Comments on: The Song of Achilles, Madeleine Miller

By: ODY-C, Matt Fraction (vol. 1) - Reading the End

ODY-C, Matt Fraction (vol. 1) - Reading the End — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 10:02:05 +0000

[…] talked about this before: Homer is Homer. If you are going to give us a new take on Homer, it should make us see Homer […]

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 13:22:32 +0000

I thought it was a sweet love story, but you’re right that the anger of Achilles should arise from more than that.

By: Gin Jenny

Gin Jenny — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 12:01:11 +0000

In reply to litlove. Yes! YAish is a good description of it. It was sort of insta-love-y, and I hate that.

By: Gin Jenny

Gin Jenny — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 11:59:44 +0000

In reply to Christy. That's cool. The Odyssey is way more fun, I admit. I reread it much oftener than I do The Iliad. YES TO MARY RENAULT. Seriously, she's the best. But not The Last of the Wine or Funeral Games, those ones are boring.

By: Gin Jenny

Gin Jenny — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 11:56:12 +0000

In reply to aartichapati.

You know, if you want, I’d be willing to send you a Mary Renault book (or two or three). I’m in the process of replacing my copies of her books with all matching copies, so I could send you one of the books I have duplicates of. I have duplicates of The King Must Die (the Thesus story; my mother loves this one but it’s not my favorite), The Mask of Apollo (a made-up character, not a retelling of anything), The Persian Boy (Alexander the Great — probably the best of her books, but it’s her second Alexander the Great book, which I think is fine because you can chase down any confusing stuff on Wikipedia; but you might mind), or The Charioteer (this book set during World War II that I ferociously love and read constantly but nobody else likes at all).

Isn’t that interesting about negative reviews? That happens to me all the time. One of many reasons book bloggers are so cool.

By: Gin Jenny

Gin Jenny — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 11:52:35 +0000

In reply to The Literary Omnivore. Yes! They really are. I went back and read your review again after I wrote mine, and I was pleased that we'd had similar responses to the Achilles-Patroclus thing.

By: Gin Jenny

Gin Jenny — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 11:50:43 +0000

In reply to Fyrefly. There no need for a tiny voice! Don't do a tiny voice! Lots of people have not read the Iliad. Just know for when you do eventually get around to it that it's amazing. Also, yeah, I think it probably is helpful not to have the super powerful and awesome version of this story in mind when reading the adaptation of it.

By: litlove

litlove — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 21:06:30 +0000

I agree – I found it all too YA-ish to begin with, and it only got going in the last quarter (which I did find powerful). I think you hit the nail on the head by pointing to the lack of flaws in their early relationship and the absence of that destined thing. It does matter.

By: Christy

Christy — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 15:13:13 +0000

I have read the Odyssey (in high school) but not the Iliad. I kept hearing such great things about The Song of Achilles that despite a lack of strong interest in that era, I was like, “fine! I will put it on my list.” I do feel after reading your review that maybe I should read the Iliad first. Or at the very least, read something by Mary Renault.

By: aartichapati

aartichapati — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 05:46:41 +0000

I need to read Mary Renault. I have had her on my wish list for EVER and just have not picked up one of her books. Or perhaps her books are just impossible to find at used bookstores because everyone lurves them?

Based on your comments about the Iliad above (which, er, I also have not read, but at least I appear to be in good company), I can see why you disliked this book. It’s interesting – I read your negative review of this book (which I really liked) and then I read Biblibio’s negative review of In the Shadow of the Banyan (which I also really liked) and both times, I could completely see where the negative review was coming from, and it was just stuff I hadn’t thought about when I was reading those books. So thanks!