A review by betweentheshelves
Enter the Body by Joy McCullough

dark emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Not only does this give voice to a lot of the female characters often silenced in Shakespeare's works, it allows them to re-imagine their own stories. The premise of this book was fascinating to me--four women from Shakespeare (Juliet, Cordelia, Ophelia, and Lavinia) are in a sort of chat room under a stage. When they get to talking, they realize that maybe their stories aren't that different after all.

My favorite thing about this book was the way that it can make Shakespeare accessible for teenagers. I know reading Shakespeare can sometimes be a daunting thing, and this book brings up different themes and such that come up in a lot of Shakespeare plays. It would definitely work as a good companion to any of the plays that are brought up in the book.

While I'm not sure how much actual teen appeal this will have, I certainlly appreciated it as someone who has a literature degree. The verse format also makes it a bit more accessible, in my opinion. Hard-hitting with an interesting narrative structure, I definitely appreciated this from beginning to end.
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