The Song of Achilles: The 10th Anniversary edition of the Women's Prize-winning bestseller

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This narrator absolutely nailed the feeling of the story. His voices for all characters was just so expressive and was always recognizable for who he was portraying at the time.

The Song of Achilles: The 10th Anniversary edition of the

Following the legendary story of Helen of Troy, Achilles is asked to join Agamemnon’s forces to defend his brothers honour after Paris steels the beautiful Helen from her home. And now Achilles must fight for the honour of the most beautiful woman in the world, against the mightiest city of the east. A journey to Aulis and then Troy that will seal the fate of these two men. I knew nothing about this going in, besides the fact that it is based off the events in Homer's epic, The Illiad.SELECTED AS BOOK OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, GUARDIAN, I PAPER, IRISH TIMES, REFINERY29, SCOTSMAN, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, TIME MAGAZINE, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, AND WASHINGTON POST I HATE AGAMEMNON!!! Fiercely!!! Such an unfair and dishonourable numpty!!! I hate him and all his actions! I mean what kind of father would trade his daughter away and then kill her?! His own flesh and blood! Gosh, I CAN’T EVEN WITH HIM!! I’m still so angry! Those moments at the end and the tense situation between Achilles and him had me at the edge of my seat and all I wanted to do was to scream at the injustice that took place in front of me!!! Such a stubborn and self-righteous fool!! He should have listened to Achilles but he was too proud to. *shakes head in disbelief* I. HATE. HIM!!! Enough said! My pulse jumps, for no reason I can name. He has looked at me a thousand times, but there is something different in this gaze, an intensity I do not know. My mouth is dry, and I can hear the sound of my throat as I swallow. This is my spoiler section in which I’m going to speak about the individual characters and what I thought of them. So you better beware and don’t read it if you still want to read the book. Heed my warning or get lost in the underworld. It’s your choice, choose wisely! ;-P

9780062060617: The Song of Achilles - Miller, Madeline

It all begins with a rape. The Greek Gods want to reward Peleus for being such a good subject and decide that he should be given a sea nymph named Thetis as his bride. ”It was considered their highest honor. After all, what mortal would not want to bed a goddess and sire a son from her? Divine blood purified our muddy race, bred heroes from dust and clay. And this goddess brought a greater promise still: the Fates had foretold that her son would far surpass his father. Peleus’ line would be assured. But, like all the gods’ gifts, there was an edge to it; the goddess herself was unwilling.” MISOGYNY, PART III: BRISEIS (For a better portrayal of Briseis, I’d recommend Pat Barker’s Silence of the Girls.) ACHILLESThe first line (nay word) of the Iliad identifies the crux of the story: rage. Achilles’s rage is his defining characteristic, not his warmth or his kindness or his gentleness. His moments of affection (typically involving Thetis) are always filtered through anger. Even Patroclus calls out Achilles on his shitty behaviour. Part of what makes Achilles such a fascinating character is his flaws: his anger, his intolerance, his blind fury. I’d concede that some of it might be misguided love, but the majority is rage. He’s got some anger issues, okay? Briseis is a complicated figure. In the Iliad she’s barely a character at all, more of a narrative catalyst and a thing over which to be fought. Briseis was captured, and then raped, by Achilles. Not only does Miller remove this detail (because how dare Achilles be anything less than perfect), she also makes Briseis fall in love with Patroclus. Again, a woman is an obstacle between Achilles and Patroclus. Was Miller worried we wouldn’t be invested in their relationship if it weren’t constantly challenged by heterosexuality? Nevertheless, this is a small point in a book that was truly stunning in its story telling, a brilliant work of fiction interwoven with the myths, legends and the greatest stories told in Greek mythology. A book that has modernised the legendary work of Homer but stayed true to the core of the Iliad and Achilles homosexuality. A human portrayal of a demi-god who loves, fights, and conquers. Yet it is his stubbornness and unyielding pride that is ultimately his downfall, but then again it was always written in the song – and if “..Music be the food of love. Play on” (William Shakespeare).It might be easy to hate Achilles during the latter half of the story, based on some of his decisions, and rightly so. But, I think it's a good thing that the author did not alter his character to fix those flows. The objective of the story was never to portrait the greatness of Achilles. And as for the ending: it was as emotional and beautiful as it could be. Madeline Miller had done justice to Patroclus with The Song of Achilles perfectly. From a mythological novel point of view - if you are seeking a book about the Greek and Trojan war, I personally suggest skipping this one. In my opinion it is barely a retelling of myth, because only writing about the private lives, loves and bedrooms of classical gods/demigods/heroes does nothing to make us understand the grounds on which classicism was built. For me it was disappointing, since I really wanted the richness of the actual story and not just romance. Not only was Patroclus and Achilles' love story the main focus, it was pretty much the only subject matter throughout. Could have been really well done if the events of Troy were more thoroughly framed in the context of the love story. Patroclus loves Briseis and is horrified by this, then even more horrified when he realizes Achilles is going to give Briseis up. Achilles hopes that Agamemnon will rape Briseis, giving Achilles leverage to overthrow Agamemnon and get revenge for this slight to his honor. To protect Briseis, Patroclus tells Agamemnon all of this; while Achilles is briefly furious at Patroclus’s betrayal, he can’t stay angry with his love for long. Besides, he has conspired with Thetis to convince Zeus to stop “balancing” the war, so things are about to get very bad for the Greeks. Achilles will only help them if Agamemnon personally apologizes. My biggest problem with the book was the characters, like I said before, they were awful characters. Patroclus is portrayed from the beginning as this weak, bland guy who can't defend himself and, throughout the book, that never changes. He is one of the most passive characters I've ever read. He is there solely to admire every physical aspect of Achilles, damn this guy had a thing for homeboy's feet. Seriously Patroclus, we get it, Achilles's feet were soft and pink and smell amazing. I got the message, and I also got how golden his skin and hair and everything in him was. Guy's hot, noted. What drove me crazy was the fact that Achilles really was the sole reason of Patroclus's existence. Without him, he didn't know how to do anything, he didn't have a reason to live and I just, ugh, really? We are going there? The whole ''if he dies, I'll die too cause there's nothing for me after him'' speech? Ugh. Even though Achilles and Patroclus had zero chemistry (seriously how many times do these guys talk, like really talk, in this book?) Do I have to believe that this good for nothing kind of guy, with no personality whatsoever, is actually the most beloved person for the best of the greeks? For this demigod? I just can't buy into this relationship that happens to be the entire focus of this book. It's like the author takes for granted that we know this is a love story between them so why bother to actually develop a relationship? Patroclus is born the prince of a modest kingdom in ancient Greece, the unexceptional son of an abusive king. When he accidentally kills a nobleman’s son, he is exiled to Phthia, where he meets the talented, beautiful, straightforward Achilles, god-born son of King Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis. Achilles takes Patroclus as his therapon, brother-in-arms, and the two young men develop a deep friendship that blossoms into romance.