The Song of Achilles (2012)
Who wrote it?
Madeline Miller (1978- ; active 2011- ), born Boston, MA, USA. She grew up on New York City and Philadelphia, and graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s and master’s in Classics (completed in 2001). She then spent a decade teaching Latin, Greek and Shakespeare to high school students, during which time she began work on this, her debut novel.
Following the success of The Song of Achilles, she has continued to mine a similar seam, with all of her subsequent writing following the same formula of retelling of Greek myths and legends from alternative perspectives. Her second novel, Circe (2018), takes on elements of Homer’s Odyssey from the perspective of one of its female characters, an enchantress. An 8-part miniseries of the latter is in production by HBO. She is currently working on her third novel, about the goddess Persephone.
What's it about?
The Song of Achilles is a retelling of the events of Homer’s Iliad, as told from the perspective of Patroclus. In Homer, Patroclus was a childhood friend and close wartime companion of Achilles. Later Greek authors, including Aeschylus and Plato, as well as Shakespeare (in Troilus and Cressida) brought out the implicit romantic relationship between the two characters, and it’s this aspect that Miller focuses on for her adaptation of the story.
Following a childhood accident in which Patroclus kills the son of one of his father’s noblemen, he is exiled to Phthia under the care of king Peleus, the father of Achilles alongside the sea-nymph Thetis. Patroclus and Achilles form a close friendship, and in spite of Thetis’ efforts to separate the pair by sending Achilles to train under the centaur Chiron, Patroclus eventually joins him and in their two years together there, their relationship is cemented.
The novel continues into the Trojan War, under the shadow of the prophecy of Achilles’ death. Without spelling out all of the rest of the plot, Achilles, fighting under duress (and against the wishes of his goddess mother), lives up to his reputation as the greatest fighter of his generation, but ultimately retreats from combat after a series of major disagreements with Agamemnon. As their army is gradually worn down, and attempts to re-recruit Achilles to the call fail, Patroclus makes the fateful decision to impersonate Achilles in battle.
What I liked
Well, it’s a whole lot of fun. Easy-going, a page-turner, all of that. The blurb describes it as a ‘Hollywood’ style retelling of the myth, which I can’t say is far wrong. It hits all the right notes of suspense (at least for someone not intimately familiar with Homer), drama and tugging at the heartstrings. I’m only surprised that nobody has (as yet) taken on the challenge of turning it into the predictable screen blockbuster.
Unlike some other reviews I’ve seen, I did generally buy into the character of Patroclus, and found him sympathetic and believable in his motivations.
The early years of the story were particularly enjoyable, with both the sections in Peleus’ court and the idyllic years spent under Chiron feeling rich and absorbing.
I suspect if you’re a proper classicist, there’s a rich mine of references and in-jokes (sort of?) to get in here. For me, an absolute novice with vague recollections from school many many years ago, I still enjoyed some of the more famous aspects of the story being sidelined in favour of a clear focus on the central romance. Towards the end especially there are a couple of amusingly slight nods to the Achilles Heel mythology and the (much later anyway) Trojan Horse.
Others have criticised the writing in general, but for me it did what it needed to. It brought a world to life without undue over-ornamentation, and spins a good twist on a classic tale while keeping things moving at a fair clip. No complaints on that front, given what it was
It’s always nice to see something a bit different winning one of these Prizes. It’s hard to point to anything else in Booker or Women’s Prize winning history that’s quite like this one, and a refreshing reminder than not everything has to feel like a cliched idea of what a prizewinner should be like.
What I didn’t like
Having made that last point, I did find that this was - to my own tastes at least - a little lacking in substance compared to many of the other winners I’ve covered. I can’t say this is objective criticism - I’m no great expert on either retellings of myths nor romantic fiction, so it may well be an excellent example of both. But I didn’t feel like I was getting any particularly rich insight or inspiration from this one, just enjoying a good (literally) old story.
