Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

90 reviews

jennyrackel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

louisaroselewis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Madeline Miller has created a perfect love story from myth and legend.

The romance is beautiful, the action is exilerating, the characters are compelling, and the writing is magical. 

I can not think of one bad thing to say about this book. It was heartwarming, emotional, heartbreaking, and I think educational.

I cried at the ending and because it ended.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Murder, and War

acebooknerd_07's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

akane_readsyt's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative medium-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 picked up this book because it's been talked about around the place and seems popular. I'm sure that my interpretation of the work is coloured by many years of reading Rick Riordan's youth fiction about Greek myths. My takeaway is that although it's historic fiction it .. feels more fictiony than historic. Yes we do have actual gods playing a roll so we could call it mythic realism, but as some folk have pointed out, it's more just a homoerotic love story. I'm ok with that  : )

I think the book is fun but not super deep. Knowing roughly how the story goes before I delved into the book, leaves me wondering if I can even mention some parts of it without it being spoilers - what is the common knowledge here? Is it ok to mention which characters die when? I mean, this is ancient history ... so all the characters are dead by now (except maybe the gods).

This telling is in the first person, from the point of view of Patroclus who is the dearest love of Achilles.

--pedant mode--
I feel like it's spelled incorrectly, surely that's a "k"? Wiki says conventionally it's Patroclus but from Pátroklos ... wow there's argument about how that ought to be pronounced so that is a rabbit hole - but now I feel mollified.. it isn't just me being finicky. OK, fine,  I'm being finicky. While I'm finicking, I kept raising an eyebrow when the author refers to heroes being painted onto vases. My high school classics led me to believe that black figure vases came way after the Trojan War, and red  figure vases even later than that, so references to those forms seems anachronistic.

.. also, I get that Achilles is supposed to be trusting and oblivious, but he should have known there was something suss about a guy trying to marry him to a priestess of Artemis. I mean Artemis's whole deal is virgin purity. That whole bit seemed like something fishy was afoot.

*climbs out of rabbit hole*
--end pedant mode--

The reason the two men like each other seems completely arbitrary because the author doesn't build that much. Patroclus is a devoted lover and sees his god-boyfriend through rosy tinted glasses. I find it really amusing that some people find this sweet, and others are nauseated by his witless swooning.

As far as this narration of the audiobook is concerned, I find it really strange that the narrator doesn't alter his affect for voicing young people. I was about 5 minutes into a conversation before I was reminded that this was a conversation between young children rather than adults. I got the same sort of feeling when the character of Pyrrhus is introduced as a pubescent youth. I honestly think there should be some sort of primer for Audiobook narrators where they learn how words like wretched are said.

OK, I'm going there. This is the first book I have ever read in the first person where the narrator dies and keeps telling the story. At first I wondered what the heck was happening because he was clearly deceased and yet, still talking. After a while it became clearer that according to the Greek practices around the passing of the dead to the underworld, he had moved on out of his body, but was still kicking around watching the proceedings. OK fine.. I'll let you have it. It still felt more clumsy than it ought to have.

It was an easy read and coming to the end of it, the themes of social change, and how things are perceived by future generations, are aired more explicitly. The story is true to the Greek trope of sage council that is ignored. This account is subverting the idea that glory is something that one earns by war and murder, and is focused on the idea that a person can be remembered for more than their body-count. All in all, I  don't think the book is elegant, but it is interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit and Pregnancy

mayday_the_cleric's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

I had an enjoyable time reading this. The writing is tender and immersive, which makes for a relaxing read. Patroclus and achilles' relationship is sweet and dreamy, but it also has an undercurrent of darkness and codependency to it, making the characters quite compelling. My favorite character, however, has to be Thetis. She stole the show for me with her mystery and conflicting emotions and motivations. The ending nearly ruined it for me, but I was happy that they got together again and had a sort-of happy/bittersweet ending. Overall, a pretty good experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ichthusangel's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

ghostlyprince's review

emotional reflective tense fast-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

ivanaestaba's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

painfully amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

“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.

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.

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

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Content Warnings

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