Let me start this review by stating I love what Madeline Miller does. There’s a relatively new push in the entertainment industry to take classic stories of good versus evil, hero versus villain, and add layers of complexity where there once was a simple formula of black and white. Not to say this is a completely new phenomenon, but we’re seeing it pop up on a much larger scale in recent years. We’ve seen this in the Disney universe with movies like Maleficent and Cruella. We’ve seen it in television reboots like Cobra Kai where we find out Johnny is not just a bully and a meathead but a complicated human with a sad past who just might be deserving of redemption. And pretty goddamn sexy, to boot. Daniel, on the other hand, does have the capability of being an arrogant douche who could use a wake-up call. To be fair, Daniel was occasionally a dumb little twerp in the original Karate Kid movies despite being presented as “the good guy.” I’m not complaining about that. Every teenager is a dumb little twerp at some point. It’s amazing any of us survive to adulthood. Let me tell you, I and millions of other fans are completely here for this kind of work that turns the tables on the formulaic good versus evil trope we are all used to! And now we get to love and appreciate both Daniel and Johnny in equal measure and see that the true power of their story is taken when both are given equal narrative attention. Yay for complexity. What just happened?
For literature fans, we’re all back here sort of rolling our eyes at the lateness of television and movies in finally figuring out this should be not just a periodic thing but a common thing. Complexity has always been the domain of a good novelist. Writers like Miller are taking old tales of folklore and myth and adding layers to characters we all actually know quite well. In the case of her 2018 novel, Circe, which I quite adore, she was able to take even more poetic license than she was for Song of Achilles. In the Greek myths, Circe was nothing more than a figure in passing. Miller was able to take what we know of her story and give her a voice, a voice that proves to be quite powerful and captivating.
With Achilles, anyone who isn’t familiar with his name has been living under a very large rock. He’s given his own hero tale within the Greek myths, a tale which has spawned numerous appearances for him in novel, television and film. Most notably, Brad Pitt portrayed the great hero in the 2004 film, Troy. What I will say for this film is they also did a great job at adding some complexity to the characters we all know so well. Madeline Miller kicked this up a notch and added a unique blend of traits that made us question what it truly is to be a hero and challenged the traditional ideas of masculinity and heroism. This is a refreshing change to a genre that typically is rife with all the worst forms of toxic masculinity.
The challenge Miller has here is people already know the story of Achilles, Patroclus, and the Trojan war. Many readers, in fact, know how the story is going to end. So how do you keep readers invested in a story that’s already spoiled due to the fact it’s a retelling? Poetic license really helps here. I noted some very important changes, most notably the lack of Achilles’ immortality save for that one vulnerable place. I mean, it is a little bit silly if you think about it. No man or woman has only one vulnerability, and their vulnerability is rarely ever simply physical. Miller presents Achilles as being a man plagued by multiple vulnerabilities. Quite simply, he can be a real dick. He may be well intentioned, but he is prideful, and pride can bring about disastrous consequences. Just go to an encyclopedia and open it to “war” and you’ll see all kinds of reasons pride has brought chaos, death and destruction. Presenting readers with such a big change as this plants a seed of doubt into whether or not Miller will take the story in the same direction ultimately as the original myth. And no, I’m not going to tell you whether she does or not. You will have to read for yourself.
Overall, this is a fiercely original take on something that could very well have been tired and overused. As usual, the novel is full of Miller’s expert and lyrical but unpretentious prose, making for a quick and enjoyable read. In this case, I listened to the audio as beautifully narrated by Frazer Douglas. Seriously, that man has a sexy voice to go with some pretty erotic narration. Blanche Devereaux approved, indeed.
In short, whether or not you are a fan of the classic myth of Achilles, this is a worthwhile and engaging read. Miller has created something unique out of something often overdone without completely ruining the original. 4 stars.
