Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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A retelling of a classic, but are these the right secondary characters to focus on?

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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This is the story of Achilles and his companion Patroclus. Companion here should absolutely be read in the way that we all had that one uncle in his 80s and 90s who lived with a roommate. If you remember any part of your high school English classes, you probably know the over all plot. Trojan War, fated warrior, death, destruction, etc. What Madeline Miller has done in this book is really taken a deeper dive into the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. Which, by the way, […]

“You be the captain, I’ll be no one

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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  The story and characters contained in Song of Achilles will be familiar to anyone who knows their Greek history.  It is the story of Iliad.  It’s conceit is that it is told from the perspective of Patroclus, the companion of Achilles.  Different treatments of the legend vary on what type of “companion” he was but in Madeline Miller’s, Patroclus and Achilles are unambiguously lovers.  Exiled from his own land as a boy, Patroclus is sent to live in the house of Achilles’ father. Over […]

Think “Brokeback Trojan War,” only BETTER

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Maybe because I grew up in Christian private school, or because I’m just oblivious, or because Hollywood has succeeded in shaping my view of classical literature, I did not know until reading this book that many scholars agree that Achilles and Patroclus were not friends, or cousins, or brothers-in-arms, but lovers. Ooh la la! In fact, most of the time I was reading this book, I thought that the author, Madeline Miller, had taken a modern artistic liberty that was an interesting spin on the source material […]



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