Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

43 reviews

annavarney's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

Such a beautiful book. Very descriptive. Slow start but it builds to a beautiful ending. The last couple chapters really are heart wrenching. I will probably reread the last couple chapters over and over again for the rest of my life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, and War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Cannibalism

megan_j's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

I thought people were exaggerating when they said how sad this book was - THEY WERENT. Very rarely does a book make me cry but this one did the trick, and also kept me up all night. It is literally the saddest thing ever. The end of this book really saved it for me, all the way through I was floating between a 4 and 4.5 rating simply because there are SO MANY CHARACTERS. And they have SO MANY different names, and I get that it’s all the mythology and stuff but I found it sooo hard to keep track at times and who I should actually be keeping track of and who is going to important to the story that I need to remember later on. Overall it was beautifully written with wonderful characters. Read if you want to cry!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

With the exception of the tenses changing being a little weird, this was incredible. I understand why it's so hyped up and I absolutely loved it. So many emotions, especially in the last third. What an amazing read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Incest, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

pigeonpersona's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

I'm glad I got around to reading this one. A beautiful telling of the lives of Patroclus and Achilles before and during the Trojan War. The first couple hundred pages were good but not great, and I felt like there could have been more moments added to make me grow to like the characters more. However, it was nice to have Patroclus as the narrator, as you could always feel his love for Achilles. I think I cared more about Patroclus' feelings then I cared about Achilles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Cannibalism

froginhat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Eating disorder, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Outing

nicole_schmid's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

4.5

[read in the German translation by Michael Windgassen]
As I feel like this myth is sufficiently common knowledge, I will not use the spoiler tags, so if you do not know the myth, proceed with caution.

This was a very interesting read, though off to a bit of a slow start. The story offered background information and cultural details which deepen your understanding of the actual myth, such as the fact that the theft of the slave which causes Achilles to stop fighting alongside the Greeks actually was a grave insult to his personal honour. It also put (at least my understanding of) the myth into a different light by not Patroklos not being an accomplished fighter in his own right. I always pictured him as being a slightly weaker fighter than Achilles, thus enabling him to impersonate him without anyone noticing. The twist that

Patroklos could not fight at all and only managed to accomplish his feats because of divine intervention

was surprising, but welcome, even though I definitely understand some readers being disappointed - the story is not a good power fantasy anymore.

I was a bit disappointed by the ending, however. Before you ask, yes, it did make me cry, that's not the problem. During whole sections about the Trojan War, Agamemnon and (to a lesser degree) Odysseus and Diomedes are made out to be the antagonists. Agamemnon kills - sorry, sacrifices - his daughter, using marriage to Achilles (who is unaware of the duplicity) as the pretense to lure her to the altar he kills her on. During the war, he uses every available chance to slight Achilles in some way. He refuses to return his own slave Chryseis, a priestess, to her father even though every rule of Greek culture literally tells him to do it, which in turn brings a deadly illness/an irate Apollo shooting deadly arrows to the Greek armies. Achilles, with the help of his godly mother, manages to avert the crisis by returning Chryseis to her father. In turn,  Agamemnon takes his slave Briseis, which apparently is a grave insult to him and against basically every rule of conduct. Of course, Achilles would then stop fighting for a man who slighted him like this.

It is true that both Achilles and Patroklos are, after their deaths, insulted and separated by Achilles' son and he is made into an antagonist by that. That's why we learn that he died as a result of his greed and hubris - his "karmic" punishment. But if Miller had the time to explain Phyrros' end, why did she not mention Agamemnon's death? (His wife and her lover kill him in revenge for him killing his daughter.) It would have punished the main antagonist of the whole novel, if I might call him that, and would have been more fitting than Phyrros' story, I think.

I missed Achilles' invulnerability, leaving only the Achilles heel as his weakness. But I actually have no idea if this is in the Iliad or originates from some other myth, so maybe it actually is accurate.

Something else that could be criticised, but that I actually appreciate, is that Achilles and Patroklos have been turned into completely 100 % gays who therefore did not systematically rape and abuse female war slaves (= innocent farmers' wives and daughters who had the misfortune of living in villages too close to Troy) like all the other Greeks nor come into any situation where they might be forced to participate in other similarly sexist, but normal and commonplace practices which we today would call (war) crimes. I also liked that Miller pointed out the inherent sexism and misogyny of Ancient Greece and how no woman at all was safe from sexual violence, not even goddesses (see: Thetis).

Over all, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Greek mythology or knowing more about Ancient Greece. It offers a believable glimpse into the past (with the odd interference of gods) while providing background information dearly needed to actually understand what is happening. The myth is told with enough twists to the original that it does not simply copy the original into a different POV and modern language and so that it stands on its own feet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

inthemoonforcheese's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

i feel demolished by this book oh my god

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

dniespal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Increadible tale of two lovers whose fate is already sealed. Madeline Miller was able to writte a breathtaking story which will make you not want to put the book down even if you are already well versed in the myth of Achilles and Patroclus. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Medical content, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

nickel_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Flawless storytelling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Genocide

Minor: Drug use, Genocide, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

veronicats's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail