The Song of Achilles

25/07/2022

"He is half of my soul as the poets say" 

I just got home from Greece for the holidays, and I obviously had to take 'The Song of Achilles' with me. So today, I'm gonna talk about a book I just finished. 

I knew all about Achilles, son of the divinity Thetis and of King Peleus as a glorious warrior of the Trojan War, but little was told to me about his friend Patroclus. In this novel, it is he who leads the narration and it is through his feelings that we follow his adventures linked to the fabulous hero of Greek mythology : their childhood at the court of King Peleus, their adolescence with Chiron, the Centaur, who introduced them to the arts of war but also to music and medicine, their exile on the island of Scyros and then, of course, their participation in the Trojan War with Ulysses. 

I found this novel particularly interesting because it contrasts without hesitation with the image that the general public has of the demi-god with a vulnerable heel. Moreover, here, the famous legend of Achilles' invulnerability is not mentioned. Achilles certainly looks divine, but he is still a mortal.

This story is wonderfully written and even if we know the end, it is nonetheless breathtaking, thanks to Madeline Miller, who succeeded in returning key moments in the lives of Achilles and Patroclus. But she adds her personal touch by transforming this Song of Achilles in a true love song, a tragic and sentimental ode. 

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