Madeline Miller heeft de klassieker Ilias opnieuw vormgegeven in een eigentijdse, spannende roman.

i'm so glad they got reunited in the end because if not i would've turned into achilles

also my girl briseis deserved better ( )

Beautifully retold

Loved the ending. Loved the writing. Well done retelling. Such an old story made new for our times. Highly recommend. ( )

five stars all the way. one of the best books I have read in years. ( )

My god.

I remember reading the Iliad. I remember thinking "Achilles was an asshole, he deserved it." The way this book describes the life of Achilles and Patroclus destroyed me.

Reading this story felt like a tragedy, and the story really leaned in to this, which made the story so much better. Seeing how Achilles reacted to the death of Iphigenia destroyed me, since I knew what would follow. Reading "What has Hector ever done to me?" hurt so much. Reading how Briseis called Patroclus "Best of the Myrmidons." just told me what I already knew. The tragedy serves the story greatly.

The book captures the way Greece was in the period of the Trojan War. The depiction of homosexuality was accurate, the way they thought about Troy was historically accurate, the use of certain words felt right. This book captures the culture of ancient Greece very well.

I absolutely loved this book, I'd recommend this to anyone who is even slightly interested in ancient Greece. ( )

This is a beautiful book that I can wholeheartedly recommend. My motivation wavered for the first few months of reading this, and I took a hiatus from reading for a while. Although the start of the book is slower than the end, this isn't what I blame for the lack of motivation - my mental health flared into a mess over the summer, and when that slowly improved and I picked the book up again, I tore through the second half.

Patroclus' voice is wonderful, very grounded for much of the book but lyrical in its feel, particularly as he describes Achilles, and the reader very much is swept up with him, both in his appreciation for Achilles and his struggles with the conflict at the core of the piece.

I appreciated the subtle nod to the Odyssey at the end with Odysseus' speech to Pyrrhus asking him to honor Patroclus on Achilles' grave. Odysseus mentioning that, by virtue of the randomness of human memory, he may be more famous than Pyrrhus despite Pyrrhus being the greatest of the Greeks after Achilles' death and Pyrrhus being the one to sack Troy and kill Priam. Who knows about Pyrrhus without being a Greek nerd? Whereas on the other side of things, Odysseus' story has seeped into the public conscience much further, with things like Polyphemus, "Nobody," Calypso, and the island of the lotus-eaters all known to various degrees.

This book is what I will recommend to anybody who read Percy Jackson and ended up a disaster bisexual. Four stars. ( )

I have read this book and have listened to it. I LOVED the beginning of this book. I really got sucked into their relationship and how they were sent around. How Achilles dressed as a girl to protect himself from going to war. The relationship with his mother, the god. I took off a star because more of personal preference. Once we got into the war, I feel like the story slowed down a little bit for me. I read the beginning of the book and then did the audiobook for the rest, so maybe that had something to do with it? There were more characters and more fighting. And more to keep track of. SPOILER: A lot of people said they cried at the end and yes, they both died, but maybe I just wasn't as sucked in that it just didn't hit me emotionally. If I was more into war/mythology maybe I would've liked this more? Or at least the end. I was really into about 2/3 of the book. ( )

https://shawjonathan.com/2024/11/02/madeline-millers-song-of-achilles-and-novemb... ( )

This is not so much the Song of Achilles as the Lament of Patroclus. I struggled through the first half because Patroclus, the 1st person POV character, was really not all that interesting. But the moment we get to the Trojan War, he becomes a person in his own right (rather than someone mooning over his Achilles). That's when it got better and better.

Of course, I had to read till the end to figure out what the author does when her 1st person POV character dies. Will the POV shift to Achilles at last? We really haven't learned much about him through the entire book, save that he's beautiful and god-like. Or will it become 3rd person omniscient?

What the author actually did after P dies was totally unexpected. Beautifully done. Worth the struggle over the first half. Just wish the earlier bits had been condensed so the reader can get to the good part earlier.

