Review of The Song of Achilles, by Madeleine Miller

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow, damn good book. A beautifully written, well-crafted retelling of an old myth--or would a reimagining be a better word. I found using the POV of Patroclus to be particularly engaging. I felt sorry for Patroclus as he grew up: the son who always seems to disappoint his father, no matter what he says or does, always hearing from his father, "That is what a son should be" (3). Menoitius was a piece of work, to say the least.

I thought she did an especially good job presenting the evolution of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, the attraction growing as they grew up together. Their love--their relationship-- is the heart of the book, I think, which is as it should be.

The mythic-as-real--the Centaur, the goddess--felt very natural to me. Thetis was not a likeable goddess.

That the ending was so moving, even though I knew, of course, from the beginning, their fates--attests to how well Miller writes:
"In the darkness, two shadows, reaching througb the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood of a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun" (369).





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