Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“My father was a king, and the son of kings”, but nothing more

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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Another volume in my Iliad exploration, I missed The Song of Achilles when it first came out in 2012, garnering superlatives and awards, so have come to it rather late. Miller’s book is not a retelling of the Iliad, although she does, of course, deal with its events in the course of the novel, but The Song of Achilles is more concerned with Achilles and his relationship with Patroclus, and fully illuminates the other man as a real person, albeit one who is always in […]

What’s Hecuba to him? or to her?

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

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I devoured Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls just after Christmas, and was pleased to find that the sequel, The Women of Troy, was also available. And so what better way to start my Cannonball read this year (my first ever), than by a review of this fantastic book? You don’t need to have read Silence of the Girls (though you should, because it’s excellent) because Barker reiterates the important stuff which went down in that book which has its impact on this one, […]

“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 […]



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