nerd teacher [books] reviewed Macbeth #killingit by Courtney Carbone (OMG Shakespeare)
I mean, they tried?
2 stars
I like what this book attempts to do? And it's a really interesting way to make people, especially younger audiences, interested in Shakespeare and interpreting the play into a more 'modern' way. However, there are a few issues:
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It's already dated, and I read this in 2018. As someone who still interacts with teenagers (as a teacher) and participates in a lot of online communities, it's already confusing in the way that it's written and not entirely clear with the use of emojis to really open up the text to other audiences. Because use of language and emojis changes really fast (especially online, a couple more years is going to make this book even more difficult to recognise.
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It's somewhat condescending in how it treats the themes of the story, or it feels that way. It's also super awkward to try to make a tragedy into something 'funny' just to …
I like what this book attempts to do? And it's a really interesting way to make people, especially younger audiences, interested in Shakespeare and interpreting the play into a more 'modern' way. However, there are a few issues:
-
It's already dated, and I read this in 2018. As someone who still interacts with teenagers (as a teacher) and participates in a lot of online communities, it's already confusing in the way that it's written and not entirely clear with the use of emojis to really open up the text to other audiences. Because use of language and emojis changes really fast (especially online, a couple more years is going to make this book even more difficult to recognise.
-
It's somewhat condescending in how it treats the themes of the story, or it feels that way. It's also super awkward to try to make a tragedy into something 'funny' just to entice young people to read it? Like, I feel this would've been better done with one of the comedies (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, etc) than it would have been for a tragedy? It just feels like it breaks the theme and confuses it with something else by making fun of it, whether that was intended or not.
I always appreciate attempts to 'hook' young people into reading and in making literature accessible or engaging, but sometimes it feels like the mark is entirely missed.