This is a weird criticism, but hey, I’m being fully subjective as ever: I didn’t really get on with all the truly fantastical / mythological elements of the story. It’s almost that Miller creates something so down to earth and human in the Patroclus / Achilles relationship that the godlike interventions feel like they appear from nowhere sometimes and take you out of the central story. It’s not a seamless shift as you might get in say a magic realist novel with its own flights of fantasy alongside realism. But then, I guess it’s probably not trying to be.
Food & drink pairings
Suggestive figs
Simple fare, bread, fish, cheese, etc.
Fun facts
Judge Joanna Trollope’s claim that the book’s win, while deserved, came as a ‘surprise even to us’ implies this was one of those compromise choice awards winners - most likely everyone’s second favourite, with everyone too polarised over their favourites to pick another.
The book received a surprising boost in 2021, thanks to everybody’s favourite algorithm-based random success generator TikTok. From what I can gather, this particular BookTok trend involved large amounts of ‘dramatic wailing and yelling’ which helps convince those wacky Gen Z-ers that there is emotive content contained within. Yikes. Miller commented that she wished she could send them all chocolates - not sure if that was as a reward for all the extra $$$s or just to stop them wailing; can’t be bothered to investigate further.
Vanquished Foes
Esi Edugyan (Half-Blood Blues)
Anne Enright (The Forgotten Waltz)
Georgina Harding (Painter of Silence)
Cynthia Ozick (Foreign Bodies)
Ann Patchett (State of Wonder)
A former Booker winner and a former Women’s Prize winner among a strong shortlist here, albeit one that once again I’ve read none of (yet!),. Edugyan’s Half-Blood Blues was also on the 2011 Booker Shortlist, losing out to Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending.
2012’s Booker winner was Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall sequel, Bring Up The Bodies.
Context
In 2012:
Hurricane Sandy wreaks devastation across North American Atlantic coast
Barack Obama re-elected US president, defeating Mitt Romney
Blackouts in India in July constitute the worst power outage in world history
Sinking of the passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia off Italian coast
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, US
Shooting at cinema in Colorado during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises kills 12
Washington, US, becomes the first jurisdiction in the modern world to officially legalize the possession of cannabis for personal use
London Olympics
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
Kim Dotcom's Megaupload filesharing site is shut down by the FBI
Felix Baumgartner becomes first person to break sound barrier without machine assistance, during a record space dive
KONY 2012 viral Youtube film
Final print edition of Encyclopedia Britannica
John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
David Byrne, How Music Works
Marvel's The Avengers / Avengers Assemble
Skyfall
The Hunger Games
Lincoln
Django Unchained
Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Taylor Swift, Red
Lana del Rey, Born to Die
Life Lessons
Do not anger the gods
(Although they might turn out to be massive softies in the end so, you know, take your chances…)
Score
7
I could have gone lower with this, as it didn’t really move me or provoke any interesting thoughts. But a bonus point at least added for just being an entertaining page-turner. For reference, 2012’s somewhat more substantial Booker winner Bring Up the Bodies got a possibly slightly too harsh 8.5 from me.
Ranking to date:
Property (2003) - Valerie Martin - 9.5
The Idea of Perfection (2001) - Kate Grenville - 9
Half of a Yellow Sun (2007) - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 9
The Lacuna (2010) - Barbara Kingsolver - 9
When I Lived in Modern Times (2000) - Linda Grant - 9
Larry’s Party (1998) - Carol Shields - 8.5
Bel Canto (2002) - Ann Patchett - 8.5
Small Island (2004) - Andrea Levy - 8.5
A Crime in the Neighbourhood (1999) - Suzanne Berne - 8.5
The Tiger’s Wife (2011) - Téa Obreht - 8
On Beauty (2006) - Zadie Smith - 8
A Spell of Winter (1996) - Helen Dunmore - 8
The Road Home (2008) - Rose Tremain - 7.5
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2005) - Lionel Shriver - 7.5
The Song of Achilles (2012) - Madeline Miller - 7
Home (2009) - Marilynne Robinson - 7
Fugitive Pieces (1997) - Anne Michaels - 6.5
Next up
Straight on to the next winner, 2013’s May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes, whose work I am (for a change!) relatively familiar with and therefore looking forward to revisiting for the first time in a while.
