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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
I have actually never read the Shakespeare play, Hamlet. When my 2019 reading challenge had a category for a retelling of a classic, this is the book that peaked my interest the most. I enjoyed Ophelia’s character. The strength and resolve she showed as a woman during that time is incredible. The idea of the way she escaped and everything she endured to do so is exhilarating. It is definitely a romantic tragedy and that she lost everyone she loved, but I was extremely pleased in the ending of the story where she finally found love again.
It’s probably a good idea to read (or reread) Hamlet before you pick up this novel. Much of the dialogue in the first half is either directly quoted from Shakespeare, or paraphrased from it. And though I hope not to spoil the plot for anyone, where Ophelia ends up in the second half of the novel is pretty amusing, in light of Hamlet’s comments to her in the play.
Ophelia is probably a little too modern minded for the time period the novel is placed in, but oh well. The differences in character’s personalities, specifically Ophelia’s, kind of bothered me until I read the introduction to my copy of Hamlet which reminded me that Shakespeare’s was not the first version of the story, and in that vain Klein has only created another with Ophelia.
If Klein’s intent was to create an enduring piece of literature, this book falls a bit short. But it is much more prudent to assume she was attempting to create a courageous, passionate, and strong heroine out of a passive and meek one, which this novel does quite well. She certainly has revived Ophelia (wink wink.)
This novel is probably between two and three stars for me. But as we can’t use half stars, and I like to grade things upward, I pushed it up to three for the striking cover.
p.s. if anyone can help me get the italics to work, that would be awesome.
Ophelia is probably a little too modern minded for the time period the novel is placed in, but oh well. The differences in character’s personalities, specifically Ophelia’s, kind of bothered me until I read the introduction to my copy of Hamlet which reminded me that Shakespeare’s was not the first version of the story, and in that vain Klein has only created another with Ophelia.
If Klein’s intent was to create an enduring piece of literature, this book falls a bit short. But it is much more prudent to assume she was attempting to create a courageous, passionate, and strong heroine out of a passive and meek one, which this novel does quite well. She certainly has revived Ophelia (wink wink.)
This novel is probably between two and three stars for me. But as we can’t use half stars, and I like to grade things upward, I pushed it up to three for the striking cover.
p.s. if anyone can help me get the italics to work, that would be awesome.
This novel reclaimed the character of Ophelia from a young girl crazed by love to the point of suicide. It turned her into a learned, crafty, focused woman who was able to save herself from being killed before spending the rest of her life dedicated to improving the lives of people around her. How's that for flipping the script?
Klein came to our university to give a YA-writing workshop. I think that reading this book was actually the best lesson that I could have ever taken; while I was interested and pulled along by the book itself, interested by the ways in which it openly adapts Hamlet the play, I was also always conscious of how this was working as a novel in the YA subgenre.
And it is admirable, though I have critiques concerning the way in which the scenes of the play were roughly adapted to the scenes in the book. It seemed Klein chose a middle-ground between adapting the scenes completely and staying loyal to the text; this resulted in occasionally awkward and stilted dialogue and narrative. The strongest writing is surely when Ophelia is doing things off-stage, when Klein has the freedom of time and language.
And it is admirable, though I have critiques concerning the way in which the scenes of the play were roughly adapted to the scenes in the book. It seemed Klein chose a middle-ground between adapting the scenes completely and staying loyal to the text; this resulted in occasionally awkward and stilted dialogue and narrative. The strongest writing is surely when Ophelia is doing things off-stage, when Klein has the freedom of time and language.
It's interesting to read a differen't person concept of one of the famous play of shakespears and I must congratulate Lisa for that. I would rate this as 3/5 but I like the twist and the originality of this (and especially the cute little ending but I like trageic ending more)
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book actually made the story of Hamlet so much more interesting. Like, this girl completely blew me out of the water and it was such a fun and interesting story to read just because of the way Klein writes.
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wunderschöner Schreibstil, einen fantastische Geschichte. Aber mit kleinen Längen.