Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Enter the Body

Juliet keeps her love, which is a perfectly valid option, but is completely judgmental of anyone else’s “choices” in the story and only lends support when called out by Cordelia or Ophelia. Ophelia somehow managed to make her story even more about a man who uses and undervalues her and still dies in the end. Cordelia redeems her father but her sisters, who arguably deserve redemption more, are still vicious, heartless harpies. Lavinia gets nothing, doesn’t even get to contribute, really, and the story wouldn’t change if she wasn’t there.

There’s so much catty fighting between Juliet, Ophelia, and Cordelia that it never reaches that “women supporting women” vibe the author is apparently going for.

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lexnicole's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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spinesinaline's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Thanks to Penguin Canada for an ARC to review! I highly recommend picking this one up, especially for Shakespeare fans.

I’m familiar with a lot of Shakespeare’s plays but haven’t read or seen a couple that are referenced here (namely King Lear and Titus Andronicus). I think you’d be able to enjoy McCullough’s take without knowledge of the plays but personally I preferred looking up some quick plot points to understand how the author has reimagined these girls’ stories. The main plays referenced are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, and Titus Andronicus so if you’ve got those already, you’re good to go. This book exposes the brutality of these plays, as the blurb mentions that all of these girls die. We don’t see much of these deaths on the page but they are referenced so the reading does feel gory at times.

In McCullough’s telling, these girls are somewhere between character and actor, meeting each night below the stage after their character has been dispatched and prepared to face their death once more when the curtain rises on a new day. But when we meet them offstage, they start to question if this is the only end that could exist for them, if these girls might not deserve something more.

The book is presented almost as a play, or several plays, itself and I would love if it was actually adapted for the stage. It’s poetic and beautiful and devastating, and will certainly give you a new way of considering Shakespeares’ tragedies.

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