Review: SRSLY Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Courtney Carbone

I received this book for free from Random House Children's Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Hamlet, one of the greatest stories ever told . . . in texts?!

Imagine: What if Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, and the tragic Ophelia had smartphones? A classic is reborn in this fun and funny adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays!

A kingdom on the brink of war.
A stolen throne.
A boy seeking revenge.

and h8. The classics just got a whole lot more interesting. 😉

tl;dr A Shakespeare play told through its characters texting with emojis, checking in at certain locations, and updating their relationship statuses. The perfect gift for hip theater lovers and teens.

A glossary and cast of characters are included for those who need it. For example: tl;dr means too long; didn’t read.

This book was all sorts of fun!! Another book from the OMG Shakespeare line and it’s full of OMG’s WTF’s and tons of emoji’s to make the story interesting. Like the previous book I reviewed, YOLO Juliet, it’s not a replacement for this classic, but a fun way to get people interested who might not be to begin with. I vaguely remember reading Hamlet in high school and I liked it well enough, but this made me want to pick it up and read it again. This tells the story well enough, though not completely. It’s a good start for those who don’t get Shakespeare, or find the writing hard to follow. I mean, it really is like another language. But so is this. A language that is modernized in such a digital and social networking world.

Hamlet was a character that I don’t remember whether I liked or hated when I read it the first time around. I liked him when I read this though. He’s got personality and snark. He’s fun to read. Some of the texts between him and others were hilarious. This poor dude lost his dad, then his mom goes and marries his fathers brother. Not to mention, he see’s his fathers ghost and finds out that he was murdered by said brother. What’s a boy to do but uncover the truth for everyone to know right? Oh, so fun in text speak.

There’s not really much else to say about this book. I breezed through it quickly since it’s very short. I also couldn’t put it down because of the enjoyment I got out of reading it. I admit, there were times I was a little lost wondering what a certain emoji meant, but I figured it out okay. There’s also a handy part in the back that has the 411 on some of them. I think these are great for anyone who is looking for a bit of entertainment, and a good way to get some knowledge of the stories of Shakespeare. I would still recommend reading the original classics, but these are a great addition to them. I hope that we get many more of these OMG Shakespeare books. I will have to buy them all.

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Amy

I'm no good at this, but I'm a mom of one little girl who really thinks she is a princess. I love reading all sorts of books (horror being a favorite genre of mine), love meeting new people, drinking lots of coffee, and eating chocolate. If you want to know anything else about me, just ask.

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