The Song of Achilles

"In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun."

About the book:

Written by Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles is a retelling of the story of Greek hero Achilles and his partner Patroclus. The resources for this book are mostly from Homer's Illiad.

It's a famously known fact in history that Achilles refused to fight alongside the Greeks after getting insulted by Agamemnon and later, the death of Patroclus changes the course of the Trojan war. We can see all of this in the Illiad. This retelling centres around their story and starts right from their childhood.

This book must definitely come with a warning tag. A disclaimer that your heart would be shattered after reading this. I remember reading about The Trojan War in 7th grade. It was really confusing at the beginning. Who is Helen? Why are they fighting over her? What's all this barbarism for? That was the beginning of my love for Greek mythology and I never fell out of it. Reading "The Song Of Achilles" was like falling in love with the mythology all over again. It was devastatingly beautiful.

The writing- it was so very glorious that while reading I was teleported to the beautiful springs of Pthia, to the ruddy war-ridden lands of the magnificent Troy. The characters are stitched so intrinsically it's hard not to stay connected to them. You don't need to know about Greek Mythology to read this. It can be a bit much with a zillion names to remember in the beginning but once you get the hang of it, it flows quite beautifully.

"Swear to me that if you go, you will not fight them. You will stay with Automedon in the chariot and let the Myrmidons go in front of you"

- Achilles, The Song Of Achilles.

It's no secret that Patroclus dies at the end. But I still wasn't ready for that onslaught of grief. Their story is so beautiful yet tragic. What made me sadder was at one point in the book Achilles says that he's going to be the one hero who would live happily and wouldn't have a tragic end because Patroclus was the reason for it. After reading this you expect me not to die? Writing about this is so hard. It's like plucking at all the wounds that have stayed hidden. You can't have a character thinking about a happy end in books. That's when you know that the character is going to die.

I read this book as a part of the Pride Readathon. If you haven't already read this book I strongly recommend reading this and crying to your sleep because Achilles and Patroclus didn't have the happy ending they deserved.