726 (2017 #24). New Boy

by Tracy Chevalier

New Boy is Othello retold - the fifth in the Hogarth Shakespeare series where bestselling authors are commissioned to retell stories from Shakespeare. Tracy Chevalier did this one - fortunately, I have read some of her other works.

Chevalier sets this tragedy in a Washington, DC, school in May 1974, and the main characters are sixth-graders.  According to an interview on YouTube (and her website),

I was 11 in 1974...I grew up in Washington, DC, and lived in an integrated neighborhood and went to a school that was about 80% black, and so I had the unusual experience of being a white minority. And I wanted to write about that, although I have flipped it ... the book opens with a black boy walking onto an all-white playground, and it's about what happens to him over the course of the day.

Chevalier of course simplified the story, removing most of the subplots, but the characters are still recognizable:

• Othello - "O" or Osei , the son of a Ghanan diplomat, whose name means "noble" in his language.  He is the "new boy" of the title - this is his fourth school in at least three different cities in six years.
• Desdemona - Dee, short for Daniela, the most popular girl in the sixth grade, although her mother is very strict and she goes home for lunch every day.  She is assigned by their teacher to take care of O on his first day.
• Iago - Ian, the clever sixth grade bully (and the villain of the play).
• Emilia - Mimi, Dee's best friend, now "going with" Ian although she wants out of it.
• Cassio - Casper, the most popular boy in the sixth grade.
• Roderigo - Rod, Ian's sidekick, who has a crush on Dee.
• Bianca - Blanca, Dee's and Mimi's friend who is "going with" Casper.
• Brabantio - Mr. Brabant, the teacher for O, Dee, Casper, and Blanca, a Vietnam veteran.
• Lodovico - Miss Lode, the teacher for Ian, Mimi, and Rod.
• Montano - Miss Montano, the school nurse.
• Duke of Venice - Mrs. Duke, the school principal.

The handkerchief, the symbol of perceived betrayal in the original play, becomes a pencil case.

The book is divided into five sections - before school, morning recess, lunchtime, afternoon recess, and after school - corresponding with the five acts of Shakespeare's play.  Each section begins with a jump rope chant.  Chevalier said she especially enjoyed being able

...to reference ... the games we played, the slang we used, the candy we ate, how school worked, how I felt in school, and all that stuff came rushing back.  It was it was a great experience and very different from what I normally ... write, historical novels that are set ... centuries ago and have nothing to do with me.

Nevertheless, Chevalier's experience with writing historical fiction has her including all sorts of period details from 1974 (songs, TV shows, etc.) that made me appreciate the setting even more.

I also loved the way she worked in the class preparing to perform A Midsummer Night's Dream (page 112).  When Dee tells O she is playing Hermia, Ian overhears.

"Doesn't she fall in love with one boy after another?" Ian interjected.  "She's fickle like that.  Lucky boys."
"Only because of what you do.  It's just magic," Dee explained, as O's face darkened.  "It's a comedy, so it turns out alright in the end."
"Who do you play?" O demanded of Ian.
"He plays Puck," Dee said.  "The head fairy who makes all the mischief happen."

So true!  This is a tragedy of jealousy.  Updating the story to the 1970s also highlights the prejudices that are still relevant today.  I was in sixth grade just a few years before 1974 - and all the ever-changing friendships, crushes, and jealousies of that age ring true.

The book's ending is vague, but I think that is deliberate.  Something bad happens (the play IS a tragedy, with three of the four main characters dead by the end, and the fourth is arrested), but it's not quite clear what.

Highly recommended.


© Amanda Pape - 2017

[I received this advance reader edition through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]

681 (2016 #36). The Gap of Time

by Jeanette Winterson

The Gap of Time is The Winter's Tale retold - the first in the Hogarth Shakespeare series of books where bestselling authors are commissioned to retell stories from Shakespeare. Jeanette Winterson did this one - unfortunately, I'm not familiar with her other work.

I have seen and read The Winter's Tale (both twice), but it was last over a dozen years ago, so I appreciated Winterson's brief synopsis at the beginning, as well as her use of similar character names ( (Shep is the Shepherd, Clo is the Clown, MiMi is Hermione, Zel  is Florizel, Leo is Leontes, Xeno is Polixenes, etc.).  The title comes from nearly the last line of the play, and also refers to the sixteen-year gap between events in the play.

I've now read the first four books in the series, and am interested in reading all the future titles. I'd rank this one below Hag-Seed and Vinegar Girl, but above Shylock is My Name.  It was easier to "see" the original Shakespeare play in this book than it was in Shylock.  I also think my "rankings" have something to do with how I'd rank their original Shakespeare sources as well.

I do think this is a series where it is helpful to have read the Shakespeare play the book is based on, as I doubt all the retellers will provide the convenient summary.