A Thousand Ships is a better re-telling of the Trojan War, wider in scope, deeper in character -- a banquet. Song of Achilles (Lament of Patroclus), on the other hand, is a deep dive into one relationship, and as such, is done well, even beautifully in places -- a bittersweet dessert. I'm glad I got to read both. ( )

Me enamoré desde el primer momento de lo frágil que es Patroclo (es que apenas el libro comenzó ya yo estaba obsesionada). Algo que me llama la atención es que, si bien el libro es ficción, mantiene detalles propios de La llíada (por ejemplo la plaga que envía Apolo a causa del ultraje de Agamenón). Me gustó cómo resumieron los diez años de guerra en Troya y como, tras la muerte de Patroclo, este sigue narrado lo que acontece. Sin embargo, el tratamiento que se le da a Briseida no me gustó mucho ya que me pareció un personaje un poco forzado.

En sí, la novela es bastante fiel en
cuanto a los mitos griegos se refiere. A
excepción de algunas oportunidades. Un
ejemplo de esto se tiene cuando se menciona una túnica púrpura. Este color era destinado a los dioses solamente.De hecho, en la conocida Orestíada de Esquilo, se puede apreciar que Agamenón peca de hybris precisamente por caminar sobre una
alfombra de este color. Fuera de esto, son algunos otros pocos detalles, pero nada alarmante.

Los invito a añadirlo a sus lecturas de
vacaciones. ( )

listened to the audiobook edition -- narrator was great. story was, for me, just okay. i think it's a case of too high expectations, even thought I tried to tamper them. i own the paper copy so may give it another go some other time. ( )

A beautiful retelling of the story of Achilles and Patroclus. I meet books like this one and wish I had read them some years ago as a teenager when the little I read of queerness was of eternal condemnation in religious education books but here I am and I guess that we met after all is most important.

Madeline Miller tells the story from Patroculus' point of view with a lyrical simplicity that wrings the heart. From their meeting to the end, I traveled with the lovers through ancient Greece to Troy. I appreciate the simple yet thorough storytelling Miller took with the book so that even those that may not have read or are not familiar with this story or the characters are not lost. ( )

This book was not my type of book. I didn't really like Achilles as a character. ( )

After finishing this, I can conclude that I might not have a heart because this book made me feel nothing.

I don't know. It was beautifully written, and the ending had me pretty gripped with the tension and action. I was just quite bored most of the time though. Patroclus and Achilles both felt very bland to me until the end of the book which I think is why. If I had been more engaged with them and cared about their relationship more, then I reckon I'd have loved it.

3 stars purely because again, it was written so beautifully - I've ended up highlighting a lot of things that sound lovely as standalone quotes. ( )

I've read reviews for this one that seem to love it or absolutely hate it. For me, this is a beautifully written novel and a story about friendship that grows into love. I don't really care if Achilles was gay or not, or how accurate it is to classical literature and mythology, because it doesn't matter. This isn't a literary criticism class and, quite frankly, it doesn't matter if it fits into the the existing story of who Achilles and Patroclues were. This is a new look at an old tale, and Madeline Miller did a fantastic job making it something compelling and worth reading.

Well done. ( )

DNF halfway through, found it tedious and so boring. ( )

Circe me encanto, este no tanto.
Entiendo que este es el primero y que quizá debería esperar que la autora ha mejorado con el tiempo, o sea que Circe es naturalmente mejor.
Aun asi, me pareció un poco lento a veces, quizá es porque conozco la historia de Aquiles bastante bien y aunque me encanta ver a Odiseo por ahi, ya se lo que va a pasar y sin la incertidumbre todo parece que pasa mas lento.

Entiendo que a mucha gente le encante, comprendo que es un buen libro y lo recomendaría a otros, pero no ha sido para mi. ( )

'The Song of Achilles' is a beautiful tribute to 'The Iliad', narrated by Patroclus. It reminded me of being sixteen, studying 'The Iliad' at school, and getting drawn into its epic grandeur and tragedy. Patroclus was my favourite character then and I never believed my teacher's protestations that he and Achilles were "just really good friends". My sixteen year old self would have adored this book, which does justice to their love story. My current self enjoyed it enough to read it in a single evening.

Miller writes elegantly and movingly. Achilles remains something of an enigma throughout, as befits a half-god burdened with a heroic destiny. As ever, Odysseus is witty and memorable. (I appreciate the cunning of Odysseus more and more as I get older.) Patroclus himself is at times sentimental, but not excessively so. I liked the sympathetic depiction of his relationship with Briseus. The inevitable tragic denouement is well done and the novel's ending felt true to the spirit of 'The Iliad'. Perhaps the highest praise I can give this novel is that it re-awakened my desire to re-read Homer's epic. "Sing muse, of the anger of Achilles son of Peleus..." ( )

If I tell you that I read a book named "The Song of Achilles", you might think it's a story containing Greek Mythology and/or Kings & Gods and/or Fighting for Honour and/or a great mythological storyline. Well, you're right; the book does have all these. But above all, The Song of Achilles is the story of true love.

