The Song of Achilles

“I shift, an infinitesimal movement, towards him. It is like the leap from a waterfall. I do not know, until then, what I am going to do.”

This book, oh my god... Everyone, this book managed to rip my heart straight out of my chest, stomp on it, set it on fire, cut it into approximately three million pieces, and then return it to me in a used take out container.

Here's the premise: Patroclus, a young prince who isn't exactly what his father wants him to be, commits a crime by accident and is exiled to the court of King Peleus. Here, he meets his son, Prince Achilles: beautiful, talented, basically destined for glory and pretty much the opposite of Patroclus. Going against his mother's, the sea goddess Thetis, wishes, Achilles befriends Patroclus and, as they train and study together over the years, their relationship grows into something much deeper. However, when Helen of Sparta is kidnapped and war is on the horizon, the two of them journey to Troy, each bound by different promises, save for the one made to each other. The years that come bring challenges meant to test everything they thought they knew and everything they hold dear.

So, as you can tell, this is Madeleine Miller's rendering of the Illiad, namely the Trojan War and the years that precede it. It is told from Patroclus's point of view, which I think is an important detail to remember, namely because I believe Achilles is painted in a better light in this book than in the original legend. Anyway, when I picked up this book I only knew two things: Greek mythology and gay romance, which, if I am honest, is more than enough to convince me to read something. In the end, it exceeded all my expectations and broke my heart. In other words: a success.

The first thing that caught my attention was the style: Miller writes beautiful, poetic prose that just fills your heart. It's mesmerizing, honestly, and had the action not been interesting as well, I think the writing on its own could've determined me to keep going. It flows naturally and I had to stop a few times just to admire a particularly well-constructed phrase. The dialogue is extremely well-done, too: charming and clever. I especially enjoyed Odysseus's witty lines and his banter with Diomedes; they were a welcome break from the emotions that would have otherwise overwhelmed me:

“Bragging about your new ship again?” Diomedes had joined us. His hair was lashed back with a strip of leather, and it made his face look sharper even than usual.

“I am.”

Diomedes spat into the water.

“The king of Argos is unusually eloquent today,” Odysseus commented.

The Characters

!!!MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Patroclus

“He is half of my soul, as the poets say. He will be dead soon, and his honor is all that will remain. It is his child, his dearest self. Should I reproach him for it? I have saved Briseis. I cannot save them all.”

I honestly can't begin to tell you how much I loved him. Patroclus really is one in a million, although no prophetical glorious purpose burdened him. He was born royalty, but lost his title after becoming and exile, yet it didn't matter to him. Patroclus is introspective and kind, determined and loyal. He is his own person and does not try too much to fit the model imposed by the society in which he lives. Although he swore an oath to fight and protect Helen when he was young, he rarely, actually fights. Instead, he learns medicine and eventually becomes a favourite among the surgeons in their camp. I also loved that he saved all those women from being raped by the soldiers, and gave them as much of a home as he could manage, considering the circumstances. On the negative side, he did sleep with Deidameia out of pity that one time, and although the book heavily implies that she knew the reason and still wanted it, it still kind of made me uncomfortable. All in all, Patroclus was easy to love—probably my favourite character in the entire book.

Achilles

“Afterwards, when Agamemnon would ask him when he would confront the prince of Troy, he would smile his most guileless, maddening smile. ‘What has Hector ever done to me?’”

Achilles is a different case, in my opinion. He's always been destined to be Aristos Achaion, Best of the Greeks, and there's a prophecy saying that he will become a legend should he fight at Troy, but he will die young if he chooses to. The other option is live a full life, but be forgotten in time. Achilles' biggest flaw is his pride: it's what brings his demise, in the end. He chooses to fight, to put the skill he has to good use, yet I think he sacrifices a bit of his humanity in order to do so. The war takes this incredibly honest, righteous, innocent, I'd say even naive boy and taints him. He's every bit the hero his people want, but it costs him, and in the end he makes some pretty terrible decisions which result in pretty terrible outcomes. For the last few chapters, I was mainly angry at his stupid ego and unwillingness to give up a dumb feud.

Odysseus

“Odysseus inclines his head. "True. But fame is a strange thing. Some men gain glory after they die, while others fade. What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another." He spread his broad hands. "We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory. Who knows?" He smiles. "Perhaps one day even I will be famous. Perhaps more famous than you.”

Oh my god, this motherfucker!!! I have the biggest love/hate relationship with Odysseus and I can't tell if I want to punch him or shake his hand. (Probably punch him.) He is a pretty good leader, although he's usually full of shit. However, what bothered me were his manipulative, sketchy schemes. Long story short, Odysseus is kind of the main reason why Achilles' story goes the way that it does. He's the one who convinces Achilles to fight in the war in the first place. He also keeps lying about his intentions and motives for pretty much the rest of the book. I did love his last scene with Pyrrhus, but that might've been because Pyrrhus is arguably the biggest asshole in this entire book and he's only in it for a couple pages.

Some notes on a few other minor characters:

- Briseis: I absolutely loved her! I loved her boldness, I loved her friendship with Patroclus, I loved her character in general. Most of all, though, I enjoyed that she was pretty much the only one who had the nerve to put Achilles in his place and call him out on his enormous pride, even though it does not do much. What I did not like was her death :^)

- Chiron: he is, as you'd expect, every bit the old wise man centaur:

“Chiron had said once that nations were the most foolish of mortal inventions. "No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.” That's it, that's the tea. He's amazing.

- Thetis: I hated her, but in a good way. I loved to hate her. I mean, she was terrible and most of the time I couldn't even tell what it was the she wanted, but in the end I guess she was caught between love for her son and desire for fame or glory, I guess.

