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jodielk93's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
4.0
vasco's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
geekwayne's review against another edition
3.0
'Dunbar' by Edward St. Aubyn is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. This time around, the play that inspires the story is King Lear.
When we meet Henry Dunbar, he is in an elder care home that feels more like an insane asylum based on his alcholic friend's odd musings. He has handed his company over to his eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, and he is having doubts about his decision. This leads him to escape the home he is trapped in. He is hoping his daughter Florence will find him before Abby and Megan do.
I've read a couple of books in this series, and this one was good, but wasn't as good as Tracy Chevalier's 'New Boy' with took on Othello. The royal family aspects do translate well to modern corporations, but it might have been more interesting to more dramatically transform this play to a new setting. The characters are all so cold and bitter, that I found myself not caring what ultimately happened to them.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
When we meet Henry Dunbar, he is in an elder care home that feels more like an insane asylum based on his alcholic friend's odd musings. He has handed his company over to his eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, and he is having doubts about his decision. This leads him to escape the home he is trapped in. He is hoping his daughter Florence will find him before Abby and Megan do.
I've read a couple of books in this series, and this one was good, but wasn't as good as Tracy Chevalier's 'New Boy' with took on Othello. The royal family aspects do translate well to modern corporations, but it might have been more interesting to more dramatically transform this play to a new setting. The characters are all so cold and bitter, that I found myself not caring what ultimately happened to them.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
paulsnelling's review against another edition
3.0
There’s some excellent writing here as Lear is reimagined as an aging media tycoon complete with two ghastly, murderous daughters and one saintly one, along with the usual Machiavellian acolytes scheming for preferment. Like my last Hogarth Shakespeare read, it mainly serves to reinforce the brilliance of the play
essjay1's review against another edition
3.0
Entertaining, a modern take on King Lear - always a good lesson to revisit in times of rampant corporate (& private consumer) greed!! How much is enough? Such a good question. Shakespeare purists will probably hate it but for all those who will never reach for one of his books this is an excellent introduction. Great to listen to in the car.
melohpa's review against another edition
2.0
See my review at
https://topplingbookpile.blogspot.com/2020/07/dunbar-by-edward-st.html
https://topplingbookpile.blogspot.com/2020/07/dunbar-by-edward-st.html
goosemixtapes's review against another edition
2.0
this is. like. an interesting way to write a king lear retelling.
the main thing is that the lack of characters to play the roles of the gloucester family was both really jarring and detrimental to the story. i mean, i guess we had simon (for, like, ten pages?) and dr. bob, but edgar and edmund influence so much of the plot + themes in the original text that the lack here was felt. because the stand-ins for the lear family... varied in quality. peter and dunbar were fantastic. easily the best part of this book; i would have happily read SO much more about peter. but the daughters...
look. i am starting to think cishet men simply should not write about the lear sisters. there was a very obvious virgin/whore dynamic going on here, with florence pigeonholed into “dutiful pure daughter who forgives daddy for everything and does nothing wrong” and abby and megan given little depth beyond “spoiled power-hungry sex-hungry bitches.” and like... i guess you can argue that shakespeare also did that to some degree? but come on bro. come on. this book was written in 2017. please write a plausible woman with depth just once please i’m begging
plus... okay, making lear’s kingdom into a multi-billion-dollar company makes sense. it’s the obvious route to take (beyond a political position of some kind). but i’ve been reviewing this book based on its status as a king lear retelling because if it weren’t, i just wouldn’t have liked it! the thing is that i don’t CARE what happens to this megacorporation; i don’t CARE which of these millionaires inherits the family legacy. i’m a gay commie! i don’t give a shit! but i do give a shit about king lear, in fact i care intensely about king lear, and i think it’s because - not to get sappy here or whatever - in king lear, while people do want power, what everyone really wants is love. even the power-hungry daughters care less about the kingdom and more about edmund. and this book just... does not have that element to it. everyone is just squabbling over money (except florence, i guess) and so i kind of... do not care!
also is it just me or did this book. just fucking END. like it just straight up ended. like. hello????
