by Tracy Chevalier
Expected publication May 11 2017
Finished 3/15/17
I did not read all of the Shakespeare plays as a kid and certainly won't start doing so now, especially Othello which sounds like a real bummer. Well, it IS a tragedy. Tracy Chevalier was charged with retelling the plot, and she sets in the 1970's; but it could just as well be today. I read a quick summary of Othello just to see what happens, who lives and who dies. Geez, there's a lot of dying going on there. I was afraid of where Chevalier was going to lead us, as her story is populated with sixth graders on the school yard of a Washington DC elementary school.
Othello was a Moor, a person of color. Here, Osei is a new boy in school, born in Ghana, and although it's nearing summer break, it's O's first day. Dee (Desdemona) is a popular girl assigned the task of taking O around to make him comfortable. The entire book takes place in one day, mind you, and almost immediately O and Dee hit it off and are considered "going together." (These sixth graders move fast.) Then the bully Ian has to step in and manipulate everything and everyone until chaos reigns and the story is turned on its head.
I think Chevalier did a really good job with portraying racism and bullying. I didn't think I'd be interested in the Hogarth series, but I am a fan of Chevalier. And Hamlet retold by Gillian Flynn sounds like a sure winner.
A Bookstr win 2/2017.
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