FALLING FOR HAMLET

FALLING FOR HAMLET
Author: Michelle Ray
Publisher: Poppy ( July 5, 2011)
Ages: 14-up
368 pages
Rating: 5/5


FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MADNESS.

Meet Ophelia: a blonde, beautiful high-school senior and long-time girlfriend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark. Her life is dominated not only by her boyfriend's fame and his overbearing family, but also by the paparazzi who hound them wherever they go. As the devastatingly handsome Hamlet spirals into madness after the mysterious death of his father, the King, Ophelia rides out his crazy roller coaster life, and lives to tell about it. In live television interviews, of course.

Passion, romance, drama, humor, and tragedy intertwine in this compulsively readable debut novel, told by a strong-willed, modern-day Ophelia.


Falling for Hamlet is a modern telling of Shakespeare Classic. It is set in modern day Denmark, and Ophelia is the main character. In the original, Ophelia goes insane after her fathers death. But in Falling For Hamlet, she does not go crazy, Hamlet is the one who is going insane. After his fathers, the King of Denmark, death he is extremely distraught, seeking revenge on Claudius. His fathers ghost is visiting him, like in the original, and is telling him Claudius killed him. Of course nobody believes him, but his best friend who saw him too, and in the end Ophelia. So Hamlet was probably going crazy mostly because nobody would believe him.

Ray really makes the reader feel the emotions. Especially the lack of privacy. The public and paparazzi judges every little thing Hamlet and Ophelia did. It makes you never want to be famous. You also felt the heartbreak and the madness.

In Shakespeare's tragedies, all the main characters usually die. And the mood is very dark. In Falling for Hamlet, it is not always dark. I also didn't really like how the characters died in the end, I feel it could have been better told. In Ophelia's point of view, when she finds out they died, you really felt her sadness of it all. Again Ray's amazing work at putting the emotions in it.

This is a wonderful re-telling of Hamlet! I also believe it would make a good movie, that final death scene would come out so much better. This is a must read!