THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It’s not easy to refresh the old. There’s a lot of baggage there, and a lot of tradition. People don’t always like to see a story they know by heart altered in any way. But in this case, it’s less an alteration and more a rekindling of the probable truth — as far as epic poetry goes.

In The Song of Achilles, we find ourselves listening to the music more through Patroclus than the skilled hero we’ve all heard of. The one we all picture as Brad Pitt in our hearts and minds. In some accounts, Patroclus is more of a cousin or little brother to Achilles, sometimes a little stubborn or angsty, his admiration for Achilles leading to his downfall and the chain reaction of violence that follows. But here we are given a wholly new relationship to follow, one that ends basically the same but most likely harkens back to the real intentions of Homer. Is there proof that he meant for them to be lovers and for that to be the center point of The Iliad? I can’t say for sure, but there’s no denying that the emotional connection — and wreckage — reaches another level by making it so. And I’m still reeling a bit from the fall.

Like most readers of the classics, I knew where this was headed from page one. But I had no idea how deep the author would be able to make this thousands-year-old text. Her language and prose is so rich, frequently catching me with a clever line that sounds so right for Ancient Greece yet so powerful today that it almost frustrated me. How can someone tap into that duality so well? And pour over it a thick layer of heart and romance and passion? I enjoy a nice love story when the mood is right, but this was one for the ages.

My absolute favorite part of this book is how it has drawn modern audiences back to the classics. I can’t imagine how many people had heard of Achilles but knew nothing else of The Iliad, or how many knew about neither before reading this book. It’s a stunning adaptation of the original, but it also works as a standalone entry for newcomers to the genre. I’ve found the classics to be an endless source for history, entertainment, and enlightenment, and it’s all the more exciting when it pops up in things from my own era. And even more so when the collective literary world agrees with me.

I didn’t expect to be wowed by this when I started. I actually read it on my phone’s Kindle app, the first non-physical book I’ve read in years, thinking I’d just slip it in when I had time before finding myself racing through the last half in a few days. It’s a refreshing version of the story, one told so well it makes me wonder if it will be the new standard for ages to come. Perhaps this will be the way people will remember the tale in a thousand years. Time will tell, but it might not be a bad thing.