The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction
Maturity Rating: 5
View on Goodreads
Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their difference, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper – despite the displeasure of Achilles’ mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess.
But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.
The Song of Achilles was just so completely different from what I was expecting that I’m not even really sure how to review it. I wasn’t expecting a love story AT ALL, but that’s essentially what the book was. I suppose if I was better versed in Greek History I wouldn’t have been surprised, or if I was any good at reading a synopsis properly, lol.
I feel like it’s impossible to talk about this book without mentioning how beautiful the writing was. This is a book that is easy to get swept away by, and is enchanting in its simplicity. I loved how smoothly everything flowed, and Miller didn’t feel the need to get bogged down in OTHER stuff.
As far as this version of Achilles goes, it wasn’t my favorite, though it was certainly closest to The Illiad that I’ve seen. At least, as far as I can tell from reading the Cliffs Notes. I haven’t read The Illiad in about ten years, maybe more, and it’s a dense book. Lots to forget. But I felt that, for a hero, Achilles was a little too … gentle. Princely. Perfect. The Greek heroes are wonderful for their flaws, but this version of Achilles was nearly flawless for the first 2/3 of the novel. Then they got to Troy and all of the sudden he completely changed. He went from being a soft-spoken, tender-hearted musician to a short-tempered, rage-a-holic killing machine in the blink of an eye. I suppose doing nothing but killing people every day for 10 years will do that to a person, but Miller didn’t really show that character development happening. And once Achilles finally became the quintessential flawed Greek hero, we didn’t get to enjoy that for very long before the story was over.
Now, I did enjoy the way other other heroes and kings were portrayed. I especially enjoyed this version of Odysseus, and how his cunning is clearly a gift of almost supernatural proportions, but how he wasn’t just a “good guy”. I loved Agamemnon, and how clearly he was in Troy for all of the wrong reasons. Miller also makes it clear, the way most good re-tellings do, that he was a terrible king and that the Greeks would have been better off following almost anyone else. And Achilles’ son was deliciously terrible.
I haven’t addressed the bulk of the story at all, which was the romance, for 2 reasons. The first being because it just wasn’t what I was looking for in this book, and I’m still a little in shock to know what to say. The second being that I’m not sure how to talk about a homosexual romance with a critical eye without coming across like I’m criticizing homosexuality. I’ll leave my comments at a short sentence, I suppose. It was a beautifully-written romance, but a little too sweeping-perfect-soul-mates-never-fighting-ideal for me.
Its easy to see why this book was so well-beloved when it was first published. I’m really glad that I read it, and it completely whet my appetite for more Greek re-tellings. (Full disclosure, I watched the movie Troy the next night in an attempt to satisfy this craving, lol.) If anyone has any suggestions for something similar, I would LOVE to hear them!
Advertisements Share this:
