Madeline Miller: The Song of Achilles

This was the first of Madeline Miller’s books that I read and I discovered it by accident - and found it one of the most thrilling accidental discoveries ever.

It’s the story of Achilles - and centrally his relationship with Patrocolus. Althuogh the story is well-known this re-telling is done in wonderfully vivid poetic prose and has formidable narrative drive. There is a fantastic contrast between the gorily vivid and realistic battle scenes (truly bringing home what hand-to-hand combat at this time may well have been like) and the elegantly erotic and tender account of the central Achilles/Patrocolus relationship. Its brings home wonderfully how fine and great human feelings and relationships can grow and develop even in the most extreme of circumstances.

As befits a classical scholar I am sure all the details are correct (knowledgeable reviewers seem to agree on this) but one never has the feeling that the learning is being flashed around as come happen in historical novels. It seems totally in keeping with the spirit of the original (as far as I can make an informed judgement on that) and yet stands wonderfully well on its own.

I am really looking forward to the next book of hers. The one that followed this, Circe, can be found reviewed in the main Fiction section of this site.