My Favorite Narrator

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 My favorite narrator comes from my favorite novel: "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller. The story is essentially the Iliad told from the perspective of Patroclus. The story starts out with Patroclus as a child tells how he is exiled for accidentally killing a noble's son. This leads him to be adopted by Peleus who is known for taking in exiles and is also the biological father of Achilles. We see from Patroclus' eyes his first impressions of Achilles and later other heroes. We get to witness Achilles and Patroclus grow up together, make mistakes, forgive, and deal with consequences. 

Miller brought a really fresh take on the Iliad and made it feel like I was reading a completely different story even though I knew everything that was going to happen from the very beginning. Patroclus was an amazing choice for a book like this. Choosing Patroclus allowed Miller to explore a lot more interesting themes that the Iliad itself missed out on like Patroclus' weakness in humanity juxtaposed against Achilles' heritage as a demigod. It also more deeply fleshed out themes that the Iliad already touched on, like Pride. The end of the novel is devastating seeing all the characters we ourselves develop a personal relationship with, suffer, and die because of Achilles' attachment to his own self-image as Aristos Achain. We witness this world through the eyes of Patroclus so we become as attached to everything he is. 

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