Retro Review: The Song of Achilles
/When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.
5 stars. This book tells the life story of Patroclus, a friend (in this case, lover) of Achilles, legendary fighter and son of a goddess. Patroclus first encounters Achilles as a young boy, and readers witness their friendship develop into something deeper. Eventually, they head to war - the Trojan War - and the story concludes with both heroes fulfilling their destinies.
I hated this book until I reached the last few chapters. Actually, I hated it entirely. Actually, I loved this book. I can't decide. Regardless, I found it to be amazing.
The Song of Achilles wasn't at all what I was expecting. I picked it up because of my interest in Greek mythology, hoping for a fresh and captivating look at the Trojan War. I suppose I actually did get that, in the end, I just didn't expect to see it through a romantic lens.
Yeah. FYI, this is a romance. Fully blown, agonizing infatuation, profound obsession, there-is-no-life-without-you romance. (Also, I would not describe it as erotica, though there are erotic parts.)
At first I found it to be boring, actually, because so much attention was paid to Patroclus and Achilles' relationship. By the end though, I realized that so much attention was paid because it made the ending that much more of a gut punch. Even though we all saw it coming (it is history, after all) ... ouch.
The language is stunning. This is not a sloppy book. I loved the inclusion of the gods and goddesses and all the things the Greeks believed in. And yeah, that painful ending really got me. I couldn't believe how suddenly, over the course of a few paragraphs, I became so emotionally invested in the characters of a book I almost didn't finish.
I feel so weird about this one. I loved it and I hated it. I appreciated the writing and commend the author for her skill. No other book has shocked me into tears like this one has. Which sounds kind of horrible, like why would you ever want to be shocked into tears? But I really, really, really appreciated the story. This is a difficult one for me, but I say read it, for better or for worse.