© Amanda Pape - 2016

[I received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It was donated to my local public library to add to their Hogarth Shakespeare collection.]

679 (2016 #34). Hag-Seed

by Margaret Atwood

A clever and funny retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed (a reference to Caliban in the play, literally, "the offspring of a witch") is a play within a play (within a play).

So far, I like this book the best of the titles I've read in the Hogarth Shakespeare series of books where bestselling authors are commissioned to retell stories from Shakespeare.  Hag-seed is the fourth one written.  It probably helps that this is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays.  I've only read one of Atwood's books (The Handmaid's Tale), but I loved it.

I do think this is a series where it is helpful to have read the Shakespeare play on which the book is based.  Fortunately for her readers, Atwood has made that easy by including a synopsis, albeit at the end of the book.

Felix gets fired as the artistic director of a regional theater, and ends up working with a literacy program at a nearby prison, where the inmates act out Shakespeare's plays.  After a few years of this, he learns those responsible for his dismissal have become government officials and are coming to view the play, not knowing he is the director.  He decides to stage the play he was working on when fired all those years ago - with some relevant changes.

As a Shakespeare fan, I would LOVE to see a performance of The Tempest based on Atwood's book!  The costumes and dialogue adaptations (rap in one case) sound awesome!  Requiring his actors to only use swear words they find in the play is a brilliant touch. Highly recommended.


© Amanda Pape - 2016

[I received this advance reader edition through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]

553 (2016 #19). Vinegar Girl

by Ann Tyler

Vinegar Girl is a fun retelling of Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew by bestselling author Anne Tyler (an author I am not that familiar with, as I have only read one of her books, years ago).  It's been stripped down to its essentials - Katharina (Kate in this book), Petruchio (Pyotr), and Baptista Minola (Dr. Battista).  These three main characters lack a lot of social skills - which of course makes the story funny.

Baptista's daughter and Katharina's sister Bianca (Bunny in the book) still appears, but her distracting subplot is (mostly) gone - as is (thankfully) the confusing introductory induction scene (no Christopher Sly here!).

I'm much more familiar with The Taming of the Shrew, having seen the play performed at least five times.  That made it quite easy to see the parallels in this book.  They are merely parallels, though, as Tyler has crafted a unique version of the tale, set in modern times, with an interesting twist in the plot.

The clever title comes from a comment Pyotr/Petruchio makes to Kate/Katharina that reflects his Russian's fascination with American idioms.  There's also a reworking of Katharina's (in)famous "obedience" speech at the end that's much more up-to-date.  Tyler also adds a humorous epilogue, set about six years later - perhaps as an opposite to the induction in Shakespeare's play.

Vinegar Girl is the third in the Hogarth Shakespeare series of books where bestselling authors are commissioned to retell stories from Shakespeare.  I didn't really care for the second book in the series, based on The Merchant of Venice which, like The Taming of the Shrew, also deals with a politically-incorrect (today) theme - Anne Tyler just handled it much better, in my opinion.   However, I'm interested in reading the first book as well as future titles in the series.  I do think this is a series where it is helpful to have read the Shakespeare play the book is based on, particularly if you are otherwise unfamiliar with the retelling author's work.


© Amanda Pape - 2016

[I received this advance reader edition through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]

549 (2016 #15). Shylock Is My Name

by Howard Jacobson

Shylock is My Name is The Merchant of Venice retold - the second in the Hogarth Shakespeare series of books where bestselling authors are commissioned to retell stories from Shakespeare.  Howard Jacobson did this one - unfortunately, I'm not familiar with his other work.

I have to admit that at first I did not see it with this book.  But then, The Merchant of Venice is less familiar to me than many of Shakespeare's other works.  In all the years (ten!) I watched Shakespeare in the Park in the Seattle area (four different plays per year). The Merchant of Venice was only performed once. I had to re-read my Folger Shakespeare Library edition of the play to more clearly see the parallels.

Plury in Jacobson's story is Portia from Shakespeare's, and instead of the three caskets (gold, silver, and lead), she tests her suitors with a Porsche Carrera, a BMW Alpina and a Volkswagon Beetle.  Plury's suitor Barnaby is Portia's suitor Bassanio. and the art dealer D'Anton is the parallel to the merchant Antonio, the one who has to give over the pound of flesh (or maybe it's an ounce - the price here is a circumcision).

The differences?  Shylock (who, along with his daughter Jessica, retains his name from Shakespeare's play) is NOT the villain.  Instead, it's another Jew named Simon Strulovitch, who, like the Shylock of the play, has a daughter (Beatrice, a parallel Jessica) who gets involved with a Gentile.

Unfortunately, none of the characters are particularly likable, and the conversations between Strulovitch and Shylock on what it's like to be Jewish became especially tiresome.  I like the idea behind the book, though, and look forward to reading others in the series.


© Amanda Pape - 2016

[I received this advance reader edition through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]