I found this book oddly frustrating and gripping at the same time. Enjoyable read though. ( )

I cannot think of a work of Shakespeare's that I have not enjoyed and when I received Iago by David Snodin, I was quite enthusiastic. Iago is, in this reviewers opinion, Shakespeare's greatest villain and I have lost count how many times I have read Othello, so I could not wait to see where Snodin would take the character of Iago. Unfortunately I did not care for this book, as much as I had hoped I would, however, I do believe Snodin did an exceptional job with the historical details of the book. While this book did not live up to my expectations, I would recommend it to fans of Shakespeare's Othello ( )

I actually finished this book in January but went over it again as I found it hard to read. I re-read Othello hoping it would help me understand [Iago] better but it didn't. I'm still not sure what this book is suppose to be about. ( )

David Snodin approaches Shakespeare's most famous villain by imagining his life after the end of Othello. Though he takes some liberties with Shakespeare's play, the problem Snodin approaches in the novel is the problem of the end of the play: what is Iago's motivation?

To get at an answer, Snodin must first tackle Iago's final declaration in Othello that he will remain silent. Snodin first has Iago escape from the authorities in Cyprus, but this allows him to remain silent. He ends up in the hands of the Inquisitors in Venice, but he maintains his stubborn silence.

Snodin finally begins to open Iago by introducing a main plot involving a young, Venitian noble. Gentile Stornello is a teenager who gets pulled into a plot get at Iago's motivation by getting close to him and helping him escape from Venice.

All of this takes too long to happen, and as a result, a book that wants to be a historical thriller gets bogged down. It doesn't help that Gentile, the main character, comes across more as a mooning kid than an interesting young man. The book picks up pace in the final 100 pages, but it isn't enough to bring this book to a strong conclusion. Once we get an inkling of Iago's motivations, it's a bit of a letdown. ( )

This was basically a silly tale. I had expected much more when dealing with one of Shakespeare's great characters. The inquisitor was such an obtuse character. Why the obsession with Iago's motivation when he was clearly such an evil criminal? Very disappointing. ( )