The song of Achilles

What an incredible novel! Not only a page-turner, what the language the authot uses is full of sensuality and poetry!

This narrates the well-known story of Achilles. However, it is told from Patroclus's point of view, his eternal companion and, acording to this novel, also his lover.

The story starts with Pattoclus's childhood, and the terrible event that changes his life forever, as he becomes an exile in Achilles's land. No longer a prince, at the beginning, he is with other boys that are being trained by the orders of Peleus, Achilles's father. Sitting in a corner of the diningroom, he delightfully admires Achilles's presence, his beauty and masculinity. Remember he is the son of Thetis, a sea-nymph, who is ferouciousle protective of his son and his famous destiny, knowing he will die young, but immortal in the tales of humans.

Soon Patroclus and Achilles become friends. It is in this moment when the author fully depicts the tension between these two boys, the description of their athletic bodies, the struggles to keep their passion controlled, the friendship leading to a deeper relationship.

The time of training with the centaur in the caves, away from the influence of Achilles's mother, helps them to build a bond that is indestructible, keeping each other together even in the worst times to come.

What happens to them is well-known. However, Miller is capable of making the reader avid to learn about the protagonists' destinies, afraid of losing them, wishing to finish the book and at the same time, for it not to finish ever.

Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com

instagram:ananbooks

La isla bajo el mar

Esta novela esta ambientada en los tiempos de la esclavitud en la isla que actualmente es Haiti. Relata la vida de Zarite, una mulata que es vendida al terrateniente frances Valmorian, trabajando en la casa de este, atendiendo a sus dos esposas y teniendo sus hijos.

La lucha de los esclavos en Haiti es famosa historicamente, ya que constituye uno de los primeros lugares en el mundo donde la esclavitud es prohibida, gracias al exito de la rebeliones constantes de los esclavos contra sus amos. En este ambiente la autora narra la vida de esta esclava, que sufre las agrasiones de su amo.

Sin embargo, Zarite tambien cuenta con la presencia de distintas mujeres, quienes la ayudaran a sobrevivir: Violette que se dedica a la prostitucion, Loula es la mujer que organiza su negocio, Tante Rose es la curandera y Tante Matilde la cocinera de la plantacion. Con ellas, la autora crea un ambiente de amistad frente al horror, la magia femenina llenando los espacios de sus vidas, ayudandola a acercarse a su libertad, manteniendo su dignidad incluso en el peor de los momentos.

Allende logra una narracion entretenida, llena del calor del Caribe, los aromas envolviendo los cuerpos, el pasado volviendose presente y la libertad, tan ansiada, posible, al alcanze de la mano.

Lila

This a story that at first sight seems to be slimple. However, it beautifully deals with deep issues of loneliness, faith, the life during the Depression times, negletfullness, and primarily, love.

It narrates the story of Lila. We find her being the wife of the old preacher in Gilead. We learn throughher thoughts nd experiences, the life she hs had and the one that she is living now.

Being a girl, she is neglected by her family, and the point of being outside in the rain during whole nights. She is taken by a woman, Doll, and starts a life of wandering towns after possible jobs with a group of people. They spend the nights by the fire, and during days bathing in the river. There she thinks about loneliness, 'But if you're just a stranger to everybody onearth, then that's what you are and there's no end to it. You don't know the words to say.'

Lila learns to read during a year that Doll takes a job cleaning at a house. However, feeling always hunted by Doll's past, they move from town to town, their lives fragile, spending their days isolated from the communities they pass around.

Soon Depression comes and the author depicts how difficult their lives become 'How could it be that none of it mattered? It was most of what happened. But if it did matter, how could the world go on the way it did when there were so many people living the same and worse? Poor was nothing, tired and hungry were nothing. But people only trying to get by, and no respect for them at all, even the wind soiling them.'

The author makes us question our beliefs and position towards our lives in this world. Through Lila's memories and reflections, we learn her new days as the wife of a preacher, carrying a child that soon would be her first encounter to the entity of family, her struggle to live a life fully, her past always hunting her dreams.

Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com

instagram:ananbooks