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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
Macbeth is my least favourite of the Shakespeare plays. I have never understood how Lady MacBeth can go from a murderous fiend to a pathetic loon so quickly. Or why a Hero murders the king within an Act or two and then regrets it for the rest of the play. The witches I have seen portrayed many ways but never to my satisfaction, never in a way that made them believable to me as the cause of so much havoc. Why does "the Scottish play" never seem very Scottish to me? The audiobook novelisation of the play by A. J. Hartley and David Hewson attempts to answer these questions and a lot more.
The scene is set in the highlands and east coast of Scotland. Where the dark atmosphere and chilling landscapes perfectly compliment the descent into madness. There is no doubt that the beautiful narration by Alan Cumming in a strong Scotish accent adds to this. The characters of the Macbeths and the witches are beautifully fleshed out. Best of all it is a ripping good yarn, though that me thinks is Shakespeare's work.
The scene is set in the highlands and east coast of Scotland. Where the dark atmosphere and chilling landscapes perfectly compliment the descent into madness. There is no doubt that the beautiful narration by Alan Cumming in a strong Scotish accent adds to this. The characters of the Macbeths and the witches are beautifully fleshed out. Best of all it is a ripping good yarn, though that me thinks is Shakespeare's work.
This was an intriguing novelization of Shakespeare's classic tragedy. Many will recognize some of the classic scenes and lines from the original, but the authors add some of their own touches as well. As they note, Shakespeare's hands were tied as there are just some things that can't be done on the stage. Lady Macbeth is given a name (Skena) and a level of complexity that is missing from the theatrical work; several other characters are more fully fleshed out as well. There is also a series of short explanatory essays at the end that add greatly to one's understanding of the time, story and history, despite their brevity. Definitely worth checking out.
Thought this was a great way to read Shakespeare. I read the play in high school but due to the complicated language most of the plot and dialogue went right over my head. If asked what happened in the play I wouldn't have been able to say much more than that there were three witches and Lady Macbeth said the line "Out damn spot." I didn't even know that the play is based on some fact (Macbeth, King Duncan, Banquo et al were real as were some of their actions). Highly recommend this to anyone who wishes they'd paid more attention to Shakespeare during school. I hope the authors do novels for some of the other Shakespeare plays.
I listened to this as an audiobook and loved every minute of it. I really enjoyed the character development of the Macbeth's.
I actually enjoyed this one rather a lot. It's not a 100% faithful adaptation of Macbeth, but that's kind of the point. There's a lot of extra material, because ultimately this is a novel and not a play, and I think it works well as such.
After listening to Richard Armitage's excellent narration of David Hewson and A.J. Hartley's "Hamlet", I was eager to give "Macbeth" a go. Alan Cumming isn't quite the narrator that Armitage is, but who is? As for the story itself, Hewson and Hartley have turned in another excellent novelization of one of Shakespeare's classic plays. Naturally, when turning a 2-3 hour play into novel form, some of Shakespeare's lines have to be more fully fleshed out, but none of that fleshing out feels awkward in the least.
If you're a Shakespeare fan, or just love a good story, "Macbeth" shouldn't be missed!
If you're a Shakespeare fan, or just love a good story, "Macbeth" shouldn't be missed!
A great read and fantastic narration by Alan Cumming, this convincing version of Shakespeare’s masterpiece successfully communicates the dark atmosphere and the themes of passion, treachery, murder, ambition and the madness of the original. I will read more books by this author.
A full 4 shiny stars, and possibly even 5. Highly recommended
A full 4 shiny stars, and possibly even 5. Highly recommended
Oh, Macbeth. Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone? You could have been forgiven for ridding the world of King Duncan, but the rest ... not so much. You foolish, foolish man.
Listened via Audible. Alan Cuming's narration is superb.