Review: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
New York Times Bestseller
A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War from the bestselling author of Circe
A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.
Review:
Dear Madeline Miller,
I first read your book maybe a year ago and recently reread bits and pieces of it to discuss at one of the book clubs I belong to.
To be clear, I read both the Illiad and the Odyssey years ago (in translation of course – in Russian). I thought about Achilles and Patroclus often enough and yes, I wanted them to survive the war and yes, I read fanfiction to find their happy ending. Of course, of course to me the Illiad is a masterpiece that survived centuries for a reason, but I am glad fanfiction exists too ;-).
So why did I write the above paragraph? Just to explain that I had been looking at this book for a couple of years prior to deciding to read it. Why? Simply because I knew how their story ends and I dreaded it. But once my good friend raved about how she loved the book, I decided that I just have to read it, cannot justify not doing it anymore.
I am very happy that I did. I loved the prose, I did not find it too flowery, but found myself captivated. I however read it for a couple of weeks, because every page was getting me closer to their ending.
It is indeed a fantastic retelling of the Illiad, all major events mentioned and quite a few looked at from the another angle. I found Patroclus a great narrator, even if sometimes a bit too modernized. And I am not too upset about it, because a modern writer wrote it and for the most part I believed in what was happening in the story, but for example Patroclus caring that much (platonically) about Briceus I did not buy at all. Just to be clear – I bought caring, he certainly did not need to be shown as abusive, but no, I did not buy that he would be that upset with Achilles for allowing Agamemnon to take her. I get that it made Patroclus even more compassionate person than he was, but for me it was too over the top.
I really liked that author showed them as children, it made their love story even more poignant and three dimensional to me.
I was not sure what I thought of Achilles’ mother in this interpretation. I mean she was very interesting. Spoiler
Spoiler: Show
The war being cruel and heartbreaking to young men, who just stopped being boys and forced to participate in it for this stupid reason just rang true to me.
I highly recommend, but do not anticipate rereading the story anytime soon. A
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I too loved this book and I adored Patroclus. However, I disagree about Patroclus and Briseis, in fact, it’s one of the things I remember most clearly and most fondly from the book. Patroclus did not love her as he loved Achilles, but I thought it was precisely because he did love Achilles that he tried to protect him from his own worst impulses. And just because Patroclus wasn’t sexually drawn to Briseis didn’t preclude him from kindness and compassion. Recently read Miller’s CIRCE for a book discussion group, should reread this, especially in light of the upcoming release of Christopher Nolan’s ODYSSEY – a totally different story but set in the same world.
@Susan/DC: @Susan/DC: Sorry I missed it. But what worst impulse though? Achilles did not abuse Brasses, he just did not care about Agamemnon taking her. I guess I am just not buying the degree of caring that Patroclus showed about that. I can absolutely see him being kind to Briceus himself, but demanding Achilles to interfere? Not really, not for that time. IMO of course. I should read Circe, how in line it is with what happens to her in Odyssey though? In the book, I have not watched the movie.
OMG and I butchered her name very badly too.
Achilles worst impulse was not to abuse Briseis directly but to not care that she would be destroyed when used as a pawn in the battle between him and Agamemnon. That battle would leave him consumed by pride and anger, withdrawn from the war, and I think Patroclus wanted to prevent Achilles from losing that internal battle and the Greeks from losing the war. Just my interpretation.
As for Miller’s Circe, she is a far more sympathetic character than in Homer’s Odyssey.