Shakespeare's Sonnets [Hardcover]

Samuel Park (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2006

“Sam Park has written a tender and witty love story, and in so doing has rescued an important time in our collective history from oblivion. A touching and engaging novel which effortlessly captures the joy and pain of one’s first love affair, and that moment in life when we all must decide whose life to live: ours or the one others have chosen for us.” – Don Roos, writer-director, “The Opposite of Sex,” “Happy Endings”

“An intense literary love story: elegant, urgent, and wonderfully romantic.” --Sarah Waters, author “The Night Watch”

"A paean to youth, love, longing, and literature, Shakespeare's Sonnets is evocative and bittersweet."--Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of “Prep”

"A poignant, provocative tale about the longings, conflicts and risks of first love in an era that condemns it... Park's writing exudes the authority of a scholar and the sensitivity of an artist, propelled by the searing force of truth, and signals the arrival of a bold new talent on the literary scene." - Barry Sandler, screenwriter, “Making Love”

"Are Adam and Jean in 1948 living out Shakespeare's story? Or Wilde's? Or ours? A masterful story-teller, Sam Park put history, as well as us, in a state of suspense."--Bruce R. Smith, author of “Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England”

First developed as a one-act play at Stanford University, this literate, intimate novel introduces a fresh new voice in gay fiction.

The time is 1948. Adam Greenhurst is a student at Harvard with dreams of becoming a literary scholar. He’s from a rich and influential family and has become engaged to the perfect girl. His life plan is set, until he’s busted by campus police for having sex with another man in a public place.

Threatened with expulsion, Adam refocuses his energies on a new class about Shakespeare’s sonnets. There he meets Jean Hoffman, a man with whom Adam shares much: love of language and love of men. As their relationship grows, Adam realizes he will have to make a choice: the life his family planned for him, or the life his heart wants.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A touching and engaging novel which effortlessly captures the joy and pain of one's first love affair." -- Don Roos, writer-director, The Opposite of Sex, Happy Endings

"An intense literary love story: elegant, urgent, and wonderfully romantic." -- Sarah Waters, author of The Night Watch

"A masterful storyteller, Sam Park puts history, as well as us, in a state of suspense." -- Bruce R. Smith, author of Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England

"A paean to youth, love, longing, and literature, Shakespeare's Sonnets is evocative and bittersweet. -- Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times best selling author of Prep

"A paen to youth, love, longing, and literature, Shakespeare's Sonnets is evocative and bittersweet." -- Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times best selling author of Prep

"A poignant, provocative tale...Park's writing exudes the authority of a scholar and the sensitivity of an artist, propelled by the searing force of truth, and signals the arrival of a bold new talent on the literary scene." -- Barry Sandler, screenwriter, Making Love

About the Author

Samuel Park, a recent graduate of Stanford University, was one of the winners of the 2002 Montage Entertainment Screenwriting Contest, sponsored by HBO. He has workshopped his script "Shakespeare's Sonnets" at the IFP/West Screenwriter and Director Labs,

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155583955X
• ISBN-13: 978-1555839550
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Originally born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Korean-American author Samuel Park graduated from Stanford University and USC, where he earned his doctorate in English. He is the author of THIS BURNS MY HEART, which was chosen as an Amazon Best Book of 2011, a People magazine "Great Reads in Fiction," and one of the Today Show's "Favorite Things." THIS BURNS MY HEART was also a Kirkus Reviews' Editor's Pick, and an Indie Next List Notable Book. Samuel's other work includes the novella "Shakespeare's Sonnets" and the short film of the same name, which he wrote and directed. He lives in Chicago, where he is an Assistant Professor of English at Columbia College.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars highly recommended, April 27, 2008

By 

Average American - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shakespeare's Sonnets (Hardcover)

This gay-themed novel has not gotten the attention it deserves. I was lucky enough to get a copy through my local library and I just loved it. Perhaps some potential readers are put off by the title and think the novel will be overly literary and tedious. Such is definately not the case. It is a wonderful romance - very well written, intelligent and insightful. It is not necessary to be familiar with Shakespeare's sonnets or to have previously read Oscar Wilde's short story "The Portrait of Mr. W.H." , but I do think it would help if readers at least are mildly interested in literature and history. But even if you're not, it's a good romance which takes place at Harvard in 1948 - at a time when being gay and "out" was not the norm. The book will also interest readers who enjoy gay fiction which takes place in a University setting. Other novels along this line (though each one different in place and time) are "Maurice," "The God in Flight," "Sebastian's Tangibles," and "Thomas Lyster" - all of which I definately recommend. And "Shakespeare's Sonnets" is also highly recommended - After reading a library copy I bought the book - it's a keeper.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, if Flawed, Portrait of Love, May 7, 2007

By 

A. Hickman (Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shakespeare's Sonnets (Hardcover)

Jean Hayman and Adam Standridge are lovers of a rare stripe: they are actually willing to make sacrifices for each other. Samuel Park's novel, "Shakespeare's Sonnets," is the story of Jean and Adam, two students attending Harvard in 1948, who meet, fall in love, worry about the implications of that love, and then--surprise, surprise--make a commitment. I find this surprising because, with the possible exception of Forster's "Maurice," few novels from (or set in) the pre-Stonewall era, see any hope for gay relationships, which routinely end in tragedy. Take, for example, the novels being read by Jean--those early ones by Vidal and Capote--not to mention the life and works of Oscar Wilde, who plays a special role in the book. Neither "The City and the Pillar" nor "Other Voices, Other Rooms" (not mentioned in the book by name, but the only likely candidate) ends happily for its gay protagonists, while Oscar Wilde's life ended in exile and disgrace. There is a good deal of wisdom about relationships that informs Park's novel, and I look forward to seeing the short film by Park (collected in "Boys Briefs III") with Vincent Kartheiser (Connor on "Angel") in the role of Jean's counterpart, Sebastian. That being said, there are problems with the story. Both Jean and Adam want to be scholars, yet they are willing to bet their college careers on theses involving the identities of Shakespeare's Fair Youth and Dark Lady from the sonnets. To begin with, it's hard to believe that either boy would be thrown out of Harvard for reading a homosexual subtext into the sonnets (although there was resistance to such a notion, the New Critics, at least, had been dealing with the possibility since the 1930s), but Jean is so threatened in the book, after he follows Oscar Wilde's lead (the thesis was not original with Wilde) and identifies the Fair Youth as actor Willie Hughes, someone who has never been proved to exist. This leads to a ham-fisted encounter with a British art collector, Sarah Townsend, who may actually own a portrait of Hughes (there is an interesting subtext here that involves the discovery of an actual portrait, not of Hughes, but of the Earl of Southampton a few years back, that is attributed to Lady Sarah in Park's epilogue). While the plot device of the portrait is a distraction, so, on occasion, is Park's phrasing, which often verges on the non-idiomatic. These minor flaws aside, "Shakespeare's Sonnets" is an inspiring first novel that draws its power from the fragility of Jean and Adam's budding relationship, which grows in intensity until it matures into a full-blown romance, not unlike, appropriately, Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." The moment, as captured by Park, is fraught with possibilities and looks forward to the post-Stonewall liberation movement of the 1970s.