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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Y\ALL HAVE BEEN SLEEPING ON THIS...
Okay... allow me to just calm down and try not to scream tooo loud about this book LOL! There are four things I love without fail: Shakespeare, retellings, poetry and feminism. This book has ALL FOUR! How could I not love it?! How can I even describe this... it's about the women of Shakespeare reclaiming their stories, it's full of friendship and love and sadness, it's hopeful and critical and makes you rethink all the Shakespeare classics... and it has ace rep?! I don't know how this book isn't getting more hype for real! The writing is stunning, with each girl's poetry being unique to their style/personality, and the full-cast audiobook narration was just beyond beautiful, helping bring the story to life even more! Besties, I beg you, if you like any of those four things I mentioned, please read this lol! My only qualm is that I wanted to hear MORE from the other side characters who were merely mentioned... ah well, I was just happy to hear from Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia and Lavinia! Okay, enough ranting about this book lol, just please go read it!
Okay... allow me to just calm down and try not to scream tooo loud about this book LOL! There are four things I love without fail: Shakespeare, retellings, poetry and feminism. This book has ALL FOUR! How could I not love it?! How can I even describe this... it's about the women of Shakespeare reclaiming their stories, it's full of friendship and love and sadness, it's hopeful and critical and makes you rethink all the Shakespeare classics... and it has ace rep?! I don't know how this book isn't getting more hype for real! The writing is stunning, with each girl's poetry being unique to their style/personality, and the full-cast audiobook narration was just beyond beautiful, helping bring the story to life even more! Besties, I beg you, if you like any of those four things I mentioned, please read this lol! My only qualm is that I wanted to hear MORE from the other side characters who were merely mentioned... ah well, I was just happy to hear from Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia and Lavinia! Okay, enough ranting about this book lol, just please go read it!
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Joy McCullough books should be trending on TikTok. They should be taught in classrooms. They are criminally underrated.
I read Blood Water Paint awhile ago, and it has stuck with me all of these years. Enter the body will be another book that will stick with me for years to come, and I think that is so special. Everything about this book was profound and heartbreaking. It is so beautiful in it's examination of some of the most notable literary characters from history's greatest writer. I love that Joy does not shy away from being brutal in her feminist lens. What has been done to these tragic heroines at the hands of men is traumatizing. And Joy allows these characters to explore that, and ultimately reclaim their trauma in a way that honors the original stories but is satisfying to read.
She introduces the main characters (Juliet, Lavinia, Ophelia and Cordelia) through their horrific deaths. All of Shakespeare's most tragic female characters are gathered in a room beneath the stage, an inbetween space where they exist after their deaths. Each one appears after exiting the stage battered and blooded. Lavinia has always been there. She is drenched in blood (others, but also her own) missing her tongue and her hands. She'll never be able to tell her story. Cordelia comes next, with poison in her words and a throat bereft of breath. Then there's Ophelia, leaves in her hair and pond scum clinging to her dress. Finally there's little Juliet, unsure where to put the knife when its unsheathed from her chest. Each of the women have a chance to tell their story, relive it, and then the author gives them a chance to write one for themselves. The other female characters listen in, perhaps meditating on their own end. Joan of Arc with her singed clothes. Cleopatra with her oozing bite. Poison and knives and blood and tears all in their respective corners, but the tragic heroines listen nonetheless.
I think the power in this book lies with the way Joy handles feminist criticism. I never felt like she was attacking Shakespeare's original work. She in fact says in her acknowledgements that her daughter is named Cordelia, after the beloved play. Instead, she encourages us to examine why the adaptions that follow Shakespeare's original work treat the tragic female characters as antatgonists, or sometimes women who got their just desserts. Isn't it weird in a fetishizing way that a common art theme is painting the drowned Ophelia? Can't we understand that Juliet chose Romeo in part because she was young and in love, but also because it was HER choice? Did these women deserve to die because they made a choice outside of the patriarchy?
I read Blood Water Paint awhile ago, and it has stuck with me all of these years. Enter the body will be another book that will stick with me for years to come, and I think that is so special. Everything about this book was profound and heartbreaking. It is so beautiful in it's examination of some of the most notable literary characters from history's greatest writer. I love that Joy does not shy away from being brutal in her feminist lens. What has been done to these tragic heroines at the hands of men is traumatizing. And Joy allows these characters to explore that, and ultimately reclaim their trauma in a way that honors the original stories but is satisfying to read.
She introduces the main characters (Juliet, Lavinia, Ophelia and Cordelia) through their horrific deaths. All of Shakespeare's most tragic female characters are gathered in a room beneath the stage, an inbetween space where they exist after their deaths. Each one appears after exiting the stage battered and blooded. Lavinia has always been there. She is drenched in blood (others, but also her own) missing her tongue and her hands. She'll never be able to tell her story. Cordelia comes next, with poison in her words and a throat bereft of breath. Then there's Ophelia, leaves in her hair and pond scum clinging to her dress. Finally there's little Juliet, unsure where to put the knife when its unsheathed from her chest. Each of the women have a chance to tell their story, relive it, and then the author gives them a chance to write one for themselves. The other female characters listen in, perhaps meditating on their own end. Joan of Arc with her singed clothes. Cleopatra with her oozing bite. Poison and knives and blood and tears all in their respective corners, but the tragic heroines listen nonetheless.
I think the power in this book lies with the way Joy handles feminist criticism. I never felt like she was attacking Shakespeare's original work. She in fact says in her acknowledgements that her daughter is named Cordelia, after the beloved play. Instead, she encourages us to examine why the adaptions that follow Shakespeare's original work treat the tragic female characters as antatgonists, or sometimes women who got their just desserts. Isn't it weird in a fetishizing way that a common art theme is painting the drowned Ophelia? Can't we understand that Juliet chose Romeo in part because she was young and in love, but also because it was HER choice? Did these women deserve to die because they made a choice outside of the patriarchy?
3.5 stars. I liked how the author gave voice to these young Shakespearean heroines and explored how their stories could be reimagined. Juliet's story dominated and she was the most hopeful. I wished the other heroines (Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia) would have had more power in their own retellings.
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
5/5 stars
I loved reading this collection of these Shakespearean women coming together and finding some way to process and understand each other. I loved seeing this interpretation of their personalities and how heartbreaking their stories look like from their perspective as women who don’t have a say and rather have had things happen to them. It was beautiful to see each of them find what they figured out their happy ending might look like that’s true to them and isn’t too fairytale happy.
I loved reading this collection of these Shakespearean women coming together and finding some way to process and understand each other. I loved seeing this interpretation of their personalities and how heartbreaking their stories look like from their perspective as women who don’t have a say and rather have had things happen to them. It was beautiful to see each of them find what they figured out their happy ending might look like that’s true to them and isn’t too fairytale happy.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No