Genre: Retellings

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

I needed The Wrath and the Dawn because we need more unconventional retellings, guys! While I haven’t read The Arabian Nights, I am well aware of its framework. Scheherazade’s stories that run from one night to another, preserving her life on the basis of basic human curiosity, is a fantastic foundation for a retelling. Going into The Wrath and the Dawn, I expected a book full of tales and a lot of tension about will-she-or-won’t-she die. While The Arabian Nights definitely served as the launching pad for this novel, the theme did not continue through the story. We hear the tales of Agib […]

Posted September 8, 2019 in Reviews // 0 Comments //

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

If I’m being completely honest, Vinegar Girl was a bit of a bust for me. I blame most of it on the source material – writing a modern version of The Taming of the Shrew is no small feat. Our climate called for a twist – we want Kate to be a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need a man to escape and make her happy, and well, let’s just say I didn’t expect the ending? And I know I should have liked it on some level, but I felt a bit let down. Anne Tyler focused a lot of getting Kate’s personality […]

Posted August 24, 2019 in Reviews // 0 Comments //

Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George

This was a book I was either bound to love or hate. It’s like a new movie with a lot of big name actors. It’ll either be wonderful or absolute ridiculousness riding on the power of its stars. Speak Easy, Speak Love has a lot of elements I like – it’s set in the 1920s and it’s based on Much Ado About Nothing. That’s my favorite Shakespeare play – a great comedy and light romance with a lot of wit instead of the usual foolishness. Add the glitz and glamour of a ’20s speakeasy, and there are a lot of promises. For […]

Posted August 23, 2019 in Reviews // 0 Comments //

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

Hag-Seed has a few different things I like, right off the bat. It’s a retelling. It’s an uncommon retelling – Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It’s a theatre book. It’s a revenge book. It’s a Margaret Atwood book. So without even going into the book itself, this was bound to be a winner for me. None of these aspects promise a pure five-star review, but they do promise I won’t be bored. And honestly? I enjoyed Hag-Seed, as a whole. I think that Margaret Atwood captured the feel of The Tempest so well. There are roundabouts and trickery and malevolent revenge. For those familiar with the […]

Posted August 19, 2019 in Reviews // 0 Comments //

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard

It’s been a really long time – almost a decade – since I’ve tried to decipher the hidden meanings behind a play. But I’m going to try! I’m pretty sure that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is about … death. I suppose that shouldn’t be a revelation, since it’s in the title, but man I struggled with this one? Honestly, this play just made me feel stupid. I feel like there must have been some exciting and deep conversation to be had about this play. Maybe it’s the sort of thing that’s a bit lost in translation? Maybe it’s better with group […]

Posted August 18, 2019 in Reviews // 2 Comments //

Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge

I wanted so so much to like Bright Smoke, Cold Fire with the same fiery passion as I liked Crimson Bound. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out for me. Bright Smoke, Cold Fire has the feeling of a book that wants to do too many things. There are two POVs in this one – Runajo and Paris, and both are trying to accomplish the same thing – save the city. In one POV, we learn about the inside of the religious order of the city – in the other, the reader experiences the correct underground. Either view could have been interesting enough in […]

Posted August 15, 2019 in Reviews // 2 Comments //