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thegryphonvera's review against another edition
1.0
I'm honestly penning this book at a 1.5 that rounds down to a one. Usually I round up, but tbh this book doesn't deserve it, the .5 was almost purely for the attempt at the end to make the story and the characters somewhat redeemable and have a little bit of depth.
Now onto the frustrating elements of the book (which honestly is most of it):
This book. Oh man. This book. I really really really wanted to not detest this as much as I detested it. The writing was clunky and awkward, the characterization was horrific and depressing and the POTENTIAL of this book alone was upsetting. Here I was expecting a book about Ophelia to have something to do with madness and mental health struggles and suicide, and that would have been SO FREAKING COMPELLING.
But no.
It was a weak, awkwardly written, badly characterized love story that felt somewhat absurd and unrealistic based on the original characters it was based off on. Hamlet according to Shakespeare isn't some weirdly decpetive a**hole PURELY hellbent on revenge, he is complicated but in Ophelia he is reduced to merely a sum of badly characterized parts that create at the end of it all, a non character.
Ophelia, is just...wrong? She's portrayed as some sort of rebellious tom boy, though in the story she is described as being rather shy and quiet.
Which is fine.
Why must she be a tomboy for us to love her?
How does that empower her?
The character dynamics are simplified to an almost stupefying extent and the characters are just bland boiled beef equivelants of their original personality.
Instead of deepening or complicating the story of Hamlet, Klein just ends up flattening the whole story of any of it's original merit.
This boooooook.....URGHHHHSaadfakj ij;ieorjqoewr jwioer qoe
My disappointment is immeasurable.
Now onto the frustrating elements of the book (which honestly is most of it):
This book. Oh man. This book. I really really really wanted to not detest this as much as I detested it. The writing was clunky and awkward, the characterization was horrific and depressing and the POTENTIAL of this book alone was upsetting. Here I was expecting a book about Ophelia to have something to do with madness and mental health struggles and suicide, and that would have been SO FREAKING COMPELLING.
But no.
It was a weak, awkwardly written, badly characterized love story that felt somewhat absurd and unrealistic based on the original characters it was based off on. Hamlet according to Shakespeare isn't some weirdly decpetive a**hole PURELY hellbent on revenge, he is complicated but in Ophelia he is reduced to merely a sum of badly characterized parts that create at the end of it all, a non character.
Ophelia, is just...wrong? She's portrayed as some sort of rebellious tom boy, though in the story she is described as being rather shy and quiet.
Which is fine.
Why must she be a tomboy for us to love her?
How does that empower her?
The character dynamics are simplified to an almost stupefying extent and the characters are just bland boiled beef equivelants of their original personality.
Instead of deepening or complicating the story of Hamlet, Klein just ends up flattening the whole story of any of it's original merit.
This boooooook.....URGHHHHSaadfakj ij;ieorjqoewr jwioer qoe
My disappointment is immeasurable.
kellis22's review against another edition
3.0
Not one of my favorites... but I really liked Ophelia's strong woman character. Hamlet is the biggest prat in shakespeare history. No offense. I thought the ending was crazy... but altogether a great book.
jayishino's review against another edition
3.0
You think you know the real story of Shakespeare's Ophelia...or do you?
I liked this book except for the last chapter. It seemed odd and out of place. I think it should have ended earlier, but I liked seeing things from Ophelia's perspective.
I liked this book except for the last chapter. It seemed odd and out of place. I think it should have ended earlier, but I liked seeing things from Ophelia's perspective.
camilla_tc's review against another edition
4.0
Very neat story; like Wicked for Wizard of Oz. This is for Shakespeare's Hamlet.
lenny9987's review against another edition
4.0
I think I came to Lisa M. Klein’s Ophelia through the trailer for the film adaptation. It caught my attention and looking more at the movie itself (probably to figure out if it had made its way to a streaming service yet), I learned it was based on a book, so naturally I promptly went online to buy a copy. In need of more light, summer reading, a reimagining of a story I was familiar with seemed like just the right thing – and it was. I remember having discussions of the way the female characters in Hamlet were treated in the text going back to the first time I read the play in high school. It made sense that someone would one day write an alternative version from Ophelia’s perspective and I’m glad that Klein did more than just flesh out the existing character. Klein continued to explore many of the same themes at the heart of the play, and from a perspective every bit as complex and torn as Hamlet’s, but with an amazing capacity for hope, not just despair.
