really like Achilles by the end, but I still understand him. I understand his death. When Patroclus speaks of his muscles betraying him when he just wanted to die, I felt that to my core as a person who has tried to self-harm before, but been held back by the self-preservation instinct
- I loved Thetis. She is so much more complex of a character and I LOVE her portrayal. She is a goddess, but she's also a woma broken. She wants her assault to mean something. And she'll do anything for that to happen. And in the end, she allows Patroclus to see Achilles again.
- I love the idea that a person needs to be remembered or else they will be tied to their ashes. I might just be hiding under a rock, but I've never encountered that before. I think that's super interesting and I loved it.
- I think it's very interesting that Achilles doesn't get the River Styx treatment and that he's shot through the chest, not in the heel. That little deviation stuck out to me.
- I honestly like that for a story that revolves so much around the gods, they don't really appear much, apart from Thetis. I like how they're just these puppetmasters.
- I love Briseis' character. I was very interested as to how she was going to play into this tale. And I LOVED her. She had such a sweet relationship with Patroclus and I love how she made him have to think about things. I also love the way Miller wrote the difference in grief between Briseis and Achilles. They both loved him and feel very differently. I think that was very well done.
- I really appreciate how Miller talks about masturbation in this book, as well as the shame that can accompany it. Masturbation, let alone MALE masturbation, is so rarely talked about in this light and I am so grateful that she chose to talk about it, even for a few sentences.
Rep: gay
- I loved Miller's take on Patroclus. He was so kind and gentle. I love that he is a healer rather than a fighter. I loved his friendship with Briseis. A lovely take.
- I really started to not really like Achilles by the end, but I still understand him. I understand his death. When Patroclus speaks of his muscles betraying him when he just wanted to die, I felt that to my core as a person who has tried to self-harm before, but been held back by the self-preservation instinct
- I loved Thetis. She is so much more complex of a character and I LOVE her portrayal. She is a goddess, but she's also a woma broken. She wants her assault to mean something. And she'll do anything for that to happen. And in the end, she allows Patroclus to see Achilles again.
- I love the idea that a person needs to be remembered or else they will be tied to their ashes. I might just be hiding under a rock, but I've never encountered that before. I think that's super interesting and I loved it.
- I think it's very interesting that Achilles doesn't get the River Styx treatment and that he's shot through the chest, not in the heel. That little deviation stuck out to me.
- I honestly like that for a story that revolves so much around the gods, they don't really appear much, apart from Thetis. I like how they're just these puppetmasters.
- I love Briseis' character. I was very interested as to how she was going to play into this tale. And I LOVED her. She had such a sweet relationship with Patroclus and I love how she made him have to think about things. I also love the way Miller wrote the difference in grief between Briseis and Achilles. They both loved him and feel very differently. I think that was very well done.
- I really appreciate how Miller talks about masturbation in this book, as well as the shame that can accompany it. Masturbation, let alone MALE masturbation, is so rarely talked about in this light and I am so grateful that she chose to talk about it, even for a few sentences.
Rep: gay