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okgm 's review for:
The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a much needed re-read for me, as the first time I sat down with it I did NOT take my time. Miller is an excellent storyteller and gives a new life to a well-known tale, honestly, if it's not this then I don't want any other Greek retelling.
I thought that already having read this a few years back that I wouldn't cry as much, but it's hard not to when the story hits so close to home and is told in such a deeply moving way. When I finished this go round, I read the final lines at the train station, awaiting my way back to my childhood home: “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 of the sun.” As I began to weep into my palms, A WEDDING at the train station had come to a close and everyone at the station cheered for them. That divine timing made me want to throw up into my hands and clap.
“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. " MADELINE!!!! WHEN I CATCH YOU MADELINE!!!
Perhaps this is the one book I cannot write a good review for. Perhaps the book says it all. Read it, whether you a mythology head or not. Historic queer narratives, fate and longing for a new outcome, grief and love, joy and loss--this story. Fuck it, just go ahead and crack that book open.
I thought that already having read this a few years back that I wouldn't cry as much, but it's hard not to when the story hits so close to home and is told in such a deeply moving way. When I finished this go round, I read the final lines at the train station, awaiting my way back to my childhood home: “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 of the sun.” As I began to weep into my palms, A WEDDING at the train station had come to a close and everyone at the station cheered for them. That divine timing made me want to throw up into my hands and clap.
“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. " MADELINE!!!! WHEN I CATCH YOU MADELINE!!!
Perhaps this is the one book I cannot write a good review for. Perhaps the book says it all. Read it, whether you a mythology head or not. Historic queer narratives, fate and longing for a new outcome, grief and love, joy and loss--this story. Fuck it, just go ahead and crack that book open.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Murder, Abandonment, War
Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Outing