The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

 

Madeline Miller's book 'The Song of Achilles' is such a well written story. Miller did a great job in retelling and modernizing the story of Homer's Iliad. She didn't go heavy with the greek mythology terms, which made the reading flow smoothly for someone like me who isn't really much knowledgable with the Greek mythology. The development of the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles flowed so organically, with starting from friendship, to companion, then to lovers. Madeline Miller descriptively wrote Patroclus' love in such a beautiful way — something that I didn't know love could be even possibly described as. 

I heard a lot of hype about this book, which what got me interesting in purchasing myself a copy. A lot of people mentioned how the book's ending is one of the saddest story ever written, making them sob very badly, but to my case, I didn't experience such thing. I was even looking forward to having the ending emotionally shatter me, but not a single tear even came out. I still enjoyed the ending despite it. The book left me a realization how much pride can be such a destructing characteristic, with having a huge potential in breaking relationships. Pride can be a strength, but can also bring weakness at the same time. A really great book! 

You can read the synopsis here.