The Song of Achilles
Ratings1,548
Average rating4.3
The whole book was so poetic. It's like a song singing in the back of your head.
This book made me so sad. This is my second book diving into Greek mythology, and oh my god was it full of fate.
I teared up towards the end. The book is written so well each line feels so poetic, it was amazing to listen to.
Props to Frazer Douglas, the narrator of the audiobook. This is the best audiobook I've ever listened to! The voice acting was phenomenal, I was instantly pulled into this world watching Patroclus and Achilles grow up together. The emotion was absolutely riveting. This is a prime example of what great audiobooks sound like! It was theatrical, dramatic, NOT CORNY!! What a slay, Frazer Douglas!
I spent 90% of this book thinking about the movie Troy. I think the audiobook narrator did too. He was TOTALLY doing a Sean Bean impression for Odysseus.
Anyway, this book was tactile, earthy, rich. My book club went on and on about how the writing was sub-par but they are VERY WRONG, I loved this writing. It was like mid-2000s fanfic. In fact, I even started to suspect that Madeline Miller was a livejournal fanfic author I was reading in the mid-2000s, post-Troy, post-LOTR fannish euphoria: QueenOfThorns, is that you???
Super fun. I love these big, bombastic, heroic legends brought down to (fanfic) human size. This was great.
Name one hero who was happy...They Never let you be famous AND happy... I'm going to be the first
I had a good time with this one. I think the best choice that Miller makes is definitely centering the book on Patroclus rather than Achilles. Doing so means we get this lack of understanding of Achilles himself which results in a sense of otherness from him giving him that feeling of being “more than” and slightly above humans like Patroclus. This choice did surprise me at first as I had assumed it would’ve been from Achilles POV and then towards the last few chapters was surprised that we stuck with the Patroclus POV.
Another benefit to the focus on Patroclus for me was that when you get to the section of the book that focuses on the battle of Troy, it’s a lot more grounded and smaller scale that you’d expect, focusing more on individuals at camp rather than the battle itself which I appreciated.
Following the stubbornness of Achilles and watching him struggle with the idea of his death and being remembered could be frustrating at times but you always understood where is was coming from and it kept things compelling throughout for me.
It’s impressive just how quickly Miller was able to make me hate Pyrrhus though. Pops up for the last chapter or two and is insufferable the whole time.
I read this book, after many years of not actively reading, on a train and a plane and something about the journey I was taking aligned with the journey of this book. I was at equal parts joyous, filled with tension, heart wrenching sadness, and grief. This book deserves all the praise it has ever been given and I will read whatever Madeline Miller gifts to us.
This is just one of the most beautiful books ever written.
It's amazing how the characters are so far away from our world yet so relatable. Patroclus paints such a real portrait of not fitting into society and finding his own footing. Achilles's character talks about the implications of pride, ego and the extent of honour.
Together they depict such a heartbreakingly beautiful love story.
I don't know anything about Greek mythology, but having read this and then doing some research, I feel like I have connected with this story and it's so accessible.
This is a book that I know will not leave me for a long time.
I literally have a quote from this book tattooed on my body, it’s an absolutely incredible read
4.5 stars seems like a good number.
I have just spent like half an hour trying to quench any tears that could fall so I didn't cry on the bus. I hate how Patroclus never got any peace for like a year, I hate Achilles' bratty child. Like you're twelve, go sit down and play with some toys or something. I loved Thetis' arc once she spent time with Patroclus and looked into his memories and finally realised what Achilles spent most of his life trying to tell her.
I most of all love how this book was written, it gave us the childhood of Patroclus and then moved into his friendship with Achilles that morphed into something more, finally ending on irony. While Patroclus was never meant to amount to anything, he did in a way. He killed the 2nd best warrior on the Trojan side and took up Achilles' role perfectly until the unavoidable. He was the one in the prophecy, the best of the Myrmidons.
Achilles was numb to death, utterly numb until he saw Patroclus and then he was fed on revenge. He was never meant to be a killer, not all warriors are it seems. His mortality, his love, was enough to hold him back until it was the only driving force. But then, here comes the ironic part, it was prophecised that he would die yet he didn't want to until Patroclus died. Once Hector was killed, he fought only to die.
This book came through on my Library hold at the same time i was reading Terraformers. So i parallel read them, and even though i might have thought that a historical love story be less gripping than SciFI, i found myself coming back to this more often. My recollection of the Illiad is very poor so I cannot judge if the characters are similar but i found them well developed and interesting.
