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#SwellBookClub Discussion - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
I think the best part of discussing a book with a community of like minded people is that here we are, all of us reading the same words, but interpreting them in our own ways. The takeaways are all so different and unique, and I think that is really what makes this so special. Without much ado, let's dive right into the discussion
Several academics have written about the homoerotic subtext, and I think Miller is not unique in her interpretation of this relationship, but her writing does refreshingly stand out, and before I knew, I found myself halfway through the books in like a matter of hours. I'm also curious to have your take on how Miller has taken creative liberties with her characterization of Patroclus. In the Iliad, Patroclus is one of the Achean's most formidable warriors
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 1:56
So the relationship is sort of portrayed as a very transformative, powerful one, which has these two individuals so much in love with each other and so much devoted to each other, but caught, of course, in the throes of destiny. But one thing that did strike me as a little I would call that perturbed me, was the portrayal of both the characters, right
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 5:00
She's there, and she's drawing these memories out of Petroculus's wandering ghost. And that is what we are hearing this book. It is a ghost, which is, I suppose, sharing its life. A ghost whom, let's say, from page one, given whom his father was, and I mean, we saw how his father treated him. It's mandatory to have self worth issues, I suppose. So this is where I disagree with you, right?
Malaika Mendes
@Ragafari · 4:30
So it's not very long, but the quality of what she wrote and she's somebody, she's a classicist. She can read and write Greek and Latin and all of that, so it really shows. And all the research, all the work that she did to get to the story, to get into the story, it really paid off. So I have to give her Kudos. Great work
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 4:37
I personally enjoy this depiction primarily because we have two men as the titular characters of this romance. And I'm not talking about homosexuality here, I'm talking about masculinity, and how masculinity ideally deals with love, especially in romance. I really enjoyed this depiction, the depiction of this relationship, because from everything that I've observed about men, they are not like brutes. They definitely are taught to project that about themselves. But they like nice things, they like gentle things
So in the sense that she didn't have to be very descriptive or too wordy to kind of make this narrative so compelling, which probably wouldn't have happened had she not spent so much time studying the Iliad, doing all her research. Yeah. So I think it really shows. It really comes out
I think Miller does finally manage to elevate him as the best of thermal madons, and her play on that particular phrase I think is beautiful. So we hear the phrase the best of the mermaidans twice in the Song of Achilles. The first time is when theatis comes to deliver news of a prophecy of the prophecy to Achilles. And at first we kind of assume that it is Achilles that she's talking about, but there is a brief exchange there between them that has a bit of ambiguity
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 4:35
So I think that is what I'm assuming Madeline tried to bring out with the way she wrote Petroclips. She's done something similar with Cersei, too, in my opinion, how she writes Cersei, specifically, the end of it, of how she represents divinity and humanity. So I really love that