Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Ok, Ok, before you say “been there, done that Hamlet thing—five times, maybe ten!” this is another Hamlet animal altogether. As an inveterate audiobook fan, I will say that the Hartley/Hewson Macbeth, narrated by Alan Cumming (be still, my heart) was one of the best audio books I’ve ever “read.” So, I was eagerly anticipating listening to the their Hamlet.
Perhaps this Hamlet doesn’t quite reach the stratospheric genius of Macbeth, but it gives the listener plenty to chew on. I think Hartley (a Shakespeare scholar) and Hewson (a mystery/thriller writer)—an inspired pairing if there ever was one—have truly done it again. They fill in the leaps and gaps in the Bard’s plot, they provide background information that show more heightens appreciation of the stakes and therefore the tension, they infuse the text with modern psychological insights. In short, they have made Hamlet more real than perhaps you have ever felt him before.
No need to dwell on plot. We all know it. But what they have done in novelizing Shakespeare’s text is brilliant. First, they’re fleshed out some (potential) action scenes. The play’s glancing reference to pirates receives a full treatment here, which shows Hamlet to be more a man of action than the black-garbed, skull-staring brooder we have come to associate with the Danish prince. Ophelia’s death also has a much more robust development than the usual wan, flower-strewn suicide.
Perhaps Hartley and Hewson’s cleverest stroke was in creating a son of Yorick to be Hamlet’s constant friend and goad, to share and prompt him with the lines of the famous soliloquies. I was so taken with this creation that I didn’t fully appreciate its subtle origins and intent until the story’s conclusion. Listening to the interviews with Hartley and Hewson that follow the novel explains how and why they arrived at this fictional device.
Purists, take note. There is nothing here that is not fully suggested or believable in the context of the play. Before you get your doublet in a knot, recall that the play itself was not created out of cloth entire, but built on folk tales and previous works. The authors are merely taking the creative armamentarium of Shakespeare himself and aiming it at 21st century sensibilities.
Hamlet is a ghost story; it is a murder story; it is a tale of guilt and revenge; it is about treachery and lust. Everything that makes a good crime thriller!
Richard Armitage is well suited to take on the narrative challenge. He has appeared in numerous television and film roles and played John Proctor in The Old Vic’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, where he earned an Olivier Award nomination. He won the 2014 Best Audiobook of the Year Award for this rendering of Hamlet. While it’s also available for the Kindle, let Armitage tell you the story. show less

Read it to me, Thorin Oakenshield! This was an excellent rendition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, novelized by A. J. Hartly and David Hewson and narrated by the resonant Richard Armitage. I’m still hearing it in my head a day after finishing, maybe I need to start it over!

I count myself among the fans of the Bard, but I’ll be honest, I have a hard time understanding what is happening just by reading the plays, and often have to watch them acted out before I get on board with the action, so I was very interested to listen to this version. This was much easier for me to follow, and while I know there were differences to the original (and some discussion at the end about whose the original even was) they were intended and added to the flow show more of the story. I was especially intrigued by the treatment of Yorick, who is one of the most famous bit parts ever! Poor guy doesn’t even get to appear in the flesh or have a line, but everyone knows who he is. It just isn’t Hamlet without him.

It is dark and full of madness, some of it feigned, some of it perhaps not, and with Armitage’s wonderful voice to bring it to life it was a production I highly recommend! show less

This is the second adaptation of a Shakespearean play by Hartley and Hewson that I've listened to on audio, and it was just as much fun as the first. In part, this is due to the excellent choice of readers: Alan Cumming for Macbeth and Richard Armitage for Hamlet. If you are a Shakespearean purist who can't abide embellishments to the 1623 Folio, best skip these novelized versions. In the H & H Hamlet, for example, a key character is added: young Yorick, son of the old jester, who tries to knock Hamlet out of his melancholy with more wisdom than foolery and is a constant companion to the prince throughout the novel. You might also be put off by the cruelty of both Old Hamlet and Polonius, the portrait of Fortinbras as a rather bumbling show more and brooding braggart, the details offered regarding the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia,and the fact that Ophelia's death is not depicted as a suicide here. But if you are willing to suspend what you already know about this cultural icon, you're in for quite an entertaining ride. show less

This is a novelization that departs in many ways from the play we know and love —which, the authors reveal in the Afterword, is not the version that was performed in Shakespeare's day. Moreover, there were many versions of the tale before Shakespeare took it up. I don't have a problem with the idea of novelization, and I think the authors did quite a good job of adding moral complexity through elaborating subplots and introducing new ones. Overall, it was quite enjoyable. I constantly found myself wondering, though, whether some detail or other was in Shakespeare's play or had been added to the novel. I had initially decided to read this work in preparation for seeing the play, but realize that I should now go back to the original — show more or, that is, Shakespeare's version, to refresh my memory. show less

Authors Hartley and Hewson wrote this novel to be inclusive of the ancient tales of a Denmark prince, which were around well before Shakespeare's time. However, they used the bones and sinews of the Shakespeare drama, altering and adding the flesh as needed to round it out into a novel.

This version focuses on action, intrigue and passion. A clever device is used to suit the long soliloquies to the format of a novel, and I think it worked very well. They did a good job of making Hamlet walk that fine line between sanity and insanity.

The reader, Richard Armitage was excellent, but then, we knew that would be the case didn't we; else we would not have bought it.

I enjoyed this but couldn't help but compare it to Macbeth. I loved their Macbeth. This was good, that was great. If I'd been able to read without the comparison this may have gotten a five.

Hamlet is my favorite of Shakespeare's works. Richard Armitage reading this version was wonderful. He did voices for the different characters which made the story that much better.