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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Discovering the World of Shakespeare, June 19, 2002
Hamlet's Dresser is Bob Smith's memoir about his life going up with a severely retarded sister, a detached father, and overwrought mother. He tells of his escape of this environment and lonely childhood when he discovers the language and world of William Shakespeare. It is not a book about Bob Smith's devotion to his sister, but his endeavor to escape the confines of his sister even though he loved her very much. The main aspect of the book was his intertwining of Shakespearian passages in describing his past life and his present life when he teaches the elderly the wonders of the Bard. This in itself really opens up so many facets of how he felt. He is the Hamlet of his life and his mother is Lady MacBeth with his sister being Ophelia. Though his writing is rather florid at times, this is an amazing first book by Mr. Smith. Without the Shakespearian prose interspersed throughout the passages, it might have been just another memoir, but Mr. Smith has turned it into a book that flows. The reader can even start comparing aspects of their own life with Shakespeare just as the elderly do in his classes. Read it and compare it with your own life.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathtaking -- surprisingly so., November 27, 2002
A professor friend of mine recommended this book to me. She had read a review in the Washington Post. Normally, I nod politely at such recommendations and go about reading whatever else it is that was already on my wish list. But, for some reason, I went out and bought this book. I read it on the plane and, to my great embarrassment, found that I had to put the book down in my lap several times and take deep breaths, lest the other passengers see the tears welling in my eyes. Bob Smith is a man I didn't know of before picking up the book. I didn't expect to care about his memoir. What I found is that I ended up caring very deeply and simply could not put it down until I'd finished it. To say that it is a moving book is an understatement. Somehow, Mr. Smith touches on all of life and love and loss and hope and well --- humanity. Perhaps it is because he weaves into his tale the timeless wisdom found in Shakespeare. And he does so masterfully. By reading this memoir, you will learn about life, yourself, Shakespeare, and what it means to be human.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, October 29, 2002
Art convincingly engages life in this coming-of-age autobiography. Viewed from a half century's distance, the author vividly describes a boyhood and youth spent largely in Stratford, Connecticut. As though for counterpoint, he occasionally interrupts his primary account to relate his adult experiences with senior citizen groups as a Shakespeare expert. Much as the Bard's words sustained him through a difficult and painful youth, so too do they provide pleasure and consolation to the aging. Throughout, Smith complements his own words with appropriate passages from the plays and sonnets. Central to Smith's narrative is his relationship with Carolyn, his profoundly disabled sister. Virtually incapable of speech, resistant to every attempt at toilet training, and prone to obsessive-compulsive behavior, her presence in the household takes a heavy toll on the other family members. Her mother retreats to the bedroom, her father mysteriously disappears every Tuesday and Bob, despite his great affection and concern, seeks solace in the library, museums, and the theater. As a fifth grader, he first encounters Shakespeare, whose eloquent language displaces the tense silence of his home. As he remarks: "Poetry became a beautiful place to hide from my life and my parents, a place I knew they'd never follow me to." (p. ll2) The book's apt title relects Smith's initial involvement with an actual production when, as a sixteen year old, he becomes a dresser for the American Shakespeare Festival's "Hamlet." His fascination with the theater does not translate into serious aspirations as an actor. Rather, he elects to develop the stage management skills essential to the support of a successful production. As he admits in a brief backstage encounter with Katherine Hepburn, "I'm a watcher." Yet, as the mature narrator remarks, "Too much watching can make you passive and afraid. Ask Hamlet." (137) After eighteen years of watching (and caring for) his sister, Smith witnesses his parents' decision to place her in an institution. His anguish finds expression in an emotional performance as the crown bearer in "Richard the Second." Some forty years will pass before the "coward brother" can summon the courage to visit the woman whom he feels he has foresaken and to whom this compelling memoir is dedicated
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