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

Jun 23, 2019 Astrid Lim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, romance, lgbt, tragedy, europe, mythology, award-winner

This book is super beautiful!!!!!!! I thought Circe (first book of Madeline Miller that I've read) is good, but this one is incredible!!! Poetic, mesmerizing love story between Achilles and Patroclus. I never read anything about their relationship before so this book is very refreshing to me. The description of their haunting, tragic, but beautiful love story is in contrast with the cruelty, bloody, and chaotic war between Greeks and Trojans. And in the midst of it all, the arrogance of Achilles ...more

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Apr 27, 2019 Kate rated it it was amazing

I have little interest in Ancient Greece, but loved this. I loved the history, the writing, and the love story. I read it slowly to savor it. Highly recommend.

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 27, 2021 Jenna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: popsugar-reading-challenge-2021

Solid draftsmanship, but maybe short of artistry.

This book is a retelling or literary interpretation of the Trojan War and even though you know how it will end it is still a compelling read. Two criticisms: (1) the middle of the book is a slog, when the Greeks are bogged down on the Trojan shores, it’s hard for them and hard for the reader; (2) Achilles is a hard/remote figure, some of this is the nature of having Patroclus as he narrator but even viewing Achilles through Patroclus’s eyes doesn ...more

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Jun 20, 2019 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

I picked this one up after loving Circe, the author's second book. This one was just as much a pleasure to read, and I just fell in love again with her writing style. The characters are mostly ones you probably already know - Achilles (obviously), Paris, etc. - but several are more fleshed out, making them even more interesting as humans and not just mythical heroes. I had never heard of Patroclus, but he serves wonderfully as the narrator, and I was rapidly sucked into his world. He humanizes t ...more

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