From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller

Start date: March 1, 2021

Finish date: March 31, 2021

Discussion: 2021 Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: March 2021 group read for "a book that won the Women's Prize for fiction"…more
[close] March 2021 group read for "a book that won the Women's Prize for fiction"

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2021 Monthly Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Mar 25, 2021 Christine rated it it was amazing

As an English Literature major who studied to be a high school english teacher this book had me super hesitant to pick it up. So much so I've had it hanging around for almost 3 years. I've read and studied Greek mythology for 20 years at this point, so nothing really new to learn. Plus I knew how things ended for Achilles and I knew that in every reading I've felt he was a full on pompous ass hat. It's like reading Titanic from the standpoint of the iceberg. You know you're going to hate the mai ...more

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Jun 24, 2021 Willa rated it it was amazing

Even knowing the major plot points before I started this, it still broke my heart. But Madeline Miller made the telling of the story so beautiful it was worth the pain. She brought new life to characters that have been too long reduced to stale Wikipedia articles or the original epic poetic language that many modern readers find difficult to access.

The prose is spare and straightforward. No flowery poetic language here. Patroclus tells the story from his POV and he tells it simply, but somehow t ...more

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Nov 20, 2022 Cari rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-listened, book-club

Madeline Miller weaves a captivating story, and this is no exception. She defines her characters brilliantly and does everything she can with the original myths; I really appreciated how the story uplifts and defines the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. But at the end of the day, the Iliad is the ultimate story of toxic masculinity and war - not my favorite. I was exhausted by the end.

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