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jperine's review
1.0
I never thought I’d be bashing a “magical, queer, and feminist retelling of Hamlet,” but here we are.
This book is a mess. Let’s start with the buzzwords:
“Magical”: the light fantasy aspects of this novel really made no sense and seemed like an afterthought solely to make the book appealing to an additional audience. The ways that the magical characters discuss the ways that they wield their power are bogged down in senseless prose (which we’ll circle back to) to make much sense.
“Queer”: congrats, Lyndsay Faye, you wrote an Achillean romance in the 2020s. And STILL managed to drop a “f*ggot” in there! Nice! Literally the hate speech had NO purpose in that moment. Also the romance is boring because both characters are boring. Bonus points, however, for Ben identifying as demisexual.
“Feminist”: LITERALLY WHERE. Literally where? The female lead winds up being dead the whole time and just about every single moment of her arc circles back to the men in her life. The villain is SURPRISE! the mother, who is warped into a comical villain who is also incredibly boring and falls flat. Literally none of the women in this story are dynamic not hold any agency. The only “feminist” aspect of this novel I can figure out is the fact that it’s written by a woman.
“Retelling of Hamlet”: okay here’s where we get into personal preference—if you’re going to craft a retelling, let’s have consistent rules. There’s a one-for-one transfer from the original to this retelling (we are missing Laertes, however). Everyone in this novel either holds onto their original name, or goes by a shortened name (Lia, Trudy, Claude), EXCEPT for Hamlet, who is now……BEN. What?
I think the greatest flaw of the novel comes down to the rotating perspective, third-person narrative. Faye tries to imbue unique viewpoints/voice for each character, which in third person makes no sense (Horatio’s narrator using annoying British colloquialisms that felt incredibly out of place, and Ben’s narrator doing strange things with formatting and fonts to try to convey his neurodivergence…).
I genuinely do not understand how this novel has a 4-star average rating.
EDIT: and OH MY GOD how could I forget the unfathomable lack of understanding of the amount of power literally anyone who works in theatre has. Ben should’ve been the son of politicians.
This book is a mess. Let’s start with the buzzwords:
“Magical”: the light fantasy aspects of this novel really made no sense and seemed like an afterthought solely to make the book appealing to an additional audience. The ways that the magical characters discuss the ways that they wield their power are bogged down in senseless prose (which we’ll circle back to) to make much sense.
“Queer”: congrats, Lyndsay Faye, you wrote an Achillean romance in the 2020s. And STILL managed to drop a “f*ggot” in there! Nice! Literally the hate speech had NO purpose in that moment. Also the romance is boring because both characters are boring. Bonus points, however, for Ben identifying as demisexual.
“Feminist”: LITERALLY WHERE. Literally where? The female lead winds up being dead the whole time and just about every single moment of her arc circles back to the men in her life. The villain is SURPRISE! the mother, who is warped into a comical villain who is also incredibly boring and falls flat. Literally none of the women in this story are dynamic not hold any agency. The only “feminist” aspect of this novel I can figure out is the fact that it’s written by a woman.
“Retelling of Hamlet”: okay here’s where we get into personal preference—if you’re going to craft a retelling, let’s have consistent rules. There’s a one-for-one transfer from the original to this retelling (we are missing Laertes, however). Everyone in this novel either holds onto their original name, or goes by a shortened name (Lia, Trudy, Claude), EXCEPT for Hamlet, who is now……BEN. What?
I think the greatest flaw of the novel comes down to the rotating perspective, third-person narrative. Faye tries to imbue unique viewpoints/voice for each character, which in third person makes no sense (Horatio’s narrator using annoying British colloquialisms that felt incredibly out of place, and Ben’s narrator doing strange things with formatting and fonts to try to convey his neurodivergence…).
I genuinely do not understand how this novel has a 4-star average rating.
EDIT: and OH MY GOD how could I forget the unfathomable lack of understanding of the amount of power literally anyone who works in theatre has. Ben should’ve been the son of politicians.
fungivibes's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
This was a fun and clever re-telling, nothing revolutionary or game changing just a very enjoyable reading exprience. Leaning more into the surrealism and magical aspects of Hamlet, with really strong character writing.
jerseygrrrl's review
Just couldn't get into this book, so I'm not giving it a rating.
memybooksandi's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jkxmilmom88's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
rmyd42's review
5.0
Woof. When Lyndsay told us about "queer Hamlet in NYC" back when she toured on Paragon Hotel, that pitch was like catnip for me. Now having read it.... y'all I am gonna have such a hangover from this beautiful, wild story with the unreliable narrators that is both familiar and surprising.
i_would_prefer_not_to's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
shoemaker's review
2.0
I'm a sucker for anything Shakespearean, I liked the reimagined setting, (reminiscent of Ethan Hawke's Hamlet film). And I really liked the way Ophelia's role was recast (kudos to Faye for crafting that surprise - I didn't se it coming). BUT, Hamlet's idiosyncratic "genius" struck me as sophomoric and over the top. I know it's possible to read the original Hamlet with the same criticism, but I get the sense that Shakespeare wants us to root for Hamlet in spite of his obnoxiousness; I'm left with the suspicion that Faye just thinks he's lovable because of his adorable quirkiness.