“Did he know, or only guess at Achilles’ destiny? As he lay alone in his rose-colored cave, had some glimmer of prophecy come to him? Perhaps he simply assumed: a bitterness of habit, of boy after boy trained for music and medicine, and unleashed for murder.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles“We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles
I haven’t felt the need to gush about a book in a long, long time. But y’all, this. THIS. It hit the spot in a way that I didn’t know I needed. I’d had it on my waiting list forever (use your local library!) and, when it finally became available, I postponed it a few times so I could really immerse myself in it when the time came.
I have been too damn busy at work lately but I think even if I was running on four hours of sleep a night (I’m not. Don’t worry.) I would have finished this book in record time.
The Song of Achilles is told by Patroclus, an exiled prince who is sent to live with King Peleus of Phthia. Patroclus and Peleus’s son, Achilles, form a deep bond as they grow up together in the palace and on the mountain where Achilles, a half-god born of a mortal and a sea nymph, is raised by Chiron, a centaur and a “trainer of heroes.” At each point the story, Patroclus much make larger and larger sacrifices to remain with his beloved Achilles. When the Greek kings go to war to retrieve Helen, the “kidnapped” wife of Menelaus, Achilles and Patroclus are coerced by Odysseus to do what Achilles was born for: to be the most efficient and lethal weapon ever created.
There are so many things I loved about this book. First, the writing. It may not be for everyone but I adored the author’s writing style. It put me there. I don’t know how else to describe it.
But Patroclus (Pa-tro-clus). Oh, my heart. He recounts his early life, alluding to his shy and gentle nature, and how he came to Peleaus’s palace. We see Achilles through his eyes, and their early friendship to their eventual romance and partnership is so gorgeous in the telling that the eventual heartbreak does not diminish the path which leads to their fates.
My main complaints are as follows. For one, the way the author describes the physical appearance of certain characters gets a bit redundant. Achilles is golden and sunkissed and, well, god-like. His mother, the sea nymph goddess Thetis, is cold and pale and hard and menacing. I don’t need to be reminded of these physical attributes every time we learn about Achilles feats or Thetis’s scheming.
Next is the women. Oh lordy, the women. I loved Briseis because Patroclus loved her. But she was a slave! She was taken after Achilles murdered her family and her husband. And when Achilles steps in and “claims” her at Patroclus’s urging so she won’t be raped by Agamemnon, we the reader are as grateful as she. She is the first of one of Patroclus’s “rescued” slaves who lives among the Greek soldiers and remains under Achilles’ protection. Her narrative is lovely but I had to actively make the decision to not be rage-angry about it.
I enjoyed this book even more as I was also reading A Thousand Ships, which also tells the story of Troy but from the perspective of the women, including Briseis, Thetis, and Helen. Although I didn’t find that book as engaging as this one, it offered a welcome perspective that made the actions of the characters referenced in this book more meaningful.
This is a romance and, above all else, a tragic love story. I can see this book, or at least parts of it, becoming one of my go-to comfort reads.
Next up: Stephen Fry’s “Mythos” and Claire Andrews’ “Daughter of Sparta.”