As the title suggests, the story is built around the famous Greek warrior, Achilles. However, the perspective that reveals Achilles to us is that of Patroclus, the narrator. (I shan't speak much more on this because I don't wish to reveal any spoiler here.) Patroclus' narrative style partly reminded me of Shams of Tabriz from "The Forty Rules of Love". His love is real but not blind. His narrative stays loyal and yet doesn't hide Achilles' flaws.

Madeline Miller uses the story of Achilles and the infamous Trojan war to weave a mesmerising and compelling book. At the start, I felt like this was the Greek myth version of what Amish did with his Shiva trilogy: taking a God and creating a story about his life that intermingles legend and creative license to build a perfect narrative. But as I progressed through the book, the Shiva trilogy seemed to fall further and further behind in quality. This book is much more gripping and doesn't lose its focus by adding unnecessary details or characters.

Of course, this book wasn't entirely a comfortable read. There were many, many scenes where I was squirming with discomfort, almost as if I were actually there on site, watching the occurrence. Some of the details, especially regarding sacrifices and the subjugation of women were torturous to read. But then again, Greek mythology is replete with such stories, so I should have been better prepared mentally. My fault entirely.

My interest level while reading this, if plotted on a graph, would reveal an inverted bell curve: a fabulous start, a slightly boring dip in the middle (maybe that's my fault too; I was very sleepy! ( )

Kill me. This is horrendously depressing. Amazing book. Loved it. Wish I had died about 80% into it. ( )

- my dumbass rly decided to push through. this book is insane. it feels heavier than history so far. but beautiful. also the first one ive annotated. everything about the book is beautifully written. 10 years of her work paid off.
- song associated: whole album lmao. speak now taylor ( )

“I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

I absolutely adored everything about this book. I really enjoyed that we got the narrative of Achilles but Patroclus was the narrator. I loved seeing all the events through his eyes, it added this amazing level to the story. I enjoyed the pacing of this story because it was one of those stories that you could read and just fall into the narrative. Patroclus was perhaps the sweetest character I've ever read. I enjoyed the slow burn dynamic of this story because we watch Achilles and Patroclus become friends and then so much more to one another. It was written so beautifully and Patroclus is a huge romantic and I love him for it. I loved the ways we got to watch the two of them evolve throughout the story, and how much Achilles didn't care what others thought of his relationship with Patroclus.
The two characters balanced each other out so well. I love the way that Madeline Miller wrote their romance. It was full of so many moments that make you swoon, moments that make you sob, moments that make you angry and moments that make you laugh. I think the worst thing about this was knowing the way the story ends.... but even then Miller writes such a marvelous ending to the story that it still manages to break your heart and put it back together at least a million different times. I hate that I took so long to read this book because I was really truly missing out on a beautiful love story. ( )

Great story, a very fitting retelling of Achilles and Patroclus' relationship. I wholeheartedly believe this is how it happened. It's well structured and paced, giving us enough time to see how they love each other and why, not just throwing us into it. But I question whether this initial depiction is enough to carry us through their experiences in the war. It feels more and more like they're growing apart, yet it's never addressed and unnoticed by the characters themselves. Whether this is authorial oversight or an intentional layer to the story, I don't know but it felt jarring with the rest of the story. The repetitive use of phrases (and, for example, dialogue tags) was a bit grating after a while but I think it took over half the book before it started to get to me so maybe to a more casual reader it wouldn't be noticeable. All in all I enjoyed this very much and appreciate how well Miller stayed within the trappings of the world of ancient Greece. I don't know that I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't already have an invested interest in Greek mythology and/or romance stories though. ( )

This tore me apart in so many pieces.. ( )

I knew how this book would end since I knew the story, but the way Miller writes it just destroyed me. This books was not what I thought it was going to be, in a good way. I thought it was mostly going to focus on the war, but I love that it shows the whole life of the characters. The novel format of this makes the story much more accessible for people. Miller paints the relationship so beautifully and boldly that I couldn't help but wish for a different end. This book absolutely lives up to the hype. ( )