What's so great about The Song of Achilles?
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- Опубліковано 1 сер 2024
- The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller's retelling of the Trojan War; the story Achilles, Greece's greatest warrior; and Patroclus, his lover, is exactly as good as everyone says it is.
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I actually really liked how Odysseus was characterised in the book. He was fun to read. It’d be interesting to read Miller’s interpretation of the odyssey.
The Song of Achilles and The Silence of the Girls are both my all-time favourite books! I am glad that you love them! Hopefully, I can get my hands on The Women of Troy soon!
Yay! I keep seeing Women of Troy in bookshops and have to hold myself back because I know I don't have the time. But it taunts me!
To everyone who hasn‘t read it yet: GET THE AUDIOBOOK! I partially read it but listend to everything I read as well, the narrator has done an AMAZING job. And I am usually not much of an audiobook kind of person.
Thanks for the rec! I'm not an audiobook person either but if this one is as good as you say, I'll check it out!
Is there only one audiobook?
YES! I read this book three times in a row when I first read it, the first two times from my actual copy and the third I listened to the audiobook
I actually prefer Circe over the Song of Achilles! Really love both though! Would also love to see a Madeline Miller retelling of Medusa or Hades and Persephone.
So it's not often that I really love the ending to a book, but TSOA has such a poetic, bittersweet ending to it that it really stuck with me. Particularly loved the final interactions between Patroclus and Thetis. My favorite thing abt this is that I really don't like Achilles as a character, but as it's Patroclus' POV you can't help but cheer for them because you just *feel* the love Patroclus has for him.
I've had my reservations regarding The Silence of the Girls, but I think it's time to give it a new go!
I totally agree about the ending! I have a weird habit of forgetting how books end, but the ending of TSOA will stay with me forever. It hit harder than any other moment for me.
I absolutely loved the way you talked about this masterpiece of a book. Ive read it twice now in the span of 2 months & it became my favorite book before even finishing it the first time. It captured me so beautifully and I don’t ever want it to let me go. Also! Sick rings!! & the shirt is cool as well :)
I'm looking forward to my second read as well! It really is something very special!
I just finished this book last week and I love your review of it. You mentioned some things that I didn't know and have made me love this book even more - like Madeline Miller's inspiration for writing this story. I enjoyed this story so much I ordered the 10th anniversary edition because it really deserves a spot on my shelf.
I read the Song of Achilles, Circe and the Odyssey last year back to back 😅 I think I overdid it on the Greek mythology front! But the Song of Achilles was by far my favourite!
I love going on binges like that! Right now, all I want to read are books with witches in them! It's my October plan
How can anyone overdo on Greek myth?
I really loved Circe, the writing really tugged at my heart and I really felt the loneliness and yearning of the .ain't character. The song of Achilles despite knowing how it ends had me really rooting for them. Lol it was so frustrating knowing it ends with death but wanting it to somehow change
The fact that this was her first novel blows my mind
I'm so glad that you like it. 🙂🙂
That's so true I liked Odysseus's carecter way more better in The song of Achillies than Circe .But maybe that's how it was supposed to be, keeping in mind that it's the story of him after the war has ended and how it had impacted him .
That's a very good point! I was obsessed with how he was depicted in TSOA!
@@WillowTalksBooks Exactly! :))
I just fell in love with your channel. I’ve just added a bunch of your recommendations to my tbr list!
Ahhh thank you!
i cant tell you enough - how much im enjoying your channel !!!
Aw thank you so much! That really means so much to me 💜
I discovered your channel today because of Yoko Ogawa, who I consider absolutely brilliant. I am loving your content! I think we love the same books. It’s great to share this enthusiasm for the same kind of literature.
It's always an absolute pleasure to meet readers with similar tastes! 💜
I am about to read this book, your very good review was what I need to hear, thank you 😊🙏
I discovered your channel through your review of Hamnet, and have been binging non stop! Thanks so much for your in-depth and interesting reviews :)
Sigh, I miss Hamnet. Should read it again. I also miss the garden I filmed that video in lol. Thanks for bingeing! I'm honestly very flattered!
This book was amazing but it made me so sad :(
Oh for sure, me too. She builds up your attachment to people who are fated to die so well, it's almost cruel lol
Loved this book so much !
Me too, in the end! I was nervous but it didn't let me down!
I lol'd so hard when you said he got banished for being a little shit. loved this book. I also slept on this one for a while. Read Circe early last year and really enjoyed it and read this shortly after. Incredible. I think about this book all the time. great vid!
Haha thanks, in the moment I couldn't remember at all why he had been exiled lol
just talked me into purchasing it. great review
Waau! Thank You! I felt the same!
Hooray!
Where did u get that cover version? I LOVE IT
It's the tenth anniversary edition that bookshops around the UK started selling a few months ago :)
@@WillowTalksBooks aaaaaaa thanks
Hi I’ve been trying to buy that copy and can’t seem to find where exactly to buy it that’s trustworthy? Especially to get delivered to USA?
The best places to buy books from the UK to the US are Book Depository (who I think are owned by Amazon) and Blackwell's, which is a lovely bookshop that do cheap shipping. I bought my copy at the Blackwell's branch in Cambridge. Try their website!
I really enjoyed this review especially the part where you didn't want to give away how Odysseus is represented. Made me laugh. I'm just starting the song of Achilles now (audiobook) and I'm really enjoying it. I'm just a little nervous because I have heard that the ending is a super tearjerker. By the way, your hair is looking better and better as it gets longer. And, you had great hair to begin with!!! I've read Norwegian woods, My brilliant life, what I talk about when I talk about running and a pale view of the hills based on your recommendations. I loved them all. Keep up the fantastic work..
