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A review by kryptowright1984
My Name is Will by Jess Winfield
4.0
It's fitting that I picked up this novel after finishing Hamlet in Purgatory. Both are concerned with Shakespeare's religious affiliations, but other than that, could not be more different. It helped, though, to have my memory jogged by Greenblatt's analysis of Catholicism in medieval and Elizabethan England. It prepared me for the rip-roaring ride between the two Will Shakespeares that author Jess Winfield creates here: the playwright and Willie Shakespeare Greenberg, a man who understands little about Shakespeare that he doesn't receive under the influence of a Rubik's Cube or psychedelic mushrooms.
For Winfield is telling two stories here: a surmise of what may have happened to make Shakespeare one of the greatest writers who ever lived, and the events surrounding a grad student in 1980s, his struggle to finish (or just plain start) his thesis, and the drug deal he undertakes for some extra cash. Seems like a weird combination, but the strongest points of these stories come when they intertwine.
Because Winfield is doing more than creating a story about drugs and spiritual enlightenment--he's actually comparing the two, as both young men experience ecstasy that rockets them into the past and the future, and see what the oppressive regimes of the 1580s and the 1980s are doing to those around them. This turns out to be Winfield's most original and strongest point: freedom to choose one's own limits and what one derives ecstasy from. Of course, most of Willie's choices end up with him in jail or experiencing guilt from one of many ill-advised sexual encounters. But it's a coming of age story for both the men (the first Shakespeare being the moody yet egotistical upstart crow he's usually fictionalized as), and Winfield does a good job creating tense yet fun environments for the Wills to grow up in.
I have two qualms with the book. One, its reaches into academia don't seem all that academic. Even with the supposedly brilliant revision by the story's end, Willie's thesis seems to have too broad a subject matter to make any honest, clear statements about Shakespeare's work. And we are supposed to think it has. However, that part of the story is set in the '80s, so Shakespearean scholarship might not have been so concerned yet with the marrying of the Bard's lost personal life to his work. Who knows?
Second: the female characters in My Name Is Will aren't all that compelling, with a few exceptions (all existing in William Shakespeare's world of the 1580s). They mostly torture Willie sexually, yet are drawn to him because he's supposedly more sensitive than most. I'm fine with women seeing an inner light in a character, but most of Willie's actions don't justify this. They must be looking pretty hard. Which I could accept, but we never understand why they're looking so hard in the first place.
Despite these issues, the rest of the story is told at a fun pace, and has enough provocative material to keep the audience hooked, so I didn't mind these glitches as much. Definitely a good debut novel; I would read his work again.
For Winfield is telling two stories here: a surmise of what may have happened to make Shakespeare one of the greatest writers who ever lived, and the events surrounding a grad student in 1980s, his struggle to finish (or just plain start) his thesis, and the drug deal he undertakes for some extra cash. Seems like a weird combination, but the strongest points of these stories come when they intertwine.
Because Winfield is doing more than creating a story about drugs and spiritual enlightenment--he's actually comparing the two, as both young men experience ecstasy that rockets them into the past and the future, and see what the oppressive regimes of the 1580s and the 1980s are doing to those around them. This turns out to be Winfield's most original and strongest point: freedom to choose one's own limits and what one derives ecstasy from. Of course, most of Willie's choices end up with him in jail or experiencing guilt from one of many ill-advised sexual encounters. But it's a coming of age story for both the men (the first Shakespeare being the moody yet egotistical upstart crow he's usually fictionalized as), and Winfield does a good job creating tense yet fun environments for the Wills to grow up in.
I have two qualms with the book. One, its reaches into academia don't seem all that academic. Even with the supposedly brilliant revision by the story's end, Willie's thesis seems to have too broad a subject matter to make any honest, clear statements about Shakespeare's work. And we are supposed to think it has. However, that part of the story is set in the '80s, so Shakespearean scholarship might not have been so concerned yet with the marrying of the Bard's lost personal life to his work. Who knows?
Second: the female characters in My Name Is Will aren't all that compelling, with a few exceptions (all existing in William Shakespeare's world of the 1580s). They mostly torture Willie sexually, yet are drawn to him because he's supposedly more sensitive than most. I'm fine with women seeing an inner light in a character, but most of Willie's actions don't justify this. They must be looking pretty hard. Which I could accept, but we never understand why they're looking so hard in the first place.
Despite these issues, the rest of the story is told at a fun pace, and has enough provocative material to keep the audience hooked, so I didn't mind these glitches as much. Definitely a good debut novel; I would read his work again.