Hamlet

July 6, 2009
Near the end of this retelling of one of Shakespeare's most famous works, Hamlet realizes he doesn't want to create a new world, he just wants to “tweak it a little.” Indeed, Australian author Marsden (Out of Time
) retains the familiar series of events (though more time transpires) as Hamlet progresses into madness, while adjusting the setting (the opening scenes are of teenage Hamlet playing soccer with Horatio) and incorporating unsettling but illuminating sexual and psychological undercurrents that highlight the rottenness in Denmark. Marsden occasionally invokes the present through mentions of dress (Hamlet wears black jeans) and colloquialisms (sore bums), but otherwise the story retains the modes of address and social norms of an older time. What he does remarkably well is to seamlessly insert original passages—“ 'There's a divinity that shapes our ends,' Horatio muttered, 'rough-hew them how we will,' ”—and to retain the feel of Shakespeare's tale with skilled paraphrase. Readers will need to be familiar with the original to get certain references, but Marsden's is a riveting version that might just lead reluctant readers to the Bard. Ages 14–up.

Starred review from August 1, 2009
Gr 9 Up-The story of Hamlet seems tailor-made for YA literature; it includes angst, unrequited love, drama, obsession, family issues, and self-doubt. In turning Shakespeare's play into a novel, Marsden has made it very accessible. The book is brief and the story moves quickly. Hamlet's indecision does not stall the action, but rather drives the narrativereaders wonder what, if anything, he will do. The setting is contemporary, but feels timeless. Marsden stays true to Shakespeare's text, while modernizing the dialogue. He makes the prince a sympathetic teen who is struggling with his hormones, his grief, and the fact that his uncle is now his stepfather. He is lonely, not only because of his royalty, but also because his drive to avenge his father has caused him to commit murder. Hamlet wants to be a man, but he's not sure if he's quite ready. This is a wonderful treatment of the play: engaging, gripping, dark, and lovely."Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 22, 2009
Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet meets Rebel Without a Cause. Hamlet is one mad prince. Not even his desire for his childhood friend Ophelia can quell his lust to avenge his father's murder. As Hamlet's frustration mounts, the body count climbs, and things get more and more rotten in the state of Denmark. Why It Is for Us: Marsden amps up the sexual tension at Elsinore. The Danish prince is a hottie in black denim and the star of Ophelia's sweaty fantasies. It will not take a Freudian scholar to catch the Oedipal overtones in Hamlet's relationship with his adulterous mother, Gertrude.-Angelina Benedetti, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2009
Grades 9-12 Although there are sporadic modern touchesHamlet plays football and wears black jeansMarsdens novelization of this English Lit stalwart is a straightforward retelling involving kings, queens, castles, and swords. Marsdens ability to resist hipping up the details allows him to focus on the guts of the saga, and the result is passionate and haunting. But this isnt CliffsNotes, eitherthe thorny dialogue maintains a halting, otherworldly tone that evokes the Bard even as it borrows only a scattering of his best lines. At just over two hundred pages, the story is certainly streamlined. To be or not to be is a dialogue rather than a monologue, and the plot has been shaved to the teen essentials: the frustrated sexual longing between Hamlet and Ophelia, the friendship of the loyal Horatio, and the bitter rage Hamlet feels toward his mother and stepfather. This earnest effort never once feels strained. True, an authors note might have been illuminating, but the reviewer doth protest too much.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)