Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

621 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

nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Blood, War, Injury/injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content and Medical content

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexism, Slavery, Classism, Rape, Child death, Animal death, Homophobia, Cursing, Misogyny, and Self harm

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

natgoe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book surprised me not in how much I enjoyed it, but in what ways that I did. Throughout the day I found myself falling in love with the character of Patroclus. I found him so addicting and following Achilles through his eyes was so intriguing. The ending was predictable but not the details which had me sobbing.

Spoiler

When we are hearing Patroclus narrate Achilles actions after his death and then finally Patroclus yearning for his final resting with him, that part broke me dude.

Overall this book was so sad and yet so beautiful.❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Blood, Death, Homophobia, Medical content, War, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape

thyme_paradox's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, War, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical content, Grief, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Child death

Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Self harm

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

nicolewanttie's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Animal death, War, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Blood, Death, and Slavery

tomasalbanez's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

I love the way the relationship with gods is represented, with them being clearly real but still mysterious, distant and covered by myths. The love story is tragic (a Greek Tragedy™) but really good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Child death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying and War

Minor: Slavery, Ableism, Pregnancy, and Sexism

zuth6462's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: War

Minor: Rape

triangular_pascal's review against another edition

relaxing tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Confinement, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Death, Injury/injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pregnancy, War, Rape, Child death, Sexual content, and Sexual violence