Ophelia (Hardcover)

~ Lisa Klein (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her impressive first novel, Klein retells Hamlet, expanding on the romance between its hero and Ophelia, who narrates this version. Keeping true to the framework of the play, the heroine, now 16, reports the tragic events in the troubled Elsinore castle. When she first speaks to Hamlet, Ophelia is a 10-year-old ragged tomboy tagging along after her brother, Laertes. A year later, Ophelia is accepted into Queen Gertrude's court ("Becoming a lady, I learned, was not easy"), and she grows into a beautiful, rather outspoken young woman with an interest in herbs. Her quick wit attracts the prince's attention, and their Shakespearean-style banter will delight readers. Hamlet and Ophelia secretly become husband and wife, and on their wedding night, the ghost of Hamlet's father appears at the castle; Horatio, at the stroke of midnight, barges into the newlyweds' bedroom calling, "To the ramparts, Hamlet. It comes!" Readers familiar with the play will know that Hamlet's feigned madness to seek revenge eventually proves to be his undoing. As things rage out of control, Ophelia fears for her own safety ("My life... is worth no more than a beast's"). Klein smoothly weaves in lines from the play and keeps her characterizations true to the playwright's, even as she rounds out the back story. Teens need not be familiar with Shakespeare's original to enjoy this fresh take—with the added romance and a strong heroine at its center. Ages 12-up. (Nov.)
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From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—Using Hamlet as the basis for her tale, Klein relates the familiar events from the play, with Ophelia as the focal point. Thus, readers see the social-climbing Polonius as a negligent father, the queenly Gertrude as a concerned and observant mentor, the bewildered Hamlet as a fervent lover, and Horatio as a loyal friend who loves Ophelia from afar. But the novel goes beyond the life of the play for, instead of dying, Ophelia secretly weds Hamlet, escapes Elsinore (taking refuge in a convent in France), bears Hamlet's son, and reunites romantically with Horatio to bring the story full circle. Easy to follow and moving at a rapid pace, the story introduces new characters who add depth to the tale. Klein sets the story in the Elizabethan era rather than in the medieval time frame of the original play; her detail-rich text conveys considerable information about courtly life, intrigue, and the societal mores of the times. She includes adapted versions of some of Shakespeare's best-known lines to keep the flavor of the Bard's work; however, the changes in the language may strike a discordant note with purists and with those who prefer the poetic text. Nonetheless, this is a successful and engaging story that is more thought-provoking than Lisa Fiedler's Dating Hamlet (Holt, 2002), as it deals with issues of justice more than revenge, with wholeness of character more than romance. It is sure to be popular with young women struggling with issues of honor, betrayal, and finding one's path.—Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books; 1st edition (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582348014
• ISBN-13: 978-1582348018
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #421,307 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ophelia's story, November 28, 2006

By	K. Murphy - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lisa Klein's Ophelia is a tightly-written, pacey and lively spin-off of Hamlet in novel form, as told from (you guessed it) Ophelia's perspective. The plot begins years before Hamlet's timeline and ends years after, allowing for Ophelia's character to be drawn out much more fully from Shakespeare's sketchy and puzzling portrayal.

Klein chose to set the novel not in the period of Hamlet's Denmark, but in the period of Shakespeare's writing of the play. Interwoven with the plot of Hamlet are allusions to a number of contemporary works, including Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It, in addition to conceits from sonnets by (among others) Lady Mary Wroth, all against a backdrop of romance, conduct literature, hagiography and other genres for and about women.

The fact that Ophelia is a woman allows Klein to intersperse a range of historical detail appopriate to women, including negotiations with cultural requirements for chastity, obedience and silence and a rich tapestry of herbal lore (as suggested by Ophelia's preoccupation with flowers in Hamlet). The characters' language is also suggestive of early modern literary dialogue.

However, these scholarly elements are by no means overpowering: the novel walks a careful line, never losing track that it is first and foremost a modern romance intended for the enjoyment of a wide readership without specialist knowledge. Whether intentional or not, it's a story that's crying out for a film.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Retelling of Shakespeare's Tragedy, June 13, 2007

By	Anidori-Isilee (The Asylum) - See all my reviews

This novel a beautiful retelling of Shakespeare's play Hamlet, told from the point of view of Ophelia, the young girl caught up in the intrigue at the Danish court of Elsinore.

In the first part of the book, Klein imagines events before Hamlet begins, telling how Ophelia came to court and how she gained the love of Prince Hamlet. The second part covers the events of Shakespeare's play; however Ophelia is now the main character. The final part tells of what happens after Shakespeare's play ends.

Loving tales of royalty like I do as well as Shakespeare's plays, this novel interested me greatly ever since I first saw the cover. The novel didn't disappoint me, either. Klein is clearly a talented writer, though this is her first published work. Her writing is fluid and full of beautiful metaphors, and Ophelia is an amazingly well-drawn character, complex in all ways. At times, I thought Ophelia to be naive; at other times, I realized how truly clever the girl was. Truly Ophelia is one of the best leading characters that I've read about in a while. The supporting characters, also, are three dimensional, and, from what I can remember, true to Shakespeare.

My favorite thing about the novel, though, was the dialogue. I thought it be to so realistic, meaning what would have been spoken in the the early seventeenth century. Proper and lyrical. In recreating a time over four hundred years ago, Klein excels.

Unless you absolutely cannot bear to read a reinterpretation of Shakespeare's play, if you love tales of intrigue, I strongly suggest that you read OPHELIA. You won't be disappointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, January 15, 2007

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This book blew me away. It is the re-imagining of the story of Ophelia, from Shakespeare's play Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library). In the play, Ophelia is in love with Hamlet and ends up committing suicide because of his treatment of her and because he killed her father. Her character is a woman who is ruled by the thoughts and deeds of men. It is their deeds and rules that affect her and bring about her demise. In this story, Ophelia is a very strong character and we see the story of Hamlet through her eyes.

She is the daughter of Polonius, a foolish man who courts favor of those in power. She is motherless and her only other family is her brother, Laertes. Her childhood, though, is very happy because she is a tomboy and is free to learn beside her brother. She has a lot of freedom, which is rarely given to girls at this time. Her father is given a job in the court of the King of Denmark, and she has to leave this idyllic time and enter into a drafty, gloomy place. In fact, it is described as a prison and a place of intrigue and sadness.

Within a few years she is brought to the attention of Queen Gertrude and is made into a lady of the court. She also attracts the attention of Prince Hamlet. She and the Prince fall in love and are secretly married. The King's ghost appears on the night of their marriage, and Hamlet is obsessed with revenge. Ophelia has to sail through court politics to secure her place and her sanity.

Lisa Klein has interwoven lines from the play in the story and the main story stills stands, but by the end we know what happens to Ophelia. There is a lot of philosophical musings in the story about a woman's place compared to a man's, what is sin, forgiveness, obedience and God's will in ones life.

I think the story compelled me to see the play again and to have a happier vision of the character of Ophelia. I strongly recommend this book and you don't have to know Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library) to read it. I do believe that to read this alongside the reading of Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library) would be beneficial to the understandings and themes in this tragedy.

Reviewed by: Marta Morrison