A review by beautifullybookishbethany
MacTrump by Ian Doescher, Jacopo della Quercia
3.0
MacTrump is the latest in Ian Doescher's list of Shakespeare mashup books. This time, he brings together Macbeth and the first two years of the Trump administration in a bitingly satirical volume written in iambic pentameter. A lot of this was very clever and funny, particularly in personifying Twitter as a herald named McTweet! In general I found this to be fun and well-executed, if a little long if read in only a couple of sittings. I find this sort of satire often works best in smaller doses, and I found myself a bit fatigued at times, but perhaps reading it in smaller chunks would alleviate this problem.
I do think you will get the most out of this if you follows the news pretty closely. While parts of it are based on things very widely known, other things are a little more obscure. I suspect this might keep it from aging well, but then political satire is often quite of the moment. Overall, I liked this and I generally enjoy Ian Doescher's work. I think it's smart and his writing with Shakespearean language is well-executed and thoughtful. Worth picking up if it sounds interesting to you! I was sent a copy of this book for review by the publisher. All opinions are my own.
I do think you will get the most out of this if you follows the news pretty closely. While parts of it are based on things very widely known, other things are a little more obscure. I suspect this might keep it from aging well, but then political satire is often quite of the moment. Overall, I liked this and I generally enjoy Ian Doescher's work. I think it's smart and his writing with Shakespearean language is well-executed and thoughtful. Worth picking up if it sounds interesting to you! I was sent a copy of this book for review by the publisher. All opinions are my own.