I've had a bad lockdown in that I've read little.
But just finished re-reading Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller. Last time I rushed it. It's interesting to read a woman's pov when writing about gay romance and sex but she does a good job without veering too far into slash fanfic territory.
Would you recommend it to me? I've heard mixed things about it, all from women; I've never heard another gay or bisexual man's take on it.
It's a good read. It's very light and it plays with mythology in a way that you can get away with. There is
rampant misogyny because it's bloody Ancient Greece and that's written about very candidly. There's some revision of Briseis which some don't like which shifts how Achilles outwardly spoke about her to how he 'really feels' from Patroclus' perspective, but that's actually in line with how Briseis saw Patroclus (sort of intervening on her behalf anyway)
In short in order to elevate a same sex relationship historically whether real or imagined you have to 'negotiate' on page how you deal with the women that were used passively or intentionally by them as cover or deflection. I've seen criticisms of that with this book, but also a lot of praise for it. But I'm not in a position to dismiss the criticisms even though I think from my perspective they handle it well
It's very visual in it's world building which I like and she take time to ponder slow moments; silence, emptiness which is very effective.
I read it again so I could get started on
Circe so it'll be interesting to see how her style has developed.
