Scan barcode
Reviews
That Way Madness Lies: Fifteen of Shakespeare's Most Notable Works Reimagined by Dahlia Adler
cmdufresne's review against another edition
4.0
That Way Madness lies is an anthology of "reimagined" Shakespeare by YA authors. As someone who loves retellings, Shakespeare, and anything YA I was thrilled for this. But the truth is they are not all retellings. Some are retellings, some are modernizations, some are "what happened next", and some are LOOSELY inspired. They are all written by different authors and I had drastically different feelings about each, so just going to have to give each a rating.
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING-5/5 Super cute YA rom-com retelling of the Tempest. I want this as a whole book instead of just a short story.
SHIPWRECKED- 2/5 Twelfth Night is such a fun, ridiculous plot line, and somehow this made it angsty and painful. More of an "inspired by" than a retelling.
TAMING OF THE SOUL MATE- 5/5 Taming of the Shrew with soulmate magic. I'm 100% here for it, and also need this as a full book.
KING OF THE FARIES- 1/5 Years later from the perspective of the child that Oberon and Titania were fighting over. Depressing and the opposite of the lightheartedness of midsummer night dream.
WE HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS- 4/5 Entertaining YA retelling of As You Like It. Exactly what I would expect and hope for.
SOME OTHER METAL- 3/5 Okay reimaginging of Much Ado About Nothing. A little confusing, but so is the original.
I BLEED- 5/5 POWERFUL modernization of Two Gentleman of Verona. Sadly far too relevant.
HIS INVENTION (SONNET) 4/5 dark and chilling
PARTYING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW-4/5 Modern Romeo and Juliet told through text messages showing how truly ridiculous they are.
DREAMING OF THE DARK- 4/5 Julius Caesar retold about girls doing dark magic. Creative, entertaining, and unique take while having the original come through.
THE TRAGEDY OF CORY LANEZ: AN ORAL HISTORY- 4/5 Not my style personally, but well done.
OUT OF THE STORM- 1/5 The only thing this has in common with King Lear is that it is about a Father who is dying and his daughters. Totally misses all the complex relationships. Basically just uses the names to create a story about daughters pulling the plug on their abusive father.
ELSINORE- 3/5 Entertaining Hamlet retelling if Hamlet was a girl and there were vampires.
WE FAIL- 2/5 Inspired by Macbeth from the perspective of the lady Macbeth character. Takes out all the magic, prophesy, kingdoms, and political battles, leaves the broken lady Macbeth, but with less brains.
LOST GIRL- 4/5 sweet retelling of The Winter's Tale, that uses The Winter's Tale within as guidance and inspiration.
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING-5/5 Super cute YA rom-com retelling of the Tempest. I want this as a whole book instead of just a short story.
SHIPWRECKED- 2/5 Twelfth Night is such a fun, ridiculous plot line, and somehow this made it angsty and painful. More of an "inspired by" than a retelling.
TAMING OF THE SOUL MATE- 5/5 Taming of the Shrew with soulmate magic. I'm 100% here for it, and also need this as a full book.
KING OF THE FARIES- 1/5 Years later from the perspective of the child that Oberon and Titania were fighting over. Depressing and the opposite of the lightheartedness of midsummer night dream.
WE HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS- 4/5 Entertaining YA retelling of As You Like It. Exactly what I would expect and hope for.
SOME OTHER METAL- 3/5 Okay reimaginging of Much Ado About Nothing. A little confusing, but so is the original.
I BLEED- 5/5 POWERFUL modernization of Two Gentleman of Verona. Sadly far too relevant.
HIS INVENTION (SONNET) 4/5 dark and chilling
PARTYING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW-4/5 Modern Romeo and Juliet told through text messages showing how truly ridiculous they are.
DREAMING OF THE DARK- 4/5 Julius Caesar retold about girls doing dark magic. Creative, entertaining, and unique take while having the original come through.
THE TRAGEDY OF CORY LANEZ: AN ORAL HISTORY- 4/5 Not my style personally, but well done.
OUT OF THE STORM- 1/5 The only thing this has in common with King Lear is that it is about a Father who is dying and his daughters. Totally misses all the complex relationships. Basically just uses the names to create a story about daughters pulling the plug on their abusive father.
ELSINORE- 3/5 Entertaining Hamlet retelling if Hamlet was a girl and there were vampires.
WE FAIL- 2/5 Inspired by Macbeth from the perspective of the lady Macbeth character. Takes out all the magic, prophesy, kingdoms, and political battles, leaves the broken lady Macbeth, but with less brains.
LOST GIRL- 4/5 sweet retelling of The Winter's Tale, that uses The Winter's Tale within as guidance and inspiration.
marvelruinedmyspirit's review
2.5
I think I've come to terms with the fact that I love fanfiction but hate retellings...
