Hag-Seed in Around the Year in 52 Books

Dec 08, 2016 Maryam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, favorite2016

This book was awesome. I loved everything about this book. Story,retelling Tempest, characters, writing. There is no doubt Margaret Atwood is an exceptional writer and this book is another excellent work of here.

And my ending is despair
Unless I be relieved by prayer
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults
As you from crimes would pardoned be/Let your indulgence set me free.

-Prospero, The Tempest

It is part of a series retelling Shakespear's stories done but different aut ...more

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Oct 04, 2018 Kelley J rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As far as retellings go, Hag-Seed did a remarkable job of modernizing one of Shakespeare's more mystical plays. Taking a story that relies heavily on magic, fairies, and imps and placing it in a current and more realistic setting is no small feat. I'll admit that I have seen The Tempest performed and even reread it prior to reading this novel yet Hag-Seed did a much better job explaining what the hell it was about than the source material itself.

The book itself reminded me a lot of the Canadian As far as retellings go, Hag-Seed did a remarkable job of modernizing one of Shakespeare's more mystical plays. Taking a story that relies heavily on magic, fairies, and imps and placing it in a current and more realistic setting is no small feat. I'll admit that I have seen The Tempest performed and even reread it prior to reading this novel yet Hag-Seed did a much better job explaining what the hell it was about than the source material itself.

The book itself reminded me a lot of the Canadian show Slings and Arrows, where the main character is a mentally unstable theater director who is given a chance at redemption when he is asked to be the artistic director of a struggling Shakespeare festival. He has to lead a cast of misfits through a successful production of Hamlet, the show that haunts him, all while seeing and speaking to the ghost of his dead friend and predecessor. In Hag-Seed, Felix is ousted as the artistic director of the Makeshiweg Festival by an ambitious underling and he descends into his own kind of madness as he copes with losing his three-year-old daughter to viral meningitis. Felix also sees and speaks to his dead daughter's ghost but at least has enough self-awareness to know that others can't see her and will think he's crazy if they catch him talking to her. After several years, Felix is asked to lead a literature program at a correctional institute where he teaches non-violent offenders about Shakespeare. The prisoners end each semester by performing the play they have been studying. When the correctional theater program is threatened with cuts, Felix discovers the very people behind his downfall (who are now involved in politics) are responsible. Thus, he begins to set his plan for revenge into motion.

I was a lot more fascinated by Felix and his grief, as well as Felix as a teacher to these quirky prisoners. I found myself wishing I could take his class as his approach to learning the plays is fascinating and engaging. It was totally believable that these prisoners would be excited to participate. Through these scenes is where I really came to understand what The Tempest was about and what motivated these characters. Reading the results of the exercises where prisoners had to rethink scenes and outcomes was exciting and educational while also remaining fun.

It's when the revenge caper makes an appearance that I felt like the book lost a bit of its magic. Like the revenge plot in The Tempest, it's all incredibly complex and requires a lot of luck in order to work yet comes across as rather slapped together at the last minute. What I appreciated the most was when the prisoners actually questioned what they were doing. These men became a kind of moral compass for Felix, even if he didn't really listen to them.

In the end, we're given a satisfying conclusion as well as a return to all the things that make this book a charming and entertaining read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to checking out more additions to the Hogarth Shakespeare retold series.
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Nov 01, 2016 Libscigrl rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2016

How excited was I to received this Advanced Reader's Copy from Bookstr?!

Margaret Atwood is up there with Joyce Carol Oates as one of my favorite writers of all times. It really just fluctuates between whomever I've read most recently, though I do have to say, Ms. Atwood's stories tend to stick in my head much longer than JCO's do.

That being said, this is a bit of a departure from her most recent books. Most know Atwood as a writer of dystopic novels, though that wasn't always the case. This is d How excited was I to received this Advanced Reader's Copy from Bookstr?!

Margaret Atwood is up there with Joyce Carol Oates as one of my favorite writers of all times. It really just fluctuates between whomever I've read most recently, though I do have to say, Ms. Atwood's stories tend to stick in my head much longer than JCO's do.

That being said, this is a bit of a departure from her most recent books. Most know Atwood as a writer of dystopic novels, though that wasn't always the case. This is definitely NOT a dystopic novel, as it is part of Crown Publishing's Hogarth Shakespeare project. Hag-Seed is a retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, another one of his plays I had zero familiarity with prior to this novel.

First, let me say, that the feel of this book in my hands is splendid. For a paperback of under 300 pages, it feels hefty- due mostly to the thickness of the paper it is published on. I absolutely love this- when I'm reading it, there is no denying it is THERE, in my hot little hands.

Now, I typically read Atwood's novels quickly- in a matter of days- but this one took a few weeks. Mostly because I felt lost most of the time. Perhaps it is because of my unfamiliarity with The Tempest, but once the play was being performed at the prison, I couldn't follow what was happening very well. I tried to read this novel as just that, a story, regardless of the fact it was a modern spin on an old tale, and I just wasn't getting it. There were definite moments where the book held me- in the beginning when Felix is cast out of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival, when he is meeting with Estelle, his contact at the prison, and any time Anne-Marie had a presence. But the purpose of putting on The Tempest as a cover for his revenge just didn't add up to me, as it seemed too far fetched and disjointed. And then, just like that, the whole purpose of this novel, the revenge, was over and never really mentioned again.

The other thing that I didn't quite get was his relationship with his daughter Miranda. Sure, he had named her after the character in The Tempest, but when he kept seeing her, despite her death years earlier, and was having conversations with her, I questioned how that helped in the story. Because he is clearly delusional? So delusional as to see and talk to his dead daughter? And to be so delusional as to create this revenge play in a prison? Perhaps.

As a stand alone novel, it was a solid meh. I suppose if you were a big fan of The Tempest, this would make more since and be sensational. Luckily Atwood provided a five page synopsis of the original play at the end, which helped some. I also suppose you could call this story quite meta, as it is the retelling of The Tempest, where the main character is living his own Tempest while producing The Tempest in prison. Yes. Clever and meta, it is.

Of the Hogarth Shakespeare's books, this is the third I've read after Vinegar Girl and The Gap of Time. So far, The Gap of Time has been my favorite, but I can't wait to check out more of them as they are released. ...more

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May 19, 2017 Jason McKinney rated it liked it · review of another edition

I was a little underwhelmed by this...I feel like it's barely a three. There's nothing specifically wrong with it and it's very clever but it just didn't do a lot for me. Of course, it might have more to do with the fact that The Tempest is one of my least favourite Shakespeare plays. Sorry, Margaret. ...more

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Nov 01, 2016 KT rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Margaret Atwood takes on Shakespeare's The Tempest, as part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. I gave this four stars only because it doesn't have the depth of other Atwood books, but I think that's appropriate, given this is a thematic exercise as much as a novel.

Atwood's Tempest takes place in Canada, and her Prospero is Felix, the director of the esteemed Makeshiweg Festival. Unlike Shakespeare's Prospero, Felix ...more

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Feb 10, 2017 Jesse rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017-popsugar-challenge

This books incredibly clever structure is so good it makes up for any minor flaws it may have. It basically tells the story of The Tempest through the eyes of a man whose life mirrors that of Prospero, and the "play within a play" that he stages is an extremely ambitious production of The Tempest itself. Marvelous writing by Atwood, who manages to weave magic throughout the story without you ever really knowing if it's magic or not, just as in the original. ...more

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