Reviews tagging Alcohol

The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

49 reviews

daringreader13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Violence, Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Injury/injury detail, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

eatmytoe404's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

it was wonderful and i cant stop crying

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Grief, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Slavery, Sexism, Classism, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Cursing, Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Outing, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Gore, Child abuse, Medical content, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

captainoliimar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Abandonment, Death, Incest, Outing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm, Biphobia, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Suicide

nikexistiertnik's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

i am broken.
i knew what was coming and i still balled my eyes out.
this book made so happy, furious, got my hopes up, then ripped my guts out and stomped on them.

i was very confused by some of the changes from past to present and then past tense again though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Violence, Child abuse, War, Death, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Sexual content, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol

m_marss's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

most of my read through the song of achilles felt like a chore. I didn't connect with any of the characters, and their actions just didn't seem like they'd amount to anything.

Spoiler

then page 334 broke me. every page after it tore me to pieces. the sort of helplessness described in this book terrifies me. I hate the idea of existence after death because you're forced to know what happens to you, what happens around you when you're gone.

the ending made it worth all the time I spent in boredom reading it. the song of achilles is good if you stick to it until its end.

2 stars gone up to 4 with how the ending affected me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Sexism, and War

Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content

fanboyriot's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

1.0

Finally finished reading this after having it on my physical TBR for at least five years.  

The hype of this was high.  Seeing great reviews and positive comments about how amazing the writing was and how sad but good it was.

I’m not gonna lie I only bought it because it was queer and it had Greek mythology in it.  I thought despite the angst and it being a historical fiction that I’d like it.  

The short review is that I did not like it.  I wanted to DNF it so many times but thought maybe I just wasn’t giving it a chance.

I don’t know if it was because of the slower paced chapters or because it was a historical fiction but this book was so boring.  I could not wait to be done with it.

There were so many moments that it was cringey or just uncomfortable to read.  All the spicy moments were awful to get through.  And  while I understand it was back when people were a lot younger when they were married off or forced to have children but it was just so uncomfortable to read lines like: “Her body, he said, was soft and small as a child’s.” (Chapter 13, page 147)… why is that necessary??  How did that make it into the final edits?? 

I will say the positive about this was that through everything Achilles and Patroclus had a healthy, honest, and trusting relationship for the most part.  

And while the ending was sad it wasn’t as bad as I expected.  I think that what Thetis ended up doing in the end helped with that.  It was the sweetest thing she had done in that whole book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Classism, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Gaslighting, Death, Violence, War, Blood, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Animal death, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Medical content, Slavery, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Ableism, Vomit, Child death, and Trafficking

sacredgayometry's review

emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.5

One of the best romance reads and a very beautiful rendition of the classic myth, although a tad predictable at times. There are moments in this book that make me wonder if I’ve ever truly experienced love, because I get so emotional about it, more than even thinking about my own partners. There are also moments in this book that are incredibly frustrating to read due to the characters often being willfully obstinate and prideful, but it wouldn’t be a green tragedy if that weren’t the case. Overall a wonderful book, the language is beyond poetic and I loved the characters, but the plot is sometimes slow and there are some very annoying bits that tarnished the overall feel, for me.

Spoiler

for example, the scene in which Patroclus is killed was infuriating to read, as it seemed so out of character for him to do

Spoiler

I would recommend that you read it once, but for me once is enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Death, War, Kidnapping, Violence, Slavery, and Grief

Moderate: Pregnancy, Injury/injury detail, Trafficking, Sexism, Infidelity, Rape, Medical content, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

Minor: Sexual content, Transphobia, Classism, Animal death, Bullying, Alcohol, and Abandonment

Spoiler

there is a scene in which Patroclus is “seduced” by a woman that feels more like coercion. There is definitely death and grief in heavy amounts.

Spoiler

notpresent22's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Song of Achilles is a modern classic. This was something I was told repeatedly before reading it and in some ways it made me too scared to actually start. What if it didn’t live up to all the hype? What if I didn’t like it and then I’m be exiled from all queer communities and lovers of Greek mythology? 
However, now I have read it and I am as astounded as everyone said I would be. 
In the acknowledgments Miller says that this book took her ten years to write and that makes sense. The love and compassion is clear in every word and her dedication to telling the story is apparent. 
I was in awe of her talent and would recommend this book to anyone who loves queer fiction or retelling of Greek mythology. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Injury/injury detail, Violence, Slavery, Murder, Grief, Death, Alcohol, and Abandonment

Moderate: Kidnapping and Pregnancy

reading_grin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Blood, Death, War, Sexual content, Child death, and Slavery

Minor: Alcohol and Pregnancy

camoo3032's review

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It really immerses you into Greek mythology and the story of Troy and Achilles. I still really enjoyed reading it even though I knew the story of Achilles. I'm not used to reading books written in a first-person perspective so it felt disjointed to me and as if the narrator was distant, but it was still very well done!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Animal death, Classism, Misogyny, and War

Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy