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A review by lentils1012
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
If you read the comments and reviews of this novel like I did, you have been warned.
However, I might as well say it again, just like maaaaaaannnyyyy others before me did:
THIS BOOK IS DAMN SAD
BUT IT'S INCREDIBLY GREAT
BUT ALSO SAD
AND SOMETIMES HAPPY
BUT MOSTLY SAD
Back to being a bit more factual:
+) The main characters Patroclus and Achilles were lovable. Many other characters were not, in my opinion (e.g. Thetis). Sometimes I couldn't really understand the motives or the behavior of some characters.
+) The relationship which the focus was on was the one between the protagonists. After being a bit bored at the beginning of the book, I became more and more interested in it. At the end of the novel I became quite emotional because of them. )':
+) The story being told from the perspective of Patroclus instead of the hero (sorta "the chosen one") was nice and new to me.
+) I really loved the writing of 'The Song of Achilles'. It's poetic, but not overly so. As English is not my first language I sometimes stumbled across words and sentence structures which were unknown to me. I think I learned quite a lot from reading this novel.
-) I wasn't a fan of the time skips. Within few sentences, you're briefly informed about the amount of time which had passed and what had happened. Sometimes it really caught me off guard that like 7 years suddenly had passed.
——> All in all I really liked this novel and I'll probably reread it to understand the characters better.
However, I might as well say it again, just like maaaaaaannnyyyy others before me did:
THIS BOOK IS DAMN SAD
BUT IT'S INCREDIBLY GREAT
BUT ALSO SAD
AND SOMETIMES HAPPY
BUT MOSTLY SAD
Back to being a bit more factual:
+) The main characters Patroclus and Achilles were lovable. Many other characters were not, in my opinion (e.g. Thetis). Sometimes I couldn't really understand the motives or the behavior of some characters.
+) The relationship which the focus was on was the one between the protagonists. After being a bit bored at the beginning of the book, I became more and more interested in it. At the end of the novel I became quite emotional because of them. )':
+) The story being told from the perspective of Patroclus instead of the hero (sorta "the chosen one") was nice and new to me.
+) I really loved the writing of 'The Song of Achilles'. It's poetic, but not overly so. As English is not my first language I sometimes stumbled across words and sentence structures which were unknown to me. I think I learned quite a lot from reading this novel.
-) I wasn't a fan of the time skips. Within few sentences, you're briefly informed about the amount of time which had passed and what had happened. Sometimes it really caught me off guard that like 7 years suddenly had passed.
——> All in all I really liked this novel and I'll probably reread it to understand the characters better.