Book Recap: Falling for Hamlet by Michelle Ray

Cover Inspection:
I LOVE THE COVER!
In this book, Ophelia was very concerned or protective of Hamlet.
The way Ophelia covers Hamlets body in the cover captures this.

SUMMARY (book description based on GoodReads):
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.


BOOK REPORT CARD:

Cover	3.5
Plot	3.0
Writing	3.0
Characters	3.0
Ending	3.0
Overall Rating	3.0 Very Good! (89% to 92%) * highest rating possible is 4.0

MUSINGS:
For this book review, I will put "musings" first. It is important to point out that it would be difficult not to make comparisons with the Shakespeare original. I will however, try to review the book based on its own merits - the plot, the characters, and the writing. I loved this book. I'm not really a Shakespeare fan, I only read those as they are required in school, but this book by Michelle Ray made me appreciate Shakespeare. Michelle Ray captured the essence of Hamlet as I vaguely remember it, and I do hope that she will write more modern Shakespeare re-tellings. Her writing is not boring and the book is not filled with unnecessary descriptions.

LOCATION/SETTING:
Modern day Denmark

MAIN CHARACTERS:
Ophelia. In this book, Ophelia is smart and a little bit wild. She's into art and swimming. She seems like one of those girlfriends of royals today. Her father works for the King of Denmark, and so her family lives in the same castle/building as the royal family. She grew up with Prince Hamlet, and when Ophelia was fifteen years old, she and Hamlet realized that they should be together. But their relationship wasn't exactly smooth. It was on and off. Hamlet, on the other hand, is handsome and charming and vengeful and rich. He is spoiled, and sort of idealistic to the point of being obsessive. A prince through and through.

WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT:
This book is Ophelia's story. In this book, she is the daughter of the King's adviser, and so her family lived in the same building/castle as the royal family. For this reason, she became really close to Hamlet as they both grew up together. Upon reaching their teen years, romance blossomed. But it was rocky as Hamlet found other women interesting while he is away at college. Nevertheless, the two always end up together. Hamlet and Ophelia. Things begin to get complicated after Hamlet's father died. Hamlet strongly believes that his father was murdered by his uncle. To make things worse, his mother married her uncle, and was now crowned King. Hamlet became obsessed with finding out who killed his father. He claims that he is seeing his father's ghost. It drove him mad, and this affected all the people around him, most especially Ophelia. The events are pretty much the same as the Shakespeare original, except in this book, Ophelia did not die. She lived to tell what had truly happened in an Oprah-like talk show.

LOVE:
I love Ophelia in this book. Her strength and courage is beyond amazing. In this book, Ophelia possesses strength and courage beyond her years. She can be fun and wild sometimes, but there will always be the part in her that is an obedient and loving daughter to her father. I also like the way the author created the book. The whole book was basically an episode of a talk show (hosted by someone like Oprah), where Ophelia was invited to narrate the events, and tell her side of the story.

NO LOVE:
I did not like the Lacrosse game scene. The scene was too shallow for it to be considered a life and death duel. It was a little bit weird for me. But it worked though.

FAVORITE CHARACTER:
I like Polonius. His scenes are always sprinkled with words to live by. 

FAVORITE LINE:

"Frailty, thy name is woman." - William Shakespeare
"Willy, thy name is sexism." - Ophelia

DOODLES:

AUTHOR'S WEBSITE:
Michelle Ray

SIMILAR READS:
Ophelia by Lisa Klein

CONTENT REVIEW:
profanity: moderate
violence: moderate
sexual content: moderate
mature themes: moderate
age recommendation: 13+