Posts Tagged: Classic

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Review: YOLO Juliet by William Shakespeare and Brett Wright

Posted by 5 Comments

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

Review: YOLO Juliet by William Shakespeare and Brett WrightYOLO Juliet by Brett Wright, William Shakepeare
Published by Random House BFYR on May 26th 2015
Genres: Classics, Historical, Retellings, YA
Source: Random House
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
three-stars

Romeo and Juliet, one of the greatest love stories ever told . . . in texts?!

Imagine: What if those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet had smartphones? A classic is reborn in this fun and funny adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays!

Two families at war.
A boy and a girl in love.
A secret marriage gone oh-so-wrong.

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.

I admit, I loved reading the original Romeo and Juliet in school, but I know that for some people it isn’t something they enjoyed. I think that this was a fun way to get people interested in the basics of the story in a modern way. I thought the group texts and messages were entertaining. I especially loved all the emojis in it. I do have to say though, this is not a replacement for the original, but it was fun to read.

Everyone knows how the story goes. Star-crossed lovers ending in tragic death, but this book tells the story in a less morbid way. This is a kind of hard review to write since it’s not a typical book. I do think that for kids in school who don’t want to read this story, it’s a great way to get them into the story in a language that they understand. Bonus points for the key in the back because I had no clue what some of the stuff meant.

I can say that this was fun and entertaining. I did like it and it only took a short time to read. I think what the author did with this was a fun idea, but in no way a replacement for the real thing. If you have kids or friends (or anyone else) who isn’t into reading this classic, this is a good place to start. I have recommended it to some of my coworkers and they think it’s a fun idea too.

three-stars

3 Hot Espressos