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caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
1.0
I'm very fond of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged which Jess Winfield was a co-author on as a founding member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. I love Shakespeare and am always happy to see him performed and to see people play with him and his words and ideas (as opposed to treating him like an old dead irrelevant white guy). This is Winfield's first novel so I figured I'd give it a shot. Unfortunately it just didn't work for me. It tried too hard, ultimately, and that made me impatient so I abandoned it. I read today that they're performing The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged at the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival - go see it if you can!
jwmcoaching's review against another edition
1.0
So-so parody/historic fictional account of Shakespeare's life and a modern (sort of) counterpart. I did my 50 page rule and even read an extra 10 on top of that. Not awful, but I just couldn't get into it...
katie_1989's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
chwaters's review against another edition
4.0
this book was tons of fun. i would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of shakespeare and has a sense of humor about it. this was written by one of the founding members of the reduced shakespeare company (those charming knaves who brought us "the complete works of william shakespeare, abridged"). it may not change your life, but you'll laugh. not recommended for those who take the bard utterly seriously or who have problems reading about sex and lots of recreational drug use.
thesassybookworm's review against another edition
4.0
This was seriously a fun fun read! I am a sucker for anything Shakespeare, so I knew before I even read it that I would most likely enjoy it. It flips back and forth between present day and when Shakespeare was a young man, sometimes in a novel this can be distracting, but it worked very well here. The characters where fun and well developed, just a really good read!!
witchy_woo_13's review against another edition
5.0
This is my all time favorite book. If you enjoy Shakespeare and distorted truths you will certainly enjoy this book.
onecrab's review against another edition
2.0
I'm torn. The book was slow to start, but picked up the pace around page 60. Sadly, the ending comes across as rushed and fabricated; as if Mr Winfield had to quickly end the book. The is painstaking detail through the rest of the book, why rush?
I heard about the book through To the Best of Our Knowledge. I saw a performance of the Reduced Shakespeare Company a few years ago and love their work. I'm not sure it translated well to the novel.
I heard about the book through To the Best of Our Knowledge. I saw a performance of the Reduced Shakespeare Company a few years ago and love their work. I'm not sure it translated well to the novel.
emilyjackson's review against another edition
2.0
This book was just not good. That's all there is to it. And it made me so sad, because I thought the idea behind it was so good. It just never delivered. This has been sitting on my shelf for years and it won't be taking up space there much longer(Half Price Books trip soon?)