Ophelia

Author: Lisa Klein
Year: 2006
Genre: Novel
Reading Level: Young Adult

Plot Summary: This retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet focuses on Ophelia and her doomed romance with Hamlet. The story traces Ophelia's rambunctious childhood to her education and development at court and finally intersects with the events of Hamlet. Readers expecting the story to end with Ophelia's suicide will be surprised. Told from her own perspective, Ophelia offers a fresh take on a very familiar tale.

Red Flags: Character deaths, political intrigues, some men of a forceful persuasion

My Rating: B+. This is a good book. Klein is a good writer and her characters are fleshed out and interesting. I only have a few problems with this book. First, in an effort to make Ophelia a strong female character, Klein kind of turned her into a cliche. She's bookish! She's educated! She speaks her mind! Also, the romance element was not as strong as I expected. Besides a few scenes together there wasn't much interaction with Hamlet and Ophelia. Also, she spends half of the book thinking he never loved her, but hello, he totally did. Second, the last third of the book--SPOILER!--takes place at a French convent and it just seemed rather irrelevant. Or maybe that was just me. Third, I forget. Anyway, I liked it. It just got long and a little boring towards the end.