The Song of Achilles

I thought I'd never read this book in my life. Well, you heard it here first (not), never say never; thanks to my resurging obsession towards the classics and Hellenism. I was informed it reads like a fanfiction, and it does, but it didn't take away the enjoyment from me. Dare I say it rather piqued my interest more as I kept reading, informing me of the customs back then, if only in passing.

I knew how the story would go, how it would end, because by now who hasn't heard of Homer's epic poems? So I thought I wouldn't cry at the end. Wrong. My heart is wrung out and my tears got milked out of me, to the very last drop. Achilles wasn't the best, not with how the last years of the war dragged on, his pride was the very first priority of his until it hit him that it wasn't. He'd truly turned a blind eye on what actually mattered most to him, letting his beloved walk into his demise. I truly don't know what to say, every word I want to say is knocked out of me, I'm just lethargic. The prose sucked the energy out of me. A haunting piece of literature.

Patroclus didn't have much character development; I don't feel his chemistry with Achilles except as a friend. But the fantasy aspect is my favorite! Especially when they're on the adventure to the island, I like the mix of playfulness and seriousness.

started this book when i first got into mythology and i thought i was going to learn new things abt the trojan war... ended up crying over 2 gay dudes. even better

i studied latin back in school and my teacher always used to be like achilles was very very gay. whenever she brought up these two she was like they were totally into each other. back then i was like 12 and did not care about mythology or the illiad.

however, madeline miller’s retelling proved my teacher right. and wowwowowowowowow is this retelling amazing??? i sobbed my eyes out during the whole third act like wow. what a well written and beautifully told romantic tragedy. my favorite part is how miller was able to convey the relationship between achilles and patroclus. she never went to great detail of their relationship and they never tell each other i love you. but in the small interactions and descriptions miller gives you can see and feel the love between them which was just so nice and it just made me want to hope for the best for them, even though i sadly knew how this tale was going to end.

anyway highly recommend, if madeline miller was around when i was 12, i would have liked the illiad and been more interested in my latin studies lol.

reread. phenomenal as ever.

maybe i am too nitpicky, but the author could’ve done so much more with this plot. now it’s just drawn out and boring....

this book has a lot of flaws. some would say the one dimensional depiction of the characters, the "lack of realism" concerning the formation and development of the main relationship between the two boys, how drawn out this book is; all of those are excusable and even defendable to me. the only glaring flaw that does tick me off is the pretty lazy and immature disregard for characters, especially female, and their role in patroclus and achilles' story; relegated to villains or side characters, when in the original myths they mean so much more, not just to the narrative, but also the boys. also just how the boys are scrubbed clean of any moral ambiguity or cruelty they themselves had in order to be more palatable to modern readers. there is a certain shallowness to the characters, and a noticeable separation from the canon it's sourced from (which isn't really a bad thing).

but, in my eyes, that's all nitpicky. i truly love this book, i will never be too well read or mature to not love this book, it was the first book i ever bought with my own money, it holds a special place in my heart. i will always feel a lot of strong, warm emotions while reading it, and i can't change that. i don't want to change that.

one of the books that i wish i could read again like it's the first time 😭 truly truly in love with this book

a thesaurus has more plot and movement than this. just thinking about this book pisses me off. every person who recced me this book is going straight to hell, or should be forced to sit at the 55% mark where i dnfed, which might be twice as torturously awful.

I didn’t really get into this book as much as I thought but I thought it was beautifully written. A few moments were dragged out for me, but wanted to finish this for a friend!

Not what I expected, but very beautiful

loved the beginning, felt like the end flopped. the helplessness of watching achilles lose himself could've been written more engagingly

It was good but not THAT good that it kept my attention - took me a month and really just finished it to move on to the next one.

Beautifully written.

The representation of how women got mistreated again and again makes me hate the book but then i remember, it's accurate to how females got treated. No matter if a mere maid or goddess. But that's not what the book is about.

Nice story, but I'm not sure I'd read anything from this author again. Seemed very long and drawn out.

saaaddddddddddd asf

this ruined me in the absolute best way

i love madeline miller, and cried uncontrollably into the entire last third of the book

Bellísimo.

don’t kill me, but this book is boring. it has so much potential too which is the shitty part but jeez louise.

** spoiler alert ** This wasn’t just a book. It was a punch to the soul… “The Song of Achilles” left me utterly heartbroken. As I went through each chapter, I found myself completely drawn to the tragic story of Achilles and Patroclus… I even found myself going through myths and legends of the ancient Greeks just to grasp some more of their story. I kept trying to search for answers — where did the legend end and the myth began? Nevertheless, with Miller’s writing, I felt it all; Achilles and Patroclus’ love and their pain at the end, like it was my own. The author pulled me in from the beginning. Reached into my chest and squeezed my heart with every damn word in this book. I bow down to this talent, the skill to create such beauty. The whole book is so lyrical, so evocative. It immerses you in ancient times when gods and mortals walked the earth, side by side. The characters were so well-portrayed. Miller painted a vivid image in my head of these legendary figures while breathing new life into their story. Each word is carefully chosen, each sentence heavy with meaning. Through Patroclus’ perspective, we witness the unfolding of events, from his fragile childhood moments to the hectic years of the Trojan War. And through his eyes we see Achilles. New, retold. We get to know the Achilles that he, himself, could have shown only to his most dear companion. “I would know him in death, at the end of the world.” Miller captures Achilles’ skill on the battlefield, yet she goes further, delving into the depths of his humanity through the eyes of Patroclus. Their relationship unfolds before us, a tender yet tragic tale that defies the constraints of time and fate. Through Patroclus’ eyes, we witness Achilles’ vulnerabilities, his moments of doubt and kindness amidst the bloodshed of war. “He is a weapon, a killer. Do not forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.” But Patroclus, the overlooked companion, whose devotion to Achilles is what defines him, is the heart and soul of this story. His words draw you into a world of love and the fear of loss, where the weight of destiny hangs heavy over every decision. “I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me. If I had had words to speak such a thing, I would have. But there were none that seemed big enough for it, to hold that swelling truth. As if he had heard me, he reached for my hand. I did not need to look; his fingers were etched into my memory, slender and petal-veined, strong and quick and never wrong. “Patroclus,” he said. He was always better with words than I.” And perhaps what hurt the most was that you know. You know what happens. You know how it ends. With every next chapter, I hoped it doesn’t end like “The Iliad” does. I thought if Miller changed so much, she might have changed this, too. Of course, she wouldn’t. That’s what made this story so gut-wrenching and so beautiful. But at least the end did them some justice… “I have done it,” she says. At first I do not understand. 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 of the sun.” Yes, that ending was everything.

top 5 books

cried

I was never interested in Greek mythology before, and never read Homer works nor any other works related to it, so it was with a huge doubt that I picked this book, half expecting that I would not be able to finish the book. On the contrary, I found that I loved reading it, it was a real page-turner and it took me through the journey of Patroclus and Achilles and the whole Trojan war as in Illiad. Now I am looking forward to reading Circe.