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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
informative
fast-paced
Read this awhile back so I don't remember specifics, but I just know my impression was "Will in the World" by Stephen Greenblat was much better. I suppose Greenblat's book is a bit longer and a bit denser, but it's honestly not bad and the extra work done makes a more enjoyable read imo. Bryson's work is fine for what it is, but not much is known about Shakespeare- this book just kinda lightly fills in whatever it can in a kinda haphazard order. Greenblat's book was more nuanced, detailed, researched, etc., and so if you're really interested that's the one I'd recommend. If you just happen upon this book it's a fine read, however.
An okay read. I love Bryson but this one really didn’t engage me. But I learned a bit about Shakespeare - and mostly that not much is known about him. This was a brief audiobook from Hoopla.
A brisk, efficient trip through the relatively few things that can be confidently known about Shakespeare's life. Bill Bryson is always an entertaining writer, and if he seems an odd choice for this project then that also plays to his greatest strengths - researching a topic he knew little about previously, and making it accessible to the same sort of person. I found it frustrating at times - full disclosure, I have a Masters degree in English Literature and have read every word attributed to Shakespeare more than a few times. On more than a few occasions, Bryson casts opinions as facts, and I'm not one who finds an analysis of the dating of texts or textual fine-combing even remotely stimulating. There are also a few occasions when I felt the writer's style tipped into smugness; but then maybe scientists feel that about his 'A Brief History Of Nearly Everything' a much longer book which does for science what he does here for the greatest author in the English language. He's rightly dismissive of the attempts to pass-off Shakespeare as someone other than Shakespeare, but like the textual detail, it felt to me that there was too much space devoted to this. But if you're looking for an entryway into the great writer's life, you could do a lot worse than this.
Bryson reads the audio version, which is a little hit or miss. There were times it was a little difficult to make out what he was saying. Oh man, those Elizabethan people were strangely sophisticated savages.
Bill Bryson's "Shakespeare" does more to tell you who Shakespeare isn't than who Shakespeare is, a fair accomplishment given that he disclaimers his book in the introduction with the caveat that we don't really know a thing about the elusive bard. In place of making biographical information up (as other biographers of Shakespeare have done over the past three hundred or so years), Bryson sets out to give us historical context based on what we know for sure of life during Shakespeare's time and dispels some of the myths perpetuated by other writers by pointing out their shaky, unevidenced foundations.
Personally, my main takeaway from this was "don't bother reading any Shakespeare biographies, at least 90% of them is speculative anyway." Three stars because a lot of names, numbers and facts were crammed into a relatively short number of pages to a degree that sent my eyes rolling into the back of my head. Finishing this one was tough for all that it's a short book. I blame the publisher for this, they're obviously filling a particular set of guidelines to make this fit into the Eminent Lives series. More of Bryson's narrative wit would have bumped this to a four.
Personally, my main takeaway from this was "don't bother reading any Shakespeare biographies, at least 90% of them is speculative anyway." Three stars because a lot of names, numbers and facts were crammed into a relatively short number of pages to a degree that sent my eyes rolling into the back of my head. Finishing this one was tough for all that it's a short book. I blame the publisher for this, they're obviously filling a particular set of guidelines to make this fit into the Eminent Lives series. More of Bryson's narrative wit would have bumped this to a four.
This book is less about what's known about Shakespeare, but more about what has been assumed, what has been made up, and the world this supposed playwright lived in.
It's about his plays, his language, his theater and his scholars, since with the limited information there is about Shakespeare, it would be hard to produce an entire book just about the man.
The man who, in the eyes of some conspiracy (in my opinion) theorists did not even exist.
A fascinating read anyway.
It's about his plays, his language, his theater and his scholars, since with the limited information there is about Shakespeare, it would be hard to produce an entire book just about the man.
The man who, in the eyes of some conspiracy (in my opinion) theorists did not even exist.
A fascinating read anyway.
I always enjoy Bill Bryson's writing - he's humorous and deft at telling facts in an interesting way. I was fascinated to learn how much we don't know, and will never know, about Shakespeare - Bryson put our lack of knowledge within the framework of history. I ended up feeling great that I now know that I know nothing about him. Fabulous reading.
Thank you Bill Bryson. For your level head. Your wit and wisdom. For making such sense out of what is so often a quagmire. I've been around some Shakespeare Doubters lately - and I've been trying not to think badly of them - but it's just so silly! And one of my favorite things about this book is how it does not deny the doubters - it just points out how this whole doubting thing all came about (via a crazy woman) and progressed through some very thin arguments. (Yes, yes, the most likely alterna-Shakespeare is thought to be Edward de Vere - who just happened to die quite a few years before the plays were performed. SLIGHTLY inconvenient theory.) I laughed a lot. And felt vindicated. Very good combination.