Monday, July 18, 2011

Review #42: Falling for Hamlet by Michelle Ray

Hello again my literary comrades! Lets get into this review, because I have some things to say about it.

Falling for Hamlet is by Michelle Ray. It is a modern retelling of Hamlet from Ophelia's point of view. She's now a senior in high school, and has dated Prince Hamlet since she was around 15 on and off, now seemingly on for good. Once the beloved King dies, Hamlet spirals into madness, and the Ophelia has to make increasingly tough decisions.

Honestly, I don't like this book very much, barely at all. I mean it started off well, with the interview/interrogations as nice touches, but even those couldn't save this book from utter boring me. I know it's based off Hamlet, which is by one of the greatest playwrights of all time, but Michelle Ray utterly destroys it with her bland prose. I despised reading this story, because it frankly was extremely boring. As well as tedious. I couldn't even finish the book because of that.

Ophelia was horrible. She barely stood up for anything she believed in (I know there is a time and place, but my god she did exactly EVERYTHING she was told! Nobody does that!). She made increasingly bad decisions, etc. I wanted to smack her in the face, she was that bad. Hamlet was alright, but he was so freaking indecisive at times. Plus he also was extremely bland, a shadow of his Shakespearean parallel. Hell the only I sort of liked was Horatio, but by the time I stopped reading he was barely in it. 

Michelle has one of the driest writing styles. I respect her for attempting to update a classic, and I did enjoy the interview and interrogation tidbits, but her prose is so dry, I could spill water on it and the water would absorb immediately. 

I don't know if I'll ever read this again. Who knows, I might give it a chance later on the the future. But for now it gets a very low rating from me. It was just horrid.

I'll next be reviewing The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan.

Until next time comrades.

Viva la literature! 

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