the main thing is that the lack of characters to play the roles of the gloucester family was both really jarring and detrimental to the story. i mean, i guess we had simon (for, like, ten pages?) and dr. bob, but edgar and edmund influence so much of the plot + themes in the original text that the lack here was felt. because the stand-ins for the lear family... varied in quality. peter and dunbar were fantastic. easily the best part of this book; i would have happily read SO much more about peter. but the daughters...
look. i am starting to think cishet men simply should not write about the lear sisters. there was a very obvious virgin/whore dynamic going on here, with florence pigeonholed into “dutiful pure daughter who forgives daddy for everything and does nothing wrong” and abby and megan given little depth beyond “spoiled power-hungry sex-hungry bitches.” and like... i guess you can argue that shakespeare also did that to some degree? but come on bro. come on. this book was written in 2017. please write a plausible woman with depth just once please i’m begging
plus... okay, making lear’s kingdom into a multi-billion-dollar company makes sense. it’s the obvious route to take (beyond a political position of some kind). but i’ve been reviewing this book based on its status as a king lear retelling because if it weren’t, i just wouldn’t have liked it! the thing is that i don’t CARE what happens to this megacorporation; i don’t CARE which of these millionaires inherits the family legacy. i’m a gay commie! i don’t give a shit! but i do give a shit about king lear, in fact i care intensely about king lear, and i think it’s because - not to get sappy here or whatever - in king lear, while people do want power, what everyone really wants is love. even the power-hungry daughters care less about the kingdom and more about edmund. and this book just... does not have that element to it. everyone is just squabbling over money (except florence, i guess) and so i kind of... do not care!
also is it just me or did this book. just fucking END. like it just straight up ended. like. hello????
bahoulie's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the way St. Aubyn wrote Dunbar's experience of being crazy. The trek through the snow was a complete joy of good writing.
quercus707's review against another edition
4.0
I'm going to defer to Nietzsche for a pithy statement of the theme of this retelling of King Lear: "The consequences of our actions take hold of us, despite our contention that meanwhile we have improved."
This is a brilliant, perfectly tragic story. Yeah, there are a bunch of bad people, and a bunch of bad things happen, not just to the bad ones. But this story stays so firmly centered on Dunbar, himself, as the cause and the reason for all that befalls him and his family. He lives in a world he's created. He has formed his two older daughters into the weapons that will stab him in the back. He deserves what he gets from them. He *doesn't* deserve the devotion and selflessness of his younger daughter and his chief counsel. He gets them anyway, because life isn't always fair, and they lead him to a great epiphany about the life he's lived, and a great and noble contention to improve . . .but it's all too little too late.
But. But you want him to succeed, and to have a chance at the happiness he doesn't deserve. It's like the end of Romeo and Juliet, when you find yourself shouting, "No, don't drink the poison! She's alive!" and you hope that this time, miraculously, Juliet will open her eyes just a moment sooner and that this time they will get their happy ending.
Edward St. Aubyn (with a little help from Shakespeare) has written a perfect tragedy. You know things will end, must end, the way they do. It's Right. But you wish so deeply that it would go a different way, that they'd get that second chance . . . .
This is a brilliant, perfectly tragic story. Yeah, there are a bunch of bad people, and a bunch of bad things happen, not just to the bad ones. But this story stays so firmly centered on Dunbar, himself, as the cause and the reason for all that befalls him and his family. He lives in a world he's created. He has formed his two older daughters into the weapons that will stab him in the back. He deserves what he gets from them. He *doesn't* deserve the devotion and selflessness of his younger daughter and his chief counsel. He gets them anyway, because life isn't always fair, and they lead him to a great epiphany about the life he's lived, and a great and noble contention to improve . . .but it's all too little too late.
But. But you want him to succeed, and to have a chance at the happiness he doesn't deserve. It's like the end of Romeo and Juliet, when you find yourself shouting, "No, don't drink the poison! She's alive!" and you hope that this time, miraculously, Juliet will open her eyes just a moment sooner and that this time they will get their happy ending.
Edward St. Aubyn (with a little help from Shakespeare) has written a perfect tragedy. You know things will end, must end, the way they do. It's Right. But you wish so deeply that it would go a different way, that they'd get that second chance . . . .