“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell: I would know him blind. By the way his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death. At the end of the world.”
The voice of a man blinded by love and passion, the voice that Madeline Miller gives to one of her characters in her first novel takes a different approach to the well-known poem of The Iliad by Homer. In this version, Miller focuses on the epic romance of two particular characters: Achilles and Patroclus.
The Song of Achilles (2012) gives voice to a young boy growing up into a man named Patroclus. He tells of how Achilles went from a young prince to the greatest warrior. Through the eyes of Patroclus Miller we observe the life of Achilles, the war, and the undying and enormous love that Patroclus feels for his prince.
The novel goes from Patroclus being a prince himself, to becoming a faithful companion to a very young Achilles, who has always known that he was made for greatness. Their innocent friendship then blossoms to forbidden love, love in the middle of war, love against prophecies, and love that can be blinding. Achilles and Patroclus fall in love, but there are many factors against them: a ten year war, a goddess, a prophecy, and the underworld. Perhaps this is what makes the story epic: their yearning for each other, and their knowledge that what they have is provocative and forbidden.
Miller does a fine job of portraying a character who deeply falls in love with everything that the other person represents. This book, narrated by Patroclus, portrays the great heroes from Greek mythology as humans craving power, full of ambition, and shows how unconditional love does not always mean pure love. Patroclus is able to observe these other characters and carefully dissect their intentions, however when it comes to his lover Achilles, he doesn’t see a human but a perfect god. This begs the question, is this a reliable narrator? Did Miller do this on purpose? How much is his undying love and what he wants to see, and how much is it real?
Nevertheless, as readers, it is easy to get swept away by the flow of the story, by the heroes, the gods, the love, and the yearning for a happy outcome for the beloved characters, Achilles and Patroclus.
As a writer myself, who spent an entire semester writing stories about characters from Greek mythology from an entirely different perspective, I encourage you to read this book. It is a beautiful story that, if you begin reading, will transport you immediately to the magical world of Greek mythology.
