The
Song of Achilles
by
Madeline Miller
Publication
Date: September 1st 2011
Publisher:
Ecco
Source: Bought
Source: Bought
Find
This Book: The Song of Achilles
Rating:
3.5/5
I’d only just heard of this book a
couple months ago from the hype it’s bet getting and quickly wanted to find out
why I hadn’t heard of this Ancient Greek book earlier. As a lover of mythology
I would have thought that this book would have popped up on my radar much
sooner, certainly not almost 4 years after it was published. This book had so
much potential and I was really excited to read a book about a canon gay couple
back in Ancient Greece when this was more of a norm and to have mythology on
top of that. I quickly realized that the new hype for it was not well deserved
and that was why I hadn’t heard of it when it was originally published. Don’t
get me wrong, I enjoyed my short time with this book and the 2nd to
last page managed to bring a single tear down my cheek, but there were some
flaws that were just hard to overlook.
A small inconsistency that bothered me was in one of the final battles
of the book. Achilles goes to fight someone and while there’s not much detail
(something I’ll get in to later) the novel DOES specifically say on page 342
that; "Achilles has only a sword. His spears are gone, buried in
bodies." This sounds cool and badass and all, which I’m completely fine
with until just two pages later on 344; “[Achilles] lifts his ashen
spear." (That being the special one Chiron made for him) except all of his
spears are gone and he's only supposed to have a sword..... I know, I
know, that’s a little mistake but
they’re kinda far from the battle so it doesn’t make much sense for him to pull
a spear out of a dead body that happened to be there with his special spear in
the time of two pages. It just seems like that should have been something the
writer or editor should have picked up on before publishing it.
My other problems with this book is that Achilles and Patroclus’ love was never really explained? It's just sort
of happens and it seems shallow and
unreal, I was weakly routing for them because they were the main characters but
they didn't actually complement each other very well. All of the terrible
things that happened to Patroclus wouldn't have, if Achilles wasn't such a
stubborn ass. It was basically Achilles perfect beauty that Patroclus couldn't
leave that kept their relationship together. And then the whole frickin Greek
army with Achilles included couldn't even put Patroclus to rest even though he
killed a bunch of enemies including Sarpedon????? Like what the heck he saved
them ALL from the Trojans!?!?! The Trojans were in the Greeks camp starting to
burn their ships and he single-handedly turned the war around yet he can’t even
get a proper burial? He was not Achilles slave, everyone knew that they were
comrades and equals, and they won't even label his tomb? Worse yet they'll let
a little punk-ass 12 year old boss them around? Ridiculous.
Furthermore, for a book about Ancient Greece I thought it would be well
researched and include mythology, ancient weapons/fighting techniques, and more
detail in general. Let's just say that was sorely lacking and I was extremely
disappointed. As far as gods/goddesses went, there was little of that involved.
Achilles’ mother, Thetis, took a small part in the story and occasionally gave
them parts of a prophecy and Chiron was a Centaur. That was the only remotely
mythological element to the book. Aside from Achilles twirling about his spear
and looking pretty there was no detail about weapon design or how any of the
other soldiers fought and all of the enemies’ just *poof* appeared dead
at their feet. It just wasn’t realistic at all and it could have been easily
fixed with a bit of research into Ancient Greek weaponry. Most importantly, Achilles
wasn't even killed by an arrow to the ankle! The one thing that I guarantee
everyone’s heard of if they’ve heard of Achilles’ is Achilles HEEL. The only
place where he was vulnerable and the location where he got shot with an arrow
(sometimes a poison arrow depending on which legend you listen to). Paris shot
and arrow through Achilles’ back piercing his heart. Outrageous, I know.
I feel like I just bashed this book pretty hard and I would like to clarify that I DID enjoy the book. The author makes a point of comparing beauty and physical strength to moral character and a sense of duty. The twists in the plot were a bit predictable, but interesting all the same. Additionally, the novel had some very well written side characters. This was not a swift action-packed story. Picking up the book will give you a sweet romance that will make you cry.
*****Another small point was that it was a bit more sexually graphic than I expected. Patroclus masturbates, gives Achilles a hand job (another reason why I thought their relationship was a bit shallow if that’s what they considered a sexual act), and both have sex with the same noble-woman who ends up getting pregnant and shamed for having a child out of wedlock.***
Another thing that I liked was how Odysseus was portrayed. Maybe
it's because there's more material about him from Homer's work but he seemed
realistic and true to my previous expectation of him. While I was not quite
happy with the shallow relationship I thought the writing itself was all right.
If she went on to write a book about Odysseus (that was more researched) maybe
a story about his adventure before the Trojan War, I would consider reading it.
In conclusion, I can see why many people loved this book! I can agree
that the author did a great job with bringing gay representation to books,
which isn’t something I’ve seen being done much. Achilles and Patroclus’s
relationship was a perfect one to explore. While we will never know for sure,
growing up together, being very close friends and being buried in the same urn
certainly leaves it open to the interpretation that they were lovers. This book
is definitely a great start to diversifying literature. Furthermore, I know
that I called the author out on what other people would consider trivial
problems. I would certainly recommend this book to others, but if you’re a Greek
Mythology fan I just wanted you to know what you were getting in to.
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