Review of "Hamlet: A Shakespeare Story," by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross

Review of

Hamlet: A Shakespeare Story, by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross, ISBN 9781626866850


Four out of five stars

 If there were a poll to learn the most famous line from the Shakespearean plays, it would most likely be, “To be or not to be, that is the question,” a line from Hamlet. It is the first line in what is arguably the best description of the human condition ever put on paper and read aloud. Hamlet is one of the most performed Shakespearean plays as well as the one most often made into a movie. The base plot has been reused many times and in many forms.

 This book is designed to be a primer of the plot, it uses no actual dialogue from the play to explain it. While purists can argue that much of the tone of the story is lost, it does explain the fundamentals of the play very well. It is a good book for school children that will introduce them to what is a really good story imbedded in a classic Elizabethan play.