Ophelia (2006)

VOYA 5Q, 5P Exxellent lyrical retelling of Hamlet from the point of view of Ophelia, a young Elizabethan woman in love with the prince of Denmark. Ophelia is in love and smarter and stronger than portrayed in the original. Once her story leaves the original Hamlet backstory, it becomes much more real and entertaining. The audiobook is narrated by Cassandra Campbell, a gifted narrator, but perhaps too old to be reading as Ophelia, a girl of 14. If the novel has a fault, it is that Ophelia seems remarkably savvy and adult for a 14-year-old young woman. The descriptions are beautiful and it diligently mirrors the story of Hamlet in a way that makes it believable.

To start with the book was well written, engaging at times, but for me, probably a hundred pages too long. By the end it began to drag and I was happy to have it over with. By far this book wasn’t bad, it just lacked any form of juice and excitement.

What happened to Ophelia? She leaves me in utter despair to how the author has ruined such an iconic Shakespeare character. Klein took a mysterious, alluring young girl in my opinion, who held a great deal about herself in inner strength and made her a watered down pansy. She was fluttering around in panic, always looking to Hamlet for advice, she supposedly had a hideous pig of a man after her who she continually pushed away. This led to her being ‘saved’ by Hamlet to start their romance. She just lacked any form of sustenance. To me, Klein’s portrayal of Ophelia damaged by impression that I gained from Shakespeare.

The idea behind the story I thought was interesting and it did offer an alternate theory which is plausible. After all, we only viewed surface matters in Hamlet. I don’t think this was over the top or too fanciful. It fit well with the story being of mediocre interest.

The middle of the story is where everything becomes rather dry. The story seems to plod along at a slow pace and I found myself wanting to skip parts. I did read it all, but only because I felt like I would miss on something vital. Here the story could have done with more action or an introduction of a lively character to brighten the story and engage my attention.

The piece of work may be sharp and well written, but I wouldn’t call it dark and romantic! The romance is there, but it’s all rather artful and embellished as was the style in the Elizabethan era, but with this novel being aimed at a modern society, I felt the romance needed toning down to more plausible and realistic terms. The darkness I didn’t see at all, there may have been moments where you were momentary surprised or found a little exciting, but to me this was more of a fluffy romance novel than the dark, brooding tale I was expecting.

I enjoyed the interpretation as I do all different variations of Hamlet and it’s characters, but for me, Ophelia lacked any of the fiery sustenance I was hoping for.

For those of you that love Hamlet, and ultimately Ophelia, don’t waste your time reading her story because I’m sure you’d think of your own more exciting tale that she could venture on rather than Klein’s rather drab, if not a happy ending tale. ( )

Most of us have read, if not at least heard of, the story of Hamlet. The danish prince's tale has captured the imagination of many, but what of the beautiful Ophelia? Where did she come from and why did she behave the way she did. Lisa Klein takes a look into the life of Ophelia before the start of Hamlet, and follows her through the tragic tale.

Ophelia's story is interesting, and Klein did a fantastic job of molding her story into the framework of Hamlet. But there was just something about her that I had a hard time connecting with for some reason. She seemed a bit one sided, always worrying, complaining, and enjoying the same things no matter what the circumstances were. I can see the places where the author tried to make her grow and develop into something more, but she always came up just a bit short....maybe that was the point?

The plot was were it really lost me. I know there is only so much freedom you have when you are working within another famous story, but there was much of Ophelia's life that was up to the imagination. Most of her story just seemed a bit cliche and overdone. I could almost swear I had read something almost exactly the same and that did turn me off quite a bit.

I don't want to turn anyone off from the book too much though. I don't think there was anything actually wrong with the story, writing style, or characters. And I have to admire the way the author was able to keep all the facts from Hamlet straight and fit it into Ophelia's story just right. It just wasn't a book for me.

