there are books, and then there are absolute masterpieces that change your entire perspective on life, on romance, on the mundane. the song of achilles falls in the latter category. madeline's prose kept me captured throughout every description, tedious or not. the sole book to have ever made me weep and sigh and chuckle and feel. never shall i forget what it truly felt like to read every word for the first time, and never shall a piece of work come into existence that can rival its allure. 5 stars aren't enough. i need to pluck 5 nebulous, celestial bodies from the heavens themselves and attach them to its front page. then, perhaps, i might be doing it justice.