A review by andreatufekcic
The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

dark emotional tense

4.0

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I loved the premise and the format and the opening sections, but it ultimately veered away from the original text too fiercely without putting enough material in to fill the gaps. It’s a remarkably short text for its page length, and I just wanted more of everything. Hamlet shines in its winding twists and drawn out march to tragedy, and this book has a super truncated timeline and squarely refuses to condemn its Hamlet. Or it’s Ophelia. 
Or it’s Claudius.

My favorite parts were the alien consciousness of Horatio and his tender and heartbreaking dynamic with Hayden, and the little moments that so closely echo the play, but I wish there had been more adherence to the conventions of tragedy, or a grander world to explore. 
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