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hayleybeale's review
4.0
Hats off to Gareth Hinds for continuing to bring classic and rather challenging texts to a more accessible comic book context. This is a traditionally set Macbeth, with a thoughtfully abridged text, leaving the words largely untouched, and with the smart move of presenting them as prose rather than poetry. See my full review here.
pinkgltrbubbles's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
aoosterwyk's review
4.0
Gareth Hinds is a beautiful illustrator and retells Macbeth in simpler language, without losing the Shakespeare flavor.
beths0103's review
4.0
Comics are real reading. End of story. If you're horrified by the idea of a student reading a graphic novel version of a Shakespeare play, would you rather they not understand it at all? The visual element adds much needed scaffolding to readers who don't have the background knowledge to fully immerse themselves in the text.
If I had been able to read this graphic novel adaptation of Macbeth when I was in high school, I might have actually somewhat understood and taken an interest the story. As it is, I'm 35 and am now finally starting to feel like I am grasping the things that English teachers love about Shakespeare. Yes, my dirty little secret as an English teacher is that I don't understand Shakespeare. It's my Achilles heel. But a text like this, not only with visual elements, but backmatter at the end that gives readers added background information (like the very important point that back in the time of 11th century Scotland, a king's heir-apparent was not his son, but rather someone that the nobles chose which would make better sense as to how Macbeth was able to become king) and explanation of the process of creating a graphic novel from such a revered, classic text can help people like me start to fully grasp a difficult text like this.
I hope more English teachers start embracing the idea of putting these kinds of graphic novels in their classroom libraries.
If I had been able to read this graphic novel adaptation of Macbeth when I was in high school, I might have actually somewhat understood and taken an interest the story. As it is, I'm 35 and am now finally starting to feel like I am grasping the things that English teachers love about Shakespeare. Yes, my dirty little secret as an English teacher is that I don't understand Shakespeare. It's my Achilles heel. But a text like this, not only with visual elements, but backmatter at the end that gives readers added background information (like the very important point that back in the time of 11th century Scotland, a king's heir-apparent was not his son, but rather someone that the nobles chose which would make better sense as to how Macbeth was able to become king) and explanation of the process of creating a graphic novel from such a revered, classic text can help people like me start to fully grasp a difficult text like this.
I hope more English teachers start embracing the idea of putting these kinds of graphic novels in their classroom libraries.
readcover2cover's review
The illustrations were fantastic and of course I love Shakespeare. I'm not going to rate this though because it was more of a skim-read since I'd just reread Macbeth, so it was more to see the illustrations than to actually read it word-for-word. It seems great though!
shoelessmama's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It's not just the witches that make this the perfect October read. I find this to be one of the most chilling of Shakespeare's works and Hinds retelling in a graphic novel fitted my reading needs perfectly today... still fall, yet the first snow of the season fell. Hinds renderings, as always, convey so much feeling through the facial expressions of the characters. This was a great way to consume this classic tale again but in a condensed form.
bardic_llama's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
zackgraff's review
4.0
I’ve always enjoyed (or rather remembered enjoying) Macbeth.
To read this adaptation as an adult helped me realize how chaotic this story actually is. It was a fun and quick read but because Hinds maintains Shakespeare’s actual text and writing in his speech bubbles I wouldn’t necessarily call it “Easy”
Would recommend
To read this adaptation as an adult helped me realize how chaotic this story actually is. It was a fun and quick read but because Hinds maintains Shakespeare’s actual text and writing in his speech bubbles I wouldn’t necessarily call it “Easy”
Would recommend
pocketfullofjoy's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75