Customer Reviews

Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jane Austen says it is a truth universally acknowledged that in the depths of a recession, people need something to laugh about.

Elizbeth Bennet posted a comment: OK, Jane, but did you HAVE to tell the world about all those ridiculous
gifts Mr. Collins sent me, especially that Chai Cream Frappucino? (And what is that, anyway?)

William Shakespeare (through the best efforts of author Sarah Schmelling) has founded the Classics-Gone-Facebook Network.

Miss Havisham, Humbert Humbert, Dr. Jekyll and Beowulf joined the network.
Scrooge joined the network, but is rejecting friend requests.
Huck Finn, Oscar Wilde and Ernest (call me "Papa") Hemingway have joined the network.
Sarah Schmelling reports that Jane Austen is now friends with Helen Fielding, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and 4,534 others, and is still wondering who all these people are and why they are all forming clubs to discuss her books.

If I were one iota as clever and witty as Sarah Schmelling, I would try to write this review in the same Facebook style that Schmelling has used to celebrate and poke fun at her favorite literary figures (both authors and characters) as well as to settle scores with those she could live without. (To his disgust, Humbert's admin blocks his account for his yearnings over Lolita, while still allowing Lady Chatterley and the gamekeeper to continue with their antics.) I know my limitations, and will have to stick to the traditional format, however...

Schmelling's first stab at turning literature into Facebook feeds was a hilarious reinterpretation of Hamlet that 'went viral' on the Internet a year or more ago. (The book's title comes from that.) From the moment when "Ophelia removed "moody princes" from her interests", I was hooked, and laughed so loud that I ended up with a severe case of hiccups that took at least an hour to cure. So I was delighted to learn that she was taking her talents to a wider stage and tackling a larger array of literary targets, and snapped up the book at the first possible opportunity.

The result is clever in a smart way -- the kind of humor that feels more and more hard to find these days. It's likely to appeal to everyone from die-hard Shakespeare fans (Imogen wonders if she's trapped in a 'problem play') to those who all-too-vividly recall their losing battles with great works of literature in high school. (Odysseus adds 'Homeward Bound' his playlist, while Romeo misses out on a crucial personal message from Friar Lawrence, with unfortunate consequences.) Facebook itself doesn't escape a deft skewering at Schmelling's hands, as she creates an ersatz FB-style quiz, "Which Dystopia Are You In: 1984, Brave New World, or Social Media?"

This is a great book to dip into when you need a laugh, and it's the first to really spoof the whole social networking phenomenon, with the proliferation of not-always-friendly 'friends', offbeat lists of "25 things about me" (Darcy, we learn, is fed up with being an archetype), and pokes (Gulliver gets lots of tiny ones from the Lilliputians.) It's simply one of the funniest books I've picked up in a long time, I'm glad that since it exists on my Kindle, I'll have it with me while I travel, ready to add a sense of perspective to life's idiocies. (It's also going to make a GREAT holiday and birthday gift for about half of my friends...)

I've rated this 4.5 stars because not all the segments are of the same high caliber as the Hamlet news feed; nor do some of Schmelling's efforts at replicating the Facebook formula work as well as others -- the news feeds and status updates are great, the applications more uneven (why does Elizabeth Bennet throw a sheep at Mr Darcy??). Nor is this a book that you can sit and read from cover to cover without finding it a bit repetitive. Just pick it up, choose a chapter and jump into this bibliomaniac's delight -- discover what circle of hell you happen to be in, and take a look at the snaps Odysseus took on his way home. I've rounded this up to five stars because of the originality, wit and flair.

Highly recommended to anyone who relishes intelligent and literate wit -- or anyone who just never understood all the fuss about Dickens and would really enjoy poking fun at Oscar Wilde.

For Kindle owners: this is a surprisingly excellent book for Facebook. All the illustrations are very clear (a pleasant change from the usual experience) and the book format reproduces clearly. I wouldn't have any hesitation recommending the Kindle version just because the book isn't a traditional format.

If you are a part of the Facebook generation (and even my grandmother is!), you will laugh at the hilarity contained within this book!

There's a bit of educational value to it, too; it's like super-cliffnotes for the Facebook generation.

If you haven't read the books that are covered (and there are many, from Hawthorne to Shakespeare to Austen and more!), this book will make you want to, if for no other reason than to be in on the jokes.

Pick this one up at your local bookstore and flip through it, but beware, you may get dirty looks for your raucous laughter!

I suspect this would translate very well for the Kindle, for those of you who are so inclined.

The perfect type of book for lit nerds, English majors, or people who were forced to read all of these classics in school. I absolutely recommend it.

As another reviewer mentioned below, this book is great fun if you're a lit nerd or just had to read lots of classic literature in high school. The inside jokes and hilarity that ensues when fictional characters start dropping in on each other's Facebook pages with sly comments will make the already-in-the-know reader guffaw and the uninitiated head for the library to check out some of those Great Works! This book is a refreshing breather for high school and college students reeling from reading lists, and may give them the inspiration they need to soldier on.

My only disappointment was finding out that you used to be able to throw livestock at people on Facebook.

This is a highly entertaining collection of Facebook updates from characters of the a number of the classics, including Wuthering Heights, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, the eponymous Ophelia and co. from Hamlet, and Dracula, who can't work out why Buffy, Edward Cullen, Bella Swan and the Sesame Street Count would be "People He May Know" or how to get the vampire application to work. It's an affectionate parody of the works themselves, as well as the conventions and idiosyncrasies of Facebook itself.

As S. McGee notes, this is not necessarily a "read from cover to cover" book; you can, but it's just as much fun, if not more, to dip into chapters at random. Very funny and extremely clever - I wish I'd thought of it myself.

This is sort of Reduced Shakespeare Company, Monty Python and Cliff Notes all rolled into one. The premise is original, the inside jokes are great, the parody works. A little forced sometimes, but no problem. Good fun for the last gasp of summer.

This is the funniest, smartest book I have read all summer! I recommend it heartily!

This is, to my knowledge, the first book that uses the conventions of social networking to create a clever entertainment. All the great writers and literary figures of the canon--from Holden Caulfield to Chaucer's Pilgrims--have their own Facebook pages. They preen, complain, challenge each other and otherwise connect in hilariously literate ways. It's original and full of sophisticated humor--fun for smart people.

I ordered this book after coming across a Facebook version of Pride and Prejudice on the Internet, thinking it would be a great laugh. Simply put, it wasn't. I should just stick with my Internet version and read that when I need a laugh.

Really fantastic concept...unfortunately it's boring. I was hoping for something new and exciting, turned out it was nothing more than a summery of major themes from classical lit in a facebook-like list form. Check it out at the library before you pay money for it.