Severe Weather Warning (Inspired by The Tempest) by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka - 1.5/5 - This was nothing Shipwrecked (Inspired by Twelfth Night) by Mark Oshiro - 2/5 - The story was ok, but the writing was not very good Taming of the Soul mate (Inspired by The Taming of the Shrew) by K. Ancrum - 5/5 - I was so ready to hate this story because I despise the original play but this was so fucking good. K. Ancrum has never let me down. King of the Fairies (Inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream) by Anna-Marie McLemore - 3/5 - Meh. It was fine, but I didn't love the writing style. We Have Seen Better Days (Inspired by As You Like It) by Lily Anderson - 2/5 - This felt so unfinished, I'm honestly confused. Also I had to deduct a whole star for fucking Lando. "I’d prefer someone who didn’t think reality TV counts as cinema verité." I despise you. Some Other Metal (Inspired by Much Ado About Nothing) by A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy - 2/5 - I hated the writing of this story. I Bleed (Inspired by The Merchant of Venice) by Dahlia Adler - 4/5 - I did not need to be in the head of a white supremacist... Also. Let Shylock have his pound of flesh! His Invention (Inspired by Sonnet 147) by Brittany Cavallaro - 1.5/5 - ???? Again, this is nothing. Partying Is Such Sweet Sorrow (Inspired by Romeo and Juliet) by Kiersten White - 1/5 - Romeo and Juliet but what if it was absolute dogshit? Dreaming of the Dark (Inspired by Julius Caesar) by Lindsay Smith - 1.5 /5 - This is a bad retelling and a poorly written, confusing story. The Tragedy of Cory Lanez: An Oral History (Inspired by Coriolanus) by Tochi Onyebuchi - 3/5 - This was interesting but sadly the format didn't make it easy for me to understand what was happening. Out of the Storm (Inspired by King Lear) by Joy McCullough - 2/5 - I'm tired of the formatting of these stories being weird, and I don't get what this is a retelling of, because King Lear isn't it. Elsinore (Inspired by Hamlet) by Patrice Caldwell - 4/5 - The ending was a bit abrupt, and I'm a bit puzzled by the name changes in this story... But overall I did like it. We Fail (Inspired by Macbeth) by Samantha Mabry - 2/5 - I... don't see how that's relevant to the original story tbh Lost Girl (Inspired by The Winter’s Tale) by Melissa Bashardoust - 4.5/5 - I really really liked this one, the writing was good and the plot made sense for the original play, I just wish we'd gotten more of an ending.
rainbowbookworm's review
4.0
Not all the stories are winners, but I still enjoyed most of this collection.
annamickreads's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you Dahlia Adler for this gorgeous exploration of the Bard!!
Something I really appreciated about these short stories is that, while many of them were far TOO short for my liking, many experimented with style in a way that I personally think would have made Shakespeare proud. From stories told entirely through text messages to one retelling posed as a music industry documentary, it just goes to show that you don't need to stick to the rigidity of Shakespeare's original form to enjoy or derive meaning from his works.
Personally, what was also exceptionally brilliant about this collection was authors such as Ms. Adler and Anna-Marie McLemore who used their personal identities to challenge the text in a way that was both informative and personal (after all, Shakespeare was a Christian cis white man from the 1500s, it's safe to say that many of his characters are stereotypes that don't hold up today.)
Something I really appreciated about these short stories is that, while many of them were far TOO short for my liking, many experimented with style in a way that I personally think would have made Shakespeare proud. From stories told entirely through text messages to one retelling posed as a music industry documentary, it just goes to show that you don't need to stick to the rigidity of Shakespeare's original form to enjoy or derive meaning from his works.
Personally, what was also exceptionally brilliant about this collection was authors such as Ms. Adler and Anna-Marie McLemore who used their personal identities to challenge the text in a way that was both informative and personal (after all, Shakespeare was a Christian cis white man from the 1500s, it's safe to say that many of his characters are stereotypes that don't hold up today.)
cedartonk's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
peggy_racham's review against another edition
4.75
Its hard to find a collection of short stories that seems so well put together. But this is truly nearly perfect. This will make me read all of Shakespeare
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Biphobia, Self harm, Death, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Dysphoria, Grief, Blood, Miscarriage, Hate crime, Homophobia, Car accident, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Addiction, and Medical content
adrzeck's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to this one, so that may impact your rating.
Like 3.5 stars and I hold off on the last half because I loved how Adler talked about the reasoning why the Merchant of Venice was chosen...so I wanted to know why everyone picked their picks.
They start off everything with a snippet from each Shakespearian work, then roll into the author(S) interpretation.
I really loved
"Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow" - Cause Romeo is a creep.
"Taming of the Soul Mate"
"King of the Fairies"
"I Bleed"
"Some Other Metal"
Like 3.5 stars and I hold off on the last half because I loved how Adler talked about the reasoning why the Merchant of Venice was chosen...so I wanted to know why everyone picked their picks.
They start off everything with a snippet from each Shakespearian work, then roll into the author(S) interpretation.
I really loved
"Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow" - Cause Romeo is a creep.
"Taming of the Soul Mate"
"King of the Fairies"
"I Bleed"
"Some Other Metal"
sanjevi's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
alongreader's review against another edition
4.0
We all know Shakespeare's stories and phrases, whether we know it or not. Fifteen authors have picked their favourite story - and in one case, sonnet - and reimagined it with present, or occasionally past or future, characters and settings. The result is an incredible mix of new interpretations of this stories.
Ok, don't shoot me, but; I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan. I appreciate that he was amazingly brilliant and that the plays are wonderful ruminations on humanity at its best and worst. I've just never really enjoyed them.
But I did enjoy these short stories. Some more than others, as always with short story collections, but none were any less than interesting and some were fascinating. I think I liked Macbeth best, but Romeo and Juliet had a wonderfully creepy tone! I would also love to read more of the King Lear featured here, it's really intriguing.
This is a great collection and would make a fabulous accompaniment to the script of any of the featured plays. Wonderful.
Ok, don't shoot me, but; I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan. I appreciate that he was amazingly brilliant and that the plays are wonderful ruminations on humanity at its best and worst. I've just never really enjoyed them.
But I did enjoy these short stories. Some more than others, as always with short story collections, but none were any less than interesting and some were fascinating. I think I liked Macbeth best, but Romeo and Juliet had a wonderfully creepy tone! I would also love to read more of the King Lear featured here, it's really intriguing.
This is a great collection and would make a fabulous accompaniment to the script of any of the featured plays. Wonderful.