Starting with what amounts to a prequel to Hamlet, Ophelia is educated from a very young age, learning alongside her brother, Laertes, and watching as their common-born father works to raise their status, eventually landing a place for them at court. Once inside the walls of Elsinore, Ophelia’s rougher habits become a liability and she is made a lady in waiting to Queen Gertrude, taken under the monarch’s wing and taught how to behave and navigate life amidst the deceptions and scheming of the court. Her new position also brings the attention of Prince Hamlet and romance blooms before the familiar events of the play unfold and Ophelia’s life is more seriously threatened. Madness, vengeance, and grief seem all that’s left if she stays at Elsinore, so Ophelia makes a difficult decision – she must escape, even if it means deceiving those she loves best.
For my complete review, please visit my blog: https://wp.me/pUEx4-10t
Starting with what amounts to a prequel to Hamlet, Ophelia is educated from a very young age, learning alongside her brother, Laertes, and watching as their common-born father works to raise their status, eventually landing a place for them at court. Once inside the walls of Elsinore, Ophelia’s rougher habits become a liability and she is made a lady in waiting to Queen Gertrude, taken under the monarch’s wing and taught how to behave and navigate life amidst the deceptions and scheming of the court. Her new position also brings the attention of Prince Hamlet and romance blooms before the familiar events of the play unfold and Ophelia’s life is more seriously threatened. Madness, vengeance, and grief seem all that’s left if she stays at Elsinore, so Ophelia makes a difficult decision – she must escape, even if it means deceiving those she loves best.
For my complete review, please visit my blog: https://wp.me/pUEx4-10t
laura_trap's review against another edition
5.0
I just really enjoyed this book, okay? I love some tragedy, and I love some darkness and suffering and books that are so gritty they rub your teeth down to nubs. But sometimes a gentle book, a book that rocks you with its simple loveliness is what you need and it was this book. There are several things I can say, for one I adored the portrayal of Ophelia, making her lively and stout of heart without taking away her femininity, without making her into a medieval warrior. She was given a woman's problems in a time when women were not seen as people, they were objects, they were not given a say. Ophelia dealt with this: forbidden love, powerlessness, grief, and eventually motherhood, all within a time that valued none of that. She was strong in her convictions, intelligent and witty, but yet wanted to love, wanted to be loved, and this was never portrayed as a shameful thing. Often Opehlia was trapped, by her circumstance, by her virtue, by her love, by her family, and sometimes, physically in the walls of Castle Elsinore. And that made it all the more tragic nd heartbreaking, that even the love she desired was taken from her, that gentle hands eventually became hard ones, and she was constantly at the mercy of all those around her. Her fate was never hers to decide, until she feigned her death.
There was constant references to Shakespeare, not just "Hamlet" but his other works, such as the sonnets. And even the fake death was reminiscent of "Romeo and Juliet", but in many ways, there was a delightful parallel between Ophelia's love of medieval romance and her very own. She lived herself in a tail of love and tragedy, accepting that which she could not chance. It was grandiose and full of secrecy and peril, and in the end, she uses those very devices to design her escape and leave, fleeing to a convent. There she began to choose her own path, to leave behind the dreadfulness of a rotten Denmark. On a last note, the historical accuracy of the book was splendid. The author really imbued the book with a sense of history, of place through her use of description, costume, and even the names of the herbs sprinkled throughout the book. I thought it was particularly clever to give Ophelia a knowledge of herbs to then use in her little lyrics during her madness. Overall, I just really loved this book. I loved how simply it was written yet so beautifully. Certain turns of phrase just left me in awe, invoking such a sense of place and emotion that I absolutely loved.
