Book Discussion: The Iliad Retellings - The Song of Achilles and The Silence of the Girls

Hi Everyone,
My professor side came out in this video :)
~Cynthia
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Books mentioned:
-The Iliad by Homer
-The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
- The Silence of the Girls by Pat Baker
- Memorial by Alice Oswald
- War and The Iliad
- The Iliad or the Poem of Force by Simone Weil
- On The Iliad by Rachel Bespaloff
All books were purchased by me or were gifts from family and friends. This is not a sponsored video.

[@wormbag80]

I love the song of Achilles to death. But i do agree with your point on how she could have gotten more in depth with the characters and their relationships rather than just tell us, they talk and talk, i want to see that talk, i love how Achilles and Patroclus interact i would have loved to see more of it and get to know them as people more. That plus i really love slow burns

[@bookwhimsy]

I really do love The Song of Achilles too! I'm thinking of getting the audiobook because I've heard good things about its quality

[@luisavasconcelos1891]

Great video! I absolutely loved Song of Achilles and I have been putting off reading The Silence of the Girls because Im way too excited and I'm afraid it can't possibly hold up to my expectations.
I interpreted Patroclus' lack of battle skill as a way to contrast with his sudden acquiring of a good throwing arm and that whole idea as a comment on the how image and expectation shapes the story of the hero. He acts like Achilles because everyone who saw him the golden armour expected it.

[@bookwhimsy]

You are right about those scenes, the contrast works well there. When you get to The Silence of the Girls, let me know what you think! I enjoyed it but some of my students found excellent points of critique 😁

[@BookieCharm]

I loved this discussion and these are 2 books I’m very interested in reading! I have not heard of Oh My Gods so thanks for that recommendation.

[@bookwhimsy]

Thank you! Oh My Gods sounds really great and I'm really hoping that it is 😁🤞🏽

[@paulkofler519]

I only read song of Achilles but here my opinion. I liked it. But often for there weren’t enough details, there often wasn’t enough „show, don’t tell“ when it’s about the relationship of Patrochilles. „yesterday we sat at the campfire and it was nice“. No! Don’t tell me, show me. Give me every little detail. I mean it should’ve been easy to put many cute and deep moments in a 10 year war. Although I like them I can’t say they’re my favourite ship. Bc, for me, of the lack of cute and deep and detailed moments and also bc of Achilles selfish and asshole personality I can’t really see why they’re supposed to love each other and supposed to be soulmates. I needed more moments to see WHY they loved each other and WHAT they loved about each other. Besides that I actually liked the book and am glad I read it. I personally give 3 out of 5 stars