- Agamemnon: he can perish.

“I would still be with you. But I could sleep outside, so it would not be so obvious. I do not need to attend your councils. I—'

'No. The Phthians will not care. And the others can talk all they like. I will still be Aristos Achaion.' Best of the Greeks.

'Your honor could be darkened by it."

'Then it is darkened.' His jaw shot forward, stubborn. 'They are fools if they let my glory rise or fall on this.”

This was some good stuff! It was the kind of romance that squeezes every last ounce of swooning out of any heart. It was touching and tender and it was never exactly explicit, Achilles and Patroclus never said they loved each other in those exact words (Achilles did refer to Patroclus as his "most beloved", though), yet it was unmistakable. It seeps through the pages and hits you like a sucker punch right in the face. Patroclus followed Achilles into a war that he'd barely managed to get out of and then continued to support him in the following years.

“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

Sure, he wasn't always happy with what Achilles did, and he called him out when necessary. But I don't think he ever loved him any less for it. And Achilles was willing to risk his image and glory, his own pride!, for Patroclus and only for him. He was his anchor and his normal in the haze of everything that was happening around them, and they were each other's biggest weakness that they would not give up. I pretty much feasted on every single happy moment they shared and the fact that I already knew how it was going to end (I'm a bit of a mythology geek) absolutely killed me. I think the last few pages after Patroclus' death were some of the post painful I've ever read. Achiless' anguish was palpable and it made me cry on more than one occasion.

“Name one hero who was happy."

I considered. Heracles went mad and killed his family; Theseus lost his bride and father; Jason's children and new wife were murdered by his old; Bellerophon killed the Chimera but was crippled by the fall from Pegasus' back.

"You can't." He was sitting up now, leaning forward.

"I can't."

"I know. They never let you be famous and happy." He lifted an eyebrow. "I'll tell you a secret."

"Tell me." I loved it when he was like this.

"I'm going to be the first." He took my palm and held it to his. "Swear it."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the reason. Swear it."

"I swear it," I said, lost in the high color of his cheeks, the flame in his eyes.

"I swear it," he echoed.

We sat like that a moment, hands touching. He grinned.

"I feel like I could eat the world raw.”

I don't know exactly how to end this, besides saying that I'm almost sure there is much more that I could've talked about. To be frank, I could go on about this book forever. I mean, I hadn't cried this much reading a book in a very, very long time, so that must account to something. It's an incredible, heart wrenching story that will give you something to gush about and then snatch it right back. The lyricism is delicious, the characters are amazing, the romance is to die for and it will destroy you.

In other words, I would gladly recommend it to anyone!

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I was truly immersed in the story, and I never wanted it to end!

I was sure I wouldn't cry, my mistake. Now all I want to do is read modern retellings of greek mythology for the rest of eternity

Another highly-rated piece of garbage.

Yet another example of why I should just accept reading spoilers and properly go through some negative Goodreads reviews, rather than going off the description, rating, and some spoiler-free quick review skimming.

I wanted to like this book, despite that I highly guessed the nature of the book as soon as I read how Madeline Miller flowered all her language with sensual flavor. The writing is decent, but there are annoying inconsistencies, like Patroclus saying he only remembers one memory of his mother, then shortly afterward describing others to Achilles. It's not just the narrator telling us; the author just forgot she said he only remembered one. Then the whole beginning of the book, she writes as if the characters are older, at least 16, talking about how they've grown up since the first scenes. Chapters go by like this, then suddenly she says they are 12 years old (not consistent with the way they are described to this point, but I guess they are legends, so...). It's like she had decided that as she was writing and just stuck with it, mentioning their ages as they grow consistently from there on out, and describing them somewhat more age-appropriately.

These are just literary issues I had. Then there are the obvious other issues, presented in the first high-rated negative review. I was willing to put up with the author clearly trying to promote an LGBTQA+ agenda (and somewhat failing), if the story was good enough, and the relationship was done right, but modern people just can't understand that there's more to love than sex.

Oh well, I tried, and I made it a whole ten chapters, so that's on the author.

Spoilers ahead.

My heart breaks for Patroclus, all his life he gets insulted and told that he doesn’t deserve Achilles, Patroclus is such a kind, introverted,sweet and loyal boy who I would’ve been great friends with if he were living in modern era. It made me mad that Deidameia raped Patroclus while insulting his looks and when he and Achilles got killed, Achilles son Pyrrhus, decided to be a heartless ahole and refused to grant his fathers burial wishes but I’m glad that Thetis and Patroclus had a small Heart to Heart and told her his stories and she granted Patroclus wish by fixing the burial site so his name and Achilles name were together.

Though I am confused about Achilles death since I thought he was struck on the heel in the original Iliad not on the back?

Also I loved Odysseus little quick “Perhaps I’ll be more famous than you” insult towards Pyrrhus and how Odysseus tried to honor Patroclus and Achilles wish of being buried together. Agamemnon was a huge ahole too, no denying that either. And Briseis was such a sweetheart who knew that Achilles did not deserve Patroclus at all tho I am sad about what had happened to her.

“philtatos” shut the fuck up :(

Not really into history

Definitely better than They Both Die at the End. Still didn't give me all the feels that I wanted.

I knew if rad it ack in 2019 but I was surprised that I had rated it only 3 stars as I remembered it fondly. Altough this read really took a pull on my hearth strings. I got so emotional invested in Patroclus especially and his relationship with Achilles. Loved how they grew closer and closer and got even deeper connection. I got sad at the end this time to but I found it tragically beautiful. A book I won't easily forget

Every once in a long while a book leaves me so overwhelmed emotionally that attempting to put my assessment into into words feels like a betrayal to the work, and this is one of those books.

Just wow...