3/5 ( )

When I first started reading this book I loved it. The chemistry between Hamlet and Ophelia was there and it was definitely interesting. It’s a total different take on the play and an interesting view on the characters within. It was interesting how background information is provided (as how Ophelia and Hamlet met for the first time) and how they spent their childhood years. So although it does deviate from the original play it’s not so much or goes too far out of context. For a while at least.

The parts with Ophelia and Hamlet in love are well done. As mentioned before the chemistry is there and Hamlet stays true as there is definitely emotion and passion. I do have a problem with Ophelia later on. She becomes needy and really clingy. It got annoying and although there’s lots of miscommunication between her and Hamlet, all she really had to do was ask him what the problem was instead of whining about it constantly and forgetting about it when he started to “act” normal. Hamlet did sort of reveal his agenda to Ophelia, but perhaps he didn’t spell it out for her and she just assumed Hamlet stopped loving her altogether. For crying out loud Ophelia. You were raised like a tomboy and that sort of thing affected you when you could have just approached Hamlet and even punched him if you wanted to? That kind of contrast was a little too outrageous for me. I found Laertes different. I never really expected him to be quite the jerk portrayed in the book and always thought of him as an older brother who was protective towards Ophelia. I thought that was a little skewed.

So, I have to say, the first half of the book was good. Despite some character flaws with Ophelia. The little twist with her finding out who really murdered the King was good, and her relationship with Gertrude proved interesting as well. However Gertrude also got moody, and whiny. It was as if the female characters just suddenly developed a syndrome to become this way all throughout the novel. Of all the characters in the book though, I really liked Horatio, he seems to be the only character that stays constant and true throughout the entire book without the severe personality changes.

Now we get to the last half. I can’t believe I actually went through with it too. I admit the alternate ending to Ophelia’s fate was rather interesting but the story just went to a halt and started to crawl. There were pages and pages of Ophelia’s time at a convent which did nothing to advance to plot and had me baffled as to wondering where this was going. It was borderline preachy as Ophelia tries to “find” herself while her time at the convent. I didn’t care for this part. In fact I skimmed through most of it because it was extremely boring. I actually skimmed the last 50 or so pages until the very last few to see the outcome of Ophelia. I rather figured it would end up that way, as the book slightly hinted at it. It was satisfactory, but reading dozens of boring pages isn’t worth it. Also the theme of revenge is just so overdone in this book. Sure, it’s the main theme, but it’s just so overplayed and over exaggerated it makes the emotion fake.

So, would I recommend this? yes, and no. Yes, if you’re not a Shakespeare fan. You might just enjoy it. No if you’re a very perfectionist type and love Shakespeare. Like me you’d probably wonder who is this whiny girl (who is also a tomboy) and what has she done to Ophelia. Also, the last half of the book might just put you off of the whole thing. It’s very frustrating and unfortunate as it has good potential but just fell apart. It could have definitely been better. ( )

Plot: Ophelia is the learned, tomboyish daughter to an ambitious man. Eventually her father works his way into the court of Denmark. Ophelia becomes a ladymaid to the Queen and falls in love with with the dark and clever Prince Hamlet (and wins his love in return). Everything seems perfect, for a time. But her love is not an easy one. The Prince suspects that his uncle has murdered his father the king and he has vowed revenge. But the mask of insanity he has put on for his plan starts to feel all to real and his revenge comes to deeply affect her own life and family. Ophelia will have to be very cunning to survive her love and his revenge.

This is a wonderful retelling of Shakespeare’s famous play from the perspective of a character that remained sadly underdeveloped in the original. Klein clearly knows the play inside and out; she expands upon the existing narrative and inserts scenes and lines from the text in an elegant and seamless way. We come to understand Ophelia, her family and even the Queen, in a way that the play didn’t really permit. Hamlet is ultimately secondary here. Klein’s Ophelia is intelligent, witty and vibrant. She is struggling as best she can against forces she cannot control. Her love is beautiful and truly sad. But personally, I fell in love with kind, quiet Horatio rather than Hamlet from the start. ^_^ ( )