There was constant references to Shakespeare, not just "Hamlet" but his other works, such as the sonnets. And even the fake death was reminiscent of "Romeo and Juliet", but in many ways, there was a delightful parallel between Ophelia's love of medieval romance and her very own. She lived herself in a tail of love and tragedy, accepting that which she could not chance. It was grandiose and full of secrecy and peril, and in the end, she uses those very devices to design her escape and leave, fleeing to a convent. There she began to choose her own path, to leave behind the dreadfulness of a rotten Denmark. On a last note, the historical accuracy of the book was splendid. The author really imbued the book with a sense of history, of place through her use of description, costume, and even the names of the herbs sprinkled throughout the book. I thought it was particularly clever to give Ophelia a knowledge of herbs to then use in her little lyrics during her madness. Overall, I just really loved this book. I loved how simply it was written yet so beautifully. Certain turns of phrase just left me in awe, invoking such a sense of place and emotion that I absolutely loved.
artemismatchalatte's review against another edition
4.0
This is a reimagining of Shakespeare's Tragedy Hamlet told from Ophelia's prospective. It covers most of Ophelia's life both before and after she's involved with Hamlet (she survives him this time rather than dying). The middle of the book is where it mostly intersects with Shakespeare's original play.
What I liked in this version is that the female characters were much more realistic. Even Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, was made so much more sympathetic in this version of the story. Even though she still essentially does the same things as she did in the play, Ophelia's understanding of Gertrude makes her a much more sympathetic character than in Shakespeare's play which makes her as bad as Claudius. In fact, in this version of the play, Hamlet is much less sympathetic especially in the way he treats Ophelia. Not that he was great to her in the play either, so this isn't a huge surprise, really. This isn't really a story about Ophelia's romance with Hamlet but how she escapes the tragedy that her family gets tangled in and how she avoids becoming another victim.
I liked the author's reinterpretation of the text. Ophelia's situation escaping to a nunnery was realistic for a woman in the renaissance era. She would likely have nowhere else to go without having the protection of a family (Polonius and Laertes still die in the story- most of the plot of Hamlet remains the same save Ophelia's living to the end of the book). The later part of the book where Ophelia is in France at the nunnery reminds me a lot of the Christian mystics texts that we read in my Brit Lit class. The plots at the nunnery follow these themes where there is a miracle that Ophelia witnesses.
It's actually very different from the source material but still interesting and believable in the context of the story and historic period. If you wondered what Ophelia's take on the Hamlet play was, this would probably be enjoyable for you. I would also suggest if you like historic fiction, reimagined classics, and YA novels. There are points where the story is a bit slow but I appreciated the detail. Ophelia's character is likeable and relatable. I give this book 4 stars. I would suggest this book.
What I liked in this version is that the female characters were much more realistic. Even Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, was made so much more sympathetic in this version of the story. Even though she still essentially does the same things as she did in the play, Ophelia's understanding of Gertrude makes her a much more sympathetic character than in Shakespeare's play which makes her as bad as Claudius. In fact, in this version of the play, Hamlet is much less sympathetic especially in the way he treats Ophelia. Not that he was great to her in the play either, so this isn't a huge surprise, really. This isn't really a story about Ophelia's romance with Hamlet but how she escapes the tragedy that her family gets tangled in and how she avoids becoming another victim.
I liked the author's reinterpretation of the text. Ophelia's situation escaping to a nunnery was realistic for a woman in the renaissance era. She would likely have nowhere else to go without having the protection of a family (Polonius and Laertes still die in the story- most of the plot of Hamlet remains the same save Ophelia's living to the end of the book). The later part of the book where Ophelia is in France at the nunnery reminds me a lot of the Christian mystics texts that we read in my Brit Lit class. The plots at the nunnery follow these themes where there is a miracle that Ophelia witnesses.
It's actually very different from the source material but still interesting and believable in the context of the story and historic period. If you wondered what Ophelia's take on the Hamlet play was, this would probably be enjoyable for you. I would also suggest if you like historic fiction, reimagined classics, and YA novels. There are points where the story is a bit slow but I appreciated the detail. Ophelia's character is likeable and relatable. I give this book 4 stars. I would suggest this book.
ktisdale's review against another edition
4.0
I don't remember this book completely, as it was quite some time ago. It was definitely before I read Hamlet though, which makes me want to read it again. Knowing the ins and outs of Hamlet makes me wonder if my opinion of this book would change.
sparkythecat's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
marieshan4321's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25