Adored this. First time reading anything involving a gay love story (a strange realization) and enjoyed the lack of stereotype or expectation. Bonus of learning a lot about Greek mythology! Highly recommend.
ну, цирцея мне понравилась значительно больше. а это такой фанфик. но конец вполне слезодавительный.
Gorgeously written. The prose is sparse yet beautiful. The story itself was a bit disappointing. The author tries to give a new an interesting spin on the classic legend but it fell mostly flat for me despite a strong opening. Three stars mostly on the strength of the prose.
Eh. It wasn't what i expected going into a tale of greek classics. I was really disillusioned by the tonal clashing in this book. There is this mixture of very flowery romantic prose combined with classical greek themes. The myths are so streamlined in the entire book in the favour of the romance that it feels like Achilles and Patroclus are mere names and not the legends that people have reading about for millenias. I really wanted the richness of the story not just the romance. Even Patroclus's love and devotion for Achilles which is sublime works against the narrative in the second half because the destruction that Achille's actions cause are even more devastating as we have only been seeing him through that lens. There is something just a tiny bit wrong with the authorial choices in this book. Even judging it as a solo existence book, it does not live up to the hype.
More like 3.5 stars - for all the criticism male writers get about describing women, this whole relationship between Patroclus and Achilles felt the same
Also Achilles has a personality that of a non-stick pan throughout
Great intro and great ending, but the middle is so stagnant
This book was a gift from a friend and it is in my definitely part of my top list! So beautifully written, it made my heart break. I loved how this story gives Patroclus a voice. I've been thinking that this book is the “Heartstopper” of Greek mythology. Even though it is based on a genre of ancient folklore and the dialogues are a bit far from modern, it is very light reading and enjoyable. I know that for people that have read the Iliad, some characters might've not been portrayed equally. But I feel like the idea of the writer was to show the vulnerability that emanates from them accepting their feelings. I would 100% recommend it!
É estranho. Eu não chorei, nem sei por mim emocionada com este livro.
Mas consigo perceber porque é que tantas pessoas choraram, porque é que tem a reputação de arruinar os seus leitores através da dor.
Este livro é maravilhoso. E a forma como a autora ligou diferentes lendas e diferentes figuras, sem nunca se desviar daquilo que é o centro desta história - o amor -, é incrível. A presença de personagens femininas fortes também foi apreciada. Elas podem não ser as protagonistas, mas elas estavam sempre lá a fazê-los mexerem-se.
A escrita é realmente deliciosa. De uma delicadeza incrível, mas limpa. A autora não precisou de recorrer a estruturas confusas nem a vocabulário exuberante para conseguir soar lírica. É fácil de ler, mas encantador.
Talvez “A Little Life” me tenha estragado e por isso é que eu tive a emoção de uma colher de chá enquanto o lia - mesmo estando investida na história, nos personagens, no livro -, ou talvez eu não tenha lido o livro no momento certo. O que importa, contudo, é que acho que ele é fabuloso e merece todo o apreço que recebe.
original review was 5 stars....but after a month or so I'm downgrading it to 4. I did enjoy this book quite a bit, it just hasn't stuck with me as much as I've expected it to.
I was a little worried about the choice of Patroclus as narrator (especially near the end cause I fucking hate dead narrators) but it was low-key genius and definitely the right choice.
This book really wasn't for me. I did enjoy the writing but I found myself bored with a lot of the story. I enjoyed the bit about Chiron but the entire war felt empty and vague
I'm not a fan of Patroclus and Achilles relationship because Achilles treats him so poorly. Once again a Greek hero plagued by his own hubris. Poor Patroclus never deserved what happened to him, that's what I'm sad about
Achilles mi po celou dobu přišel dost nesympatický, v závěru obzvlášť. Mimo to se však jednalo o dost příjemné čtení.
Appreciated the linear, somewhat simple flow and quick pace from the beginning. It is also a fast and easy read while also being very well written with good detail. It works really well from the first-person POV and the foundation that this is mainly a love story is established quite quickly, so interested to see where acts two and three head. Definitely some romance novel-esque prose to parts of it, but it also works within the context of the Kings and Gods backdrop and is not overdone. Good enough plot that unfolds, if not a bit predictable, but the escalation and small ‘left turns' worked well in the last 100 pages.