Scan barcode
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Spice Level: n/a
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Murder
daffodildyke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
i love the lia storyline ending, in the sense it is the perfect tribute to ophelia and the way she is written out of the original play. her continued presence throughout this retelling is lovely in that sense and her link with flowers could have felt forced but doesn’t.
queer hamlet and horatio is so important to me, my entire teenage personality was basically based on it, so don’t get wrong, i am so glad to have read it there as clear as day, but it didn’t feel fleshed out enough, it didn’t feel like it does their complexities justice.
parts of this retelling felt arduous and unnecessary and these really detracted from the strong parts.
i think there is obvious love and care in this book, from the approach to addiction and suicide, to a love of hamlet. but i feel disappointed that all i have ever wanted is a queer, neurodiverse hamlet… and i don’t want to devour this book again and again.
i think partly, the issue will always be that i have my own hamlet retellings that live rent free in my head and will never make it to paper, so nobody else’s can live up to those, and it isn’t fair for me to expect them to.
i didn’t dislike this book, but i didn’t love it as much as i hoped and that feels worse in some ways. but i am grateful to the author for putting her hamlet retelling out into the world and confirming what we all know: hamlet is queer and neurodiverse and mentally ill, deeply in love with both ophelia and horatio, and at times, an insufferable pain in the ass!
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder
laguerrelewis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail