Dating Hamlet: Ophelia's Story

by Lisa Fiedler

Book Overview

Ophelia lives to tell the tale of what happened at Elsinore "The nights at Elsinore are longer than anywhere else. I have stayed awake these many weeks, which has aided me greatly in my portrayal of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805070540
• ISBN13: 9780805070545
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

a great reimagining

I have read and seen hamlet many times and people who are fond of them may not get or like this story but I always thought that Ophelia was a deeper character than what was shown and we get it in this book without giving too much away hamlet and ophelia work together and apart to try to get king Clauidus to admit to a murder (I will not say whose murder in case you have not seen the movie or read the play) I thought it was a good read and an interesting reimagining of the story! I think it is a good way to get kids interested in Shakespeare and hopfully will encourage them to read some of the greatest plays ever written!

Hamlet - but with less deaths and a happy ending!

Dating Hamlet is a great read and it's the kind of book you can read again and again. I first read this book when I was 10 and now I'm nearly 13 and I have read it again I really understand and appreciate the book. The story is very good because even though I loved the Shakespeare play,and this book gives more depth into the characters and Ophelia is portayed as a much stronger person than she is in the play. It is a very moving book in some parts, like at the funeral of Ophelia. I like the way Lisa Fielder has wrote it, by using the proper language and writing with Ophelia's thoughts and emotions. I would recommend this 'Dating Hamlet' highly as it is such an excellent book you can read over and over again and still get new things from it. I hope Fielder writes a sequel! It may be predicable, but what's wrong with a happy ending?

An interesting turn of events

I normally put down any book that I realise is written in first person, with a few exceptions. It takes a certain amount of skill to write in the first person and sound like a character, a character I am willing to deal with for an entire book. Ophelia's voice in "Dating Hamlet" was at once engaging and easy to follow, inspite of a pretty good attempt to mirror Shakespearan english. (Mind you it isn't perfect and the characters do not, except when being a bit silly, speak in verse). The book is the author's effort to give the power back to the female characters that she had encountered in the classics, Ophelia is one of the most unempowered women in Shakespeare's whole opus. To empower her took alot of back plot that was not in the original work. With few exceptions it works really well, in my opinion. One example being when Hamlet is making his first mad speech to himself in the court and looks up (a gesture I remember) he is actually speaking to Ophelia who has hidden herself up in the gallery of the throne room. As I was reading this I was imagining how this could be staged in tandem with the play, how a director might alter Ophelia and Hamlet's actions to allow the audience to know, that Ophelia was in on the plot. (I am inclined to this anyways, having in yesteryear written a paper taking that side, just for the outrageousness of the idea) Mind you, a few moments are a bit too contrived, but it wasn't so painful as the rest of the book was very enjoyable, and remarkably realistic. The ending is probably the most contrived bit about the whole work, but I am not going to argue with it, in fact I wouldn't mind reading her other book about Juliet. It was also amusing to see that the crux of this book rested on a frequent plot device of Shakespeare, one that is utilized in Hamlet. That being the play with in the play. We have here, the traditional play used to catch Claudius, and Hamlet's play acting at being mad but also--Ophelia, Laertes, the Gravedigger, Horatio and Ophelia's lady in waiting, Anne, in on the plot. A whole new cast of inner play players. The book is an easy read, I picked it up on my dinner break and finished it before going to bed. Enjoyable, probably more so for anyone who is rather more than less familiar with "Hamlet."

I Adore "Ophelia"

Like with many people, I would think, Shakespeare often depressed me to read or study and therefore I had to suffer the loss of absorbing great literature. Ms. Fielder's book, "Dating Hamlet," most seemlessly mixes the traditional tale with a far more up-beat (yet still dramatic!), behind-the-scenes version for young children and young adults to enjoy. Whilst (addictedly) turning each page, the reader enjoys a highly entertaining tale WHILE reading true Shakespeare and learning the orginal play. By contrast, Ms. Fielder's book, is, should I say, more enjoyable? Yes. It was a good read, took me only a few hours, and for a 200 page book was quite fascinating, exciting, and taught me a great deal about a play I would have otherwise avoided.The main character is a bold woman, and a heroine you would root for, and gives the usually-thought insane Ophelia a much stronger, more intelligent side. I thank the author for making Ophelia a better role model through this book.I hope they make this book into a movie -- it was very entertaining and sweet and will forever more let me watch the classic play "Hamlet" with ease.

Great read......really fun!

If you love a great adventure story with tons of romance and suspense throughout, this is so the book for you! I came across it at my library and since I had read "Hamlet" I thought 'what the heck'. I got home, started reading and absolutely could not put it down! Lisa Fiedler has written an awesome book for teens and has given Ophelia, a character before thought of as weak, a spunky attitude that many girls can identify with. The ending is the best and will not let down all you romantics out there!!! Read it, I guarantee you will enjoy it!