In love with Greek tragedy and queer romance? I suggest picking up The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
One of the biggest aspects of this novel is the classic wording Miller uses throughout the whole story. This book feels like it is written specifically for people who look to romanticize classic literature, but doesn’t do it in an offbeat, intentionally deep, confusingly worded way. The imagery Miller uses is absolutely perfect. She gives a lot of details when it comes to setting, but not too much to bore the reader.
I think this novel does an amazing job of showing queer relationships in a subtle, very gradual way in which Patroclus slowly realizes he is in love with Achilles throughout the story. Even while it’s extremely obvious that it’s the case from the beginning, Miller leaves the reader on the edge of their seat when it comes to finding out how or what will happen when it comes to Achilles.
Achilles’ character is written in a very unique way. As most would portray him as someone who could be overly confident and strong, I think showing Achilles as this sort of laid-back, more subtle boy in Patroclus’ eyes is really smart. We get to see how Achilles grows up, what his parents are like, and how his training affects him all through the eyes of someone who admires him deeply. I absolutely adore this portrayal.
There’s a certain vulnerability being that both boys like each other but it’s really hard to make things work between them. Achilles has responsibilities towards his family– especially his mother who is super strict and only wants the best for him– as well as training to become a god. This is all while Patroclus has nothing to lose, but wants to be seen highly by Achilles’ family. It gives the story a very realistic portrayal of queer relationships when it comes to societal expectations. Their relationship isn’t toxic or harmful in any way (which makes this storytelling really nice considering most queer stories have the stereotype of things going heavily wrong). This makes the story extremely comfortable to read, even while it is really sad at times—it’s in no way heartbreaking to read.
With Miller’s work, it’s really great to see classic stories like these come to life. Even while the story is known, she tells it in a way that still has people guessing what can happen next with the characters and their interactions. I’ve recently heard Miller might be writing about Hades and Persephone’s story next—which actually got me to read The Song of Achilles as quickly as possible.
It’s a paradox; an excitingly comfortable story and I don’t think there’s a single person I wouldn’t recommend it to. Madeline Miller is a wonderful storyteller. I give it a 9/10.
