Lord Hamlet's Castle

by Hunter Steele

240 pages. Book and Jacket are both in Very good condition throughout, the only exception are some light marks underneath jacket. In This Dazzling, Highy Provocative Novel, Hunter Steel Gives Forceful Answers To May Such Questions.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 9, 1988

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ophelia is a tramp, Hamlet has bugged Elsinore...the Ghost is a political hoax, Osric is gay and Polonius doubles as boss of the secret police...(this) is a really rotten state of Denmark...Irreverent and at times explicit...this clever, eloquent treatment, which offers some entertaining and plausible solutions to many of the puzzling aspects of one of Shakespeare's most enigmatic works, is an adaptation that one feels the bard himself, with his delight in the bawdy, would have found amusing...Shakespeare's greatest play suddenly becomes a detective story worthy of Agatha Christie at her most baffling." The concluding part of the blurb on the back of my 1988 paperback from Paladin. The earlier was quoted on Goodreads but I couldn't resist quoting the rest.

Clearly some may regard what is said above in the nature of spoilers but at the time the book was published the presumption clearly was that readers would already be familiar with the play and its characters. I am sorry if I have ruined anyone's enjoyment of the play but even more if I may have put anyone off reading this deliriously funny, imaginative, scurrilous and scabrous tale based on and around the court of Denmark as created by Shakespeare but imagined as only a Rabelaisian imagination could.

It is wonderful and so funny - I just cannot praise it enough. When I was a student there was a fashion for re-imagining plays like Hamlet both in popular and academic ways. I loved all of it and Mr. Steele's novel is as funny, perfect and irreverent as David Marsden's 'Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf' because it challenges our preconceived notions of what is past.

A truly wonderful novel and Mr. Steele is an author I keep promising myself I will read other novels by. Maybe this year I will, I am following some on Ebay so fingers crossed!*

*I would try and buy them at full price (Hunter Steele needs the money having six years ago indulged in a silly lawsuit, which he lost, and landed himself with enormous legal costs to pay) but it appears they are only available second hand.

[Hope · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is horrible, horrible! And I don't say that lightly. I couldn't even finish it, and that's unheard of. I didn't think it would be POSSIBLE to ruin Hamlet -- bravo Hunter Steele and your obnoxious characters that no one cares about, and your running commentary on your writing style while you're writing!

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm afraid that I will never be able to view Hamlet in quite the same way after having read this book. Secret passages, voyeurism and bad breath all form an essential part of this retelling of Hamlet's story. Good fun.