A review by literarylover37
New Boy by Tracy Chevalier

4.0

A short but powerful read, New Boy is enjoyable even for those who have never read Othello. The idea of transporting Shakepeare’s play to a single day in the 1960’s is genius. While the casting of 6th graders was unique, I didn’t feel like it was as authentic. Sometimes the characters did things (or had thought processes) that I couldn’t see an 11-year-old doing. I did like that fact that they were young enough to still have an innocence about them but enough age to know the ways of the world. I particularly liked the character of Mimi and how she was used. I liked the rotating points of view and felt like that was done really well and I felt that the setting allowed for a lot of great discussions about race and social dynamics. The asides of the adults in the book were interesting as well and added a lot to the whole tone of the story. I really enjoyed this book, not just as a version of Shakespeare but in its own right.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.