Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

378 reviews

addienoah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

This book was a slow start but once it got Achilles introduced I was captivated. And it just kept getting better and playing out every scene in my head while reading brought them to life. This was very well written and the characters were so interesting. Even after Protroclus died, he still narrated and the ending with Thetis brought me to tears. 
I finished this in a short period of time because I am a fast reader that frequently reads. But I considered this a slow read because of how long it felt. Each page you had to pay attention and digest. The language was something you also had to adjust to. In all this was a medium read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gore, Pregnancy, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Slavery, War, Confinement, Death, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Torture, Hate crime, and Physical abuse

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked it! But I wouldn’t say I loved it. The poeticism of the prose was often lovely The final few pages were gorgeous. I appreciated the reclamation of the Achilles and Patroclus relationship from queerphobic 19th century translators who didn't want to acknowledge the queer undertones of the Homeric narrative, nor the fact that in Ancient Greece, they were viewed as a couple. But something about the book felt very paint by numbers for me. It hit all the beats well enough. But sometimes I felt things happened because that's what happens in The Iliad/Odyssey, but Miller didn't quite find a way to carn it in her own right in this take on the story The relationship worked for me better in the pre Trojan War part of the book than during the war, but was generally perfectly adequate and sometimes beautiful. 

So, all in all, I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Blood, Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence

gabriella_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Spoiler

“I thought, This is what Achilles will feel like when he is old. And then I remembered: he will never be old.”

I have never read a love story convey so much closeness. Even the physical gap between their bodies must have been too much distance for them to bear.

The prose reads like poetry. The story was incredibly satisfying and kept my interest. I got teary-eyed a few times. This is a story where two characters dare to love in a world where marrying for love is an outlier.

Spoiler

Odysseus was the only other person who was truly in love in this book?

I am at a loss for words for how beautiful this story was. It has renewed my interest in Greek Mythos, which is a tough task.

Spoiler

“Patroclus, I have given enough to them. I will not give them this.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Alcohol, Animal death, Pregnancy, Murder, Child death, Medical content, Torture, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Death, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, War, Blood, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Outing, and Violence

kpraetori's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Good book, well written, great that it follows the characters from upbringing to death instead of just the height of war, and there are nice of little details, foreshadowing, etc. It is enjoyable to read and I would rate it higher if this sub-genre was my cup of tea

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Torture, Sexual content, Sexism, and Violence

bringmorecoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child death, and Homophobia

andiehales's review against another edition

emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I think this story as a whole is a beautiful and crushing one and I understand why so many people love this book so intensely but I just didn’t love it the way I’ve seen others love it. A lot of the times, the way this book was written would throw me off, make me feel disconnected from the story and characters, and made it harder for me to enjoy. I pushed through because I wanted to know what all the hype (and tears) were for lol. 

This book definitely had me feeling sick with emotion at times, especially towards the ending, but the writing style unfortunately wasn’t for me. 

Spoiler

Also, I need to note how emotionally attached I became to Briseis. I love her like nobody else. She deserved so much better. Briseis I will avenge you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Infidelity, Genocide, Murder, Violence, War, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Abandonment and Cursing

yanii's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, Rape, Violence, Slavery, Sexual content, and War

imnotarke's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i adored this story told from the perspective of patroclus. it made me sob and reflect on the internal war queer people must combat when surrounded by pressuring expectations. i felt that the war dragged a bit, but regardless the build up to tragedy and justice was well-earned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Sexual violence, and Child death

Moderate: Slavery and Misogyny

Minor: Homophobia

henryflowers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Very emotional. Really enjoyable straightforward yet descriptive writing style. Not only does it cover mythological content, it also has a feel of a myth with it's hard-learned lessons. Characters are interesting and well described but feel like they serve to push the plot forward more than be themselves, but I also think this more static character development is what this story requires. Even so, I felt emotionally invested in the characters due to the playful written descriptions of romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Slavery, Murder, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

gracieyue's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, War, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia