Title: The Song of Achilles
Author: Madeline Miller
Publisher: Ecco 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction / Mythology
Pages: 389
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Ebook; Monthly Theme - May
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.
It’s been decades since I last read The Iliad but reading this reimagining of Achilles’s story brought me right back to Classical Studies in college. Overall I really enjoyed Miller’s telling of a very classic story but framing the events from the viewpoint of Patroclus. I loved learning about Achilles not from himself, but from one who loved him. We get an interesting picture of a classical hero. Plus we get to experience the strangeness of encountering gods and goddesses. The horrors of war are particularly affecting coming from an acknowledged poor soldier. We get a proper coming of age story within the pages all the way through the deaths of both of our main characters. Tragic for sure, but with lush writing and storytelling. I enjoyed it very much.
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