the song of achilles

unfortunately, the song of achilles did not meet my expectations.

considering how popular this book was on social meda, i came into this experience expecting something life changing, ground breaking, earth shattering, but after reading, i unfortunately didn't think any of those things. 

now, i want to clarify that i did enjoy this book. i've always been amused by greek mythology, especially since my childhood days of reading percy jackson after school so it automatically caught my attention. i had always heard glimpses of achilles and the mythology that surrounded him, but never knew all of the details that involved his character. 

the romance between patroclus and achilles is by far the best part of this book. when i went into reading this story, i wasn't aware of how gay everything was. i didn't even know that it was a romance. it's easy to say that i was pleasantly surprised. their relationship was so complex, loving, unconditional, and romantic. it was refreshing to read a romance that didn't make me want to claw out my brains from their relationship being too forced, cliche, or corny. they truly were just two boys who fell in love despite being so different from one another. 

if one learns anything from this book it is that ego and pride kill. this desire for immortality and praise is what strips achilles of everything. he is blind to his own death and the death of others as a result. his mother wished that he possessed more traits of a god, and less of a mortal, yet it is those god-like characteristics that lead to tragedy, seen again with pyrrhus. humanity is not a burden, but a blessing. i believed that is what patroclus symbolized to achilles, a person that his mother always hated. 

although i enjoyed this story, there are issues i had in how it was told. 

one of my main struggles with this book is how it was written. don't get me wrong, she has some deeply beautiful lines scattered throughout the pages, but a lot of the time the text felt emotionless. perhaps miller's writing style is not for me or it was intentional considering the context of the novel, but for me it made things fall flat. it was difficult to truly experience the full extent of the emotional connection between patroclus and achilles or the struggles of war. while reading i yearned for more passion, more description, more imagery described within the lines. it's hard to describe, but the writing was missing something that i needed in order to elevate the story. 

with that being said, the pacing of this story is pretty fast and although that's not something i was opposed too while reading, i think there are some essential components that may have required a bit more time and length, like the ending. it felt rushed, as if miller was in a hurry to wrap things up. this story didn't have an ending worthy of its merit. the death of both patroclus and achilles desperately needed more pages. the end of hector was also extremely quick despite the whole plot building up all of this anticipation for their battle and his death. achilles' meeting with priam needed more lines too, showing a side of achilles we haven't seen since the war started. after patroclus dies there are only about thirty pages until the end of the book, and in my opinion that just isn't enough. it felt very abrupt when i would have preferred to slide into the end with ease. we read this whole love story between these two young men and with the ending being so short, i felt robbed. 

overall, this was a straightforward read with an entertaining story, but some parts of the text didn't cater to my own personal preferences, which is okay. at the end of the day, i had an enjoyable time reading about the story of achilles.