Rev: The Song of Achilles

2019.11.10

book review: The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

strong

middling strong

“the first draft of a good idea that was forced by editing to boost the page count by 50% by adding inline explanations that will broaden out the audience to people who know nothing of greek history and myth, and whose author had a bit of bias that came out in framing that was too-far id-pol (just slightly)”

sort of feeling

there really is a lot to see here, even as it stands

odysseus IS odysseus

the contradiction that is “minor goddess” is in thetis, and she bookends nicely, with real character

a&p do have some moments, many moments, all throughout, that give uncanny life to childhood images and fantasies; that in-the-present, in-the-flesh that’s birthed of smaller details and the functional simplicities of being in the presence of a body that-is-yours-not-yours-is-yours

do have to say, though, this did not feel like a ten-year book

what might explain, the heavy-handedness and slight fixation on the modern-culture-framework-that-explains-about-the-patriarchy, is her having been a highschool teacher at the time and in and out of universities (respectively)

altogether this could be a very good book, but its execution brings it down to somewhere-in-the-middle

still worth reading, though