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A review by xakyr
Becoming Bea by Leslie Gould
2.0
After reading [b:Minding Molly|17934563|Minding Molly (The Courtships of Lancaster County, #3)|Leslie Gould|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371695246s/17934563.jpg|25142439], I was both looking forward to and dreading this book. Sadly, it lived up to my fears rather than my hopes.
It is an homage to Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, and this story was the clearest of the four in the set that were inspired by a Shakespeare play, almost to the point where I felt it was a blatant rip off of the above-mentioned play. The main characters are even named the same as those from the play! Bea in this story wound up being both Beatrice and Hero, though at different points in the story. Likewise, Ben became both Benedick and Claudio, which made for a distraction for me. It was the obviousness of the inspiration that made for such an unenjoyable read.
The conflict in the story was much the same as in the original play, and both could have been solved by some much needed communication. Admittedly, the characters said that they were horrible at communication, but for things to wrap up as quickly as they did, I didn't find the lack of full communication plausible.
While I have fond memories of both the Shakespeare play and the movie adaptation with Kenneth Brannagh and Emma Thompson, I did not enjoy this Amish vision of the play and would not recommend it to others.
It is an homage to Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, and this story was the clearest of the four in the set that were inspired by a Shakespeare play, almost to the point where I felt it was a blatant rip off of the above-mentioned play. The main characters are even named the same as those from the play! Bea in this story wound up being both Beatrice and Hero, though at different points in the story. Likewise, Ben became both Benedick and Claudio, which made for a distraction for me. It was the obviousness of the inspiration that made for such an unenjoyable read.
The conflict in the story was much the same as in the original play, and both could have been solved by some much needed communication. Admittedly, the characters said that they were horrible at communication, but for things to wrap up as quickly as they did, I didn't find the lack of full communication plausible.
While I have fond memories of both the Shakespeare play and the movie adaptation with Kenneth Brannagh and Emma Thompson, I did not enjoy this Amish vision of the play and would not recommend it to others.