Haha I'm so glad you enjoyed! But yes, the ending is a serious tearjerker for sure! And thank you especially for reading My Brilliant Life. I want that book in more hands!
This guy is so good! He sold this novel to me!!
Not a guy but thank you x
Hi.
Have you read "Ariadne" and do you know if it's any good?
I think the author's name is Jennifer Saint.
Yup, I’ve done videos on all her books
can you please also review this book called the classified superficial charm
I would love to get my hands on this edition. How can I get it in Pakistan?
From Blackwell’s probably :)
Darling, could you make a book review for the Sacred Band Of Thebes by James S. Romm?
Love this video by the way.
Keep up the great work. ⭐⭐⭐
Didn't it all start with Mary Renault?
I still need to read this book (I have it on my shelf, just am worried that the hype around it will hurt my thoughts and enjoyment of it, I loved Circe tho so I hope it’ll be amazing)
If you loved Circe, you're bound to love this even more!
it was on my shelf for seven months, and I just binge-read it this afternoon after picking it up finally. finished it like half an hour ago. it is literally worth all the hype, I couldn't put it down except to eat and go to the toilet lol
can someone give me a in depth detail of how patrochlus got banished? And how we met Achilles
He killed another boy by accident
@@WillowTalksBooks how did that happen?
He killed a boy by playing dice or something and pushed him to rocks so he died and was exiled to live in the same place as Achilles , they met and Achilles invited him to practice fighting as his companion etc
I absolutely LOVE this book, actually my most favorite one. But the one thing that I didnt like is how she wrote Patroclus as this like weak person, he was actually FEARED amongst others, he was the right hand man of achilles after all, and in the book it made it seem like an accident that he killed a son of zeus and almost took over troy by himself, but no he was fully capable of doing that. One of the promises he makes with achilles is literally not to take down troy all by himself without Achilles
Achilles was traditionally cruel, brutal, lazy-like Phyrrus his son. This book made him soft and bright. Patroclus not being feared amongst others is just as good as he were expected to be. He was described as meek, and perhaps he was feared by many yet Patroclus didn’t find it that way. In this book, was a gentleman, he was chivalrous.
@@sevdeleon2593 yeah and that's the problem, but then again we r reading this in Patroclus' pov
I loved your video! I loved this book. I basically sobbed my way through it; just truly beautiful. And the sex scenes were hot as hell! I’m going to have to get that 10th anniversary edition. Be well cutie !
It was an innana priestess who gathered gold elements...worked some magic i guess and made him through some alien technology partially immortal, He was a prodotype. Interesting....hybreedization program after the flood was forbidden by the divine council. The kengu hominid enki must have sent an innana from ishtar temple disguised as a mortal. Achilles genes were special and comprised from african and european genetic sequence. Enki wanted to create a hybreed agent who will be an immortal agent who will posses the power of the gods. After many secret experimentations he had found the right combination and by 1990 he had found in the carmel hospital the perfect vessel to experiment; a deluded offspring of ishtar. I was born and experimented ....and finally became a messiah..nephilim angel.
This gave me a full-on instant headache
I really enjoyed The Song of Achilles and it was a 5 star for me, but I hate to admit it - the constant bagging of straight women who like it on booktok etc, has taken the shine off. Really over all the book gatekeeping.
I honestly have no idea what you're referring to. I am so bad at keeping up with The Discourse and that's a huge relief to me
@@WillowTalksBooks You're lucky! Booktok is out of control, I'm ditching it for booktube which is nowhere near as toxic.
@@nataliemanuel5203 exactly
I think it was overhyped. The sexism and the treatment of women in this book is horrible. Everyone hated Achilles mother, but everyone forgot she was raped by his father and forced by the Gods to have Achilles. Achilles leaving a pregnant girl. The ending was good not gonna lie. I enjoyed the ending, but overall overhyped book by all means.
But why would you want destroy the classics with a degenerate ideology? Why would you want to torture ancient texts and turn them into gay fan fiction?
Because they were originally gay? And Christian whitewashing turned them into something bland over centuries of “purifying” history and literature? Why am I even replying to someone who openly uses the word “degenerate”. Get out of here.
my guy, shakespeare wrote gay fanfiction about them. that alone is good enough reason 💀
There is a long history of interpreting these characters as gay lovers? The ancient Greeks themselves interpreted it that way. Plato for instance? Be serious
Eem because its canon,in classics. Do you think they would do smut in an epic poem, and, there is apretty clear romance,in tje classic (and epos of gilgameah who actually has metaphors even harder)
Totally overhyped. Patroclus had as much depth as Bella in Twilight. Zero character development- the endless description of Achilles good looks including his pretty nails and feet was a snoozefest. Why the hell does Achilles like this pathetic excuse of a man? Their conversations are boring as hell. Odysseus is the most interesting character in the book and that’s not saying much. 1.5 stars out of 5. After Reading Sally Rooney and realizing that it was hyped as well, I can’t trust book tube at all.
Booktube can go suck my balls!!! 😤😡🤬
As a fan of yaoi/bl genre, I really hated this book. The gay relationship dynamic was no different than a hetero one. I don’t think it’s a good retelling of the original text either because P fought alongside with A in Iliad and that is so important in terms of an equal and ideal partner. And female characters only exist as a testimony for the main characters’ unwavering love for each other is just misogynistic (which having been criticized within Yaoi community). I would rather there’s no female character whatsoever than having the sole purpose of female characters is being fridged.