Published March 6, 2012 by HarperAudio. ISBN0062115588. Runtime 11 hrs, 15 mins. Narrated by Frazer Douglas.
I would say the power of a book lies in whether or not it delivers to a reader a simple story or a true reading experience. I’m not necessarily saying one or the other is a good or a bad thing. You can have a great story that is pretty unforgettable, but that story doesn’t perhaps bring with it all the aspects of a full reading experience. It’s sort of the difference between going on a vacation by taking an air conditioned tour bus and slapping on hiking boots and footing it across the countryside. The first is easy and enjoyable. The second is difficult but personally fulfilling in a way you couldn’t get from the first. That begs the question, what does it take to live an experience? Just think of a time in your life that you had a mind bending life altering experience? What did that feel like? Maybe it felt good, in a way. Or, at least, the end of that experience brought some clarity. It changed you, altered your perception of the world or of yourself. But during that experience you probably ran through a wide range of emotions. Amusement, frustration, fear, confusion, sadness, exhaustion, to name a few. Or maybe you had absolutely no fucking clue what you’d taken away from it. Not only is that completely valid, but it’s pretty much the entirety of human existence wrapped into one analogy. Do any of us really know what the hell is going on or why we are here? No, we don’t. 
Well, it’s positively shameful that my last review was posted in February. Frankly, I’m so far behind on reviews not sure how I will catch up, but my next few may be pretty short. I have still been reading, but the overwhelming nature of life lately has left me both without time or motivation to put my thoughts in writing. Frankly, that’s not really fair to the books or the authors who took the time to put pen to paper with their own thoughts. But that’s the nature of life, as well. 
My last review for The Bell Jar was super heavy, so I thought I’d follow it up with something super fun. My daughter, who is 7, is reading well above her grade level so we’ve moved on to chapter books. On one trip to the library, we stumbled across this one. She is feline obsessed, so naturally we had to pick it up even it was a bit mature still for her as a middle grade book. Look at that cover! How could you not want to know what lay within the pages? So I read a little of it to her each night, and I think I liked it even better than she did. 
Every now and then, there’s a story behind the story. Fiction is a veil cast over a haunting reality. Many authors’ own lives were as intriguing and sometimes heartbreaking as the tales they wove into the tapestry of literary canon. Those like Kurt Vonnegut, as discussed in 
Still working through my reviews from 2021, I come to the Biography for the reading challenge. This is an interesting one in that, while it does surround the life of Mary Shelley, it puts a particular focus on the influences surrounding her creation of her most famous work, Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus. In doing so, Montillo discusses the lives and work of notable scientists and doctors who were experimenting with electricity and reanimation of cadavers. Many people see Victor Frankenstein as a fictional character without realizing he was the embodiment of the vision of greatness in the minds of many a real man. He achieved in fiction what the most ambitious scientific dreamers were attempting, reanimating the dead. 
Still catching up on my 2021 reviews, so bear with me. This is one I finished back in November, I think. Yikes. Not long before that I read my first Beth O’Leary novel, The Flatshare. I positively loved its charm and wit. The characters were lovable. I expected the same here but really found it lacking, unfortunately. It is a short read, and it’s romantic and well-written in O’Leary’s signature style. In this case, however, neither the story nor the characters kept my attention. 
This book was quite fittingly the October book pick for Read Between the Wines. Let’s face it, this is a classic horror novel. Though, if I’m being honest, I hear a lot more about the movie than I do the book. I feel like there’s a reason for that. Don’t get me wrong, there’s only one person to thank for what was, at the time, the most frightening thing anyone had ever seen. This story, loosely inspired by true events (a fact I find utterly terrifying) is the brain child of none other than Blatty. I’ve heard numerous people of that generation say that The Exorcist haunted both their waking and sleeping hours after having seen it. Perhaps it’s that hype. Perhaps it’s the fact that I expected so much that left me a little wanting upon finishing this book. So let’s get into it, shall we? 
A Librarian and Her Books 