Hag-Seed by Margaret AtwoodMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Before reading this book, I knew it was advertised as a re-telling of of Shakepeare's play "The Tempest." After reading it, I discovered that the re-telling was part of an initiative to re-tell several of Shakespeare's plays. While I don't think knowledge of the initiative is necessary to understand and enjoy the book, I do believe that having at least a basic familiarity with "The Tempest" is beneficial.
In Atwood's re-telling, the reader is focused upon Felix, a discarded play director of the Makeshiweg Festival by his partner. Felix then goes into a hiding of sorts, with his thoughts festering on revenge on his partner, and deepening into depression as a result of the prior loss of his 3-year old daughter. Felix eventually catches on teaching a literacy course at a local correctional facility, which he does through the directing of Shakespeare's plays. Eventually, he does "The Tempest" as the play for the semester, and it coincides with an opportunity, after twelve years, to take his revenge.
This layering - Atwood's Felix is Shakespeare's Prospero, who similarly seeks revenge due to betrayal - makes the book clever and fun to read. At one point, there are four versions of "The Tempest" to consider - the original, Atwood's retelling, a staged or recorded version, and then a live action version by the characters in the work. This cleverness pushes the book forward, and makes it an interesting read.
The one drawback to the book is the superficiality of the decisions of certain characters. However, I think this is explained by the book being a re-telling. I think Atwood is constrained by her choices - how she decides to write Prospero's spirits that he controls in the original play, means that certain characters must go along with Felix in her version. Perhaps she could be criticized for her re-imagining that leads to this constrainment, but since I found her re-imagining to be so clever and interesting, this ultimately did not bother me, and I don't believe detracted from the enjoyment of reading the book.
View all my reviews
Sounds like a fast read.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fast read, and enjoyable (of course, I liked The Tempest, so that probably helps). But really, reading it, was kind of a fun experience in layered literature.
ReplyDelete