Falling for Hamlet, a novel by Michelle Ray

I picked this up at Barnes and Noble over the summer, a few weeks after I'd read Shakespeare's Hamlet (yes, just for fun!). This book is a contemporary retelling of that story from Ophelia's perspective.

 My Thoughts:

1. I was very invested in this novel. It's told in flashbacks as Ophelia is being interviewed by the Danish version of the FBI about what happened to the royal family, so obviously the author decided to radically change Ophelia's fate. So, this lends itself to "Maybe Laertes doesn't stab Hamlet with the poisoned blade after all?" or "What if Polonius wasn't behind that curtain?" etc. etc. It's a good blend of the author's own plot line and the original so you're still engaged, wondering what exactly will happen.
2. If you suspend disbelief just a little bit, Hamlet translates surprisingly well to the modern day. I was expecting Hamlet's father and then Claudius to be heads of a corporation or law firm or something a little more commonplace modern day than a monarchy, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the author stuck with that. First, because no one should mess with Shakespeare, second because it really made the vibes of the novel that much better and third because I have a little thing for royalty (What? Like you didn't get up at 3:00 AM and skip school to watch the royal wedding last April!)
3. The romance between Hamlet and Ophelia. I loved it! It was very angst-ridden, but, done well, I really love that stuff! I am a huge fan of brooding guys, and Michelle Ray's Hamlet was very brooding! Ophelia even says he's brooding when she says "Every girl wants to save a brooding guy, but he was my brooding guy to save." (That's probably indicative of some sort of personality disorder, but, be that as it may, it's sure fun to read about!) I loved, loved, LOVED their relationship! It was so well characterized, too (though a few times I wanted to ring Ophelia's neck!). I even had tears in my eyes during some parts.
4. As an adaptation of Shakespeare, it was no original, of course, but I did like it. I loved the angst-y, dark vibes from the romance and the tragedy of it all ( I am a HUGE fan of tragic endings!). I was not a fan of making  the duel at the end a lacrosse match...I would have preferred fencing, but that's just me!

Who Should Read It:

• People who love angst-y, dark, tragic teen romances! This is unparallelled in that department!
• People who love Hamlet! You just have to read this!
• Honestly, I do recommend this to everyone! One of my friends, Laura, borrowed this from me, and she hasn't read Hamlet, so I'll let you know how she likes it!

That concludes our review of the wonderful Falling for Hamlet, a novel by Michelle Ray; I recommend it to you all!

I'm currently re-reading Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, so look forward to a review on that and then I'll be reading Withering Tights (contemporary adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights) by Louise Rennison. I needed a little break from thwarted love and everyone dying, so I've placed Anna and the French Kiss, the best book ever, in there!