What compels someone to sap the heroic tones of ancient poems? The author nailed the historical facts and undoubtedly is well-versed in the thing she's got into, but the overall personalities of the characters do not match the original poem. Patroclus who was supposed to be wiser and older than Achilles has been reduced to a brittle shy beta male a la shinji ikari and Achilles doesn't shine as the warlike demigod of the original poem until he's faced with the tragedies of war. Halfway through the book the former doesn't undergo any significant development whatsoever while the latter goes through a sudden epiphany. Aside from the Iliad and a few scraps of texts here and there isn't much to draw inspiration from, yet in hindsight it jumps at you that the author purposely pussified the characters to make the modern narrative fit. Why can't women get those subtle things right? How much would it have costed her to respect the original personalities besides failing to cater to the swarm of braindead tumblr fangirls? She chose to defy an ancient poem in favor of modernity and i can't help but be vexed about it.
What compels someone to sap the heroic tones of ancient poems...
Sounds pretty good, I’ll read it. Thanks OP.
It's literally the liberal/humanist worldview.
Out of curiosity, did Patroclus have any war experience whatsoever? I can't recall much about him in the Iliad.
>Patroclus who was supposed to be wiser and older than Achilles has been reduced to a brittle shy beta male a la shinji ikari
This is what bothered me most about the book. (I don't care if it takes liberties from the original Iliad. This is a problem with the story itself.) The whole feminine-bitchboi/masculine-hunk pairing is such a bland cliched depiction of a gay relationship. It's gay literature to help straight people pat themselves on the back for being progressive. This is probably why Thetis's homophobia has nothing to do with, say Plato's complaints against the practice (at the time, it was more of a practice than an identity), and has more in common with modern homophobia you'd hear from religious conservatives.
It's also just shit overall. The book is basically Romance YA in "literary" drag.
>Bloomsbury Modern Classics
Lmao what, how dare they
>To celebrate the amazing range of modern classics that Bloomsbury has published over the past thirty years, this is an exclusive set of all ten beloved books, featuring gorgeous artwork from prize-winning designers including Richie Stewart, Ileana Soon and Matt Saunders, designed for the Bloomsbury Modern Classics series.
>The set includes:
>Restless by William Boyd
>Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
>Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
>Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
>The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
>Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
>The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
>The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
>The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
>The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
>The perfect gift for the book lover in your life.
I've heard positive reviews from Madeleine Miller readers but this novel turned out to be a shitty uninspired tumblr fanfiction. It's god damn hard to find decent gay fiction that doesn't border on erotica, I tell you, and most of the titles I'd salvage were written by bisexual men, while the worst ones are the product of liberal straight women who don't know jack about the subject they're writing about. I'm starting to adopt a highly misogynistic viewpoint on literature but I'll give Tamara Allen a chance and see things through before throwing the towel in.
Any reason you posted the picture? Does it handle gay relationships better?
You ever read pic related? It's another gay retelling of a Greek myth by a professor of classics, but it isn't shit.
>Does it handle gay relationships better?
Yes, and is overall a neglected masterpiece of modernist fiction. Yea Forums should be all over it. It's a "difficult read" and it's not too long. But I imagine it can't be memed into popularity because the author is a woman.
Absolutely, dude was destroying Trojans even harder than Diomedes, and that’s an accomplishment
I don't like it when "it isn't shit" is the best I can say about something
I haven't seen this anywhere, I guess it must be buried beneath a pile of awful gay fiction because Goodreads lists are the only way i can find recs.
Nah, Patroclus was a B tier fighter I'd say, of similar XP level to Ajax of Telamon for comparison
That's why Hector, an A tier fighter like Diomedes, was able to defeat him
Achilles is probably the only S tier fighter in The Iliad and the epic cycle, but there were others in the greater "canon" of greek hero worship like Heracles of course.
Well now you've memed me into checking it out at least.
It was written by a literal high school teacher.
Heracles would completely BTFO Achilles
SS tier
old meme
Then how come Patroclus’ entry into battle singlehandedly pushes the Trojans back more than Diomedes or anyone else could? Face it, Patroclus is high A tier.
>Eat Pray Love
>What compels someone to sap the heroic tones of ancient poems?
she's a woman