Every World's Stage

That Way Madness Lies by Dahlia Adler and others

Pages: 316 Genre: YA short stories, retellings

Rating: 3.5 Star

This book is a collection of Shakespeare's work that is reimagined by YA authors.

This was a fun book to read. I always enjoy seeing how people reimagine Shakespeare, especially when it's being done in a more inclusive way. As with every anthology, there were some hits and some misses, and some of them did feel quite young (not a critique, just an observation), but overall it was a good reading experience.

I'm not going to review every short story individually, but I'll point out some of my favorites. I really liked the Twelfth Night story ("Shipwrecked"), which was written by Mark Oshiro, who is also the only author I knew about beforehand. While I'm obviously a fan of the work they do with Riordan, it was fun to see an independently-written story from before The Sun and The Star era. One thing that Oshiro, and some others, did well that not every mastered was picking what details to focus on when cutting a huge play down into just a few pages. You don't need every detail, and you certainly can't include every plot point (which is why these are reimagining, not retellings). Other stories I liked a lot were Macbeth ("We Fail"), King Lear ("Out of the Storm"), and The Merchant of Venice ("I Bleed").

Granted: the stories I liked the most are the ones where I'm familiar with the original work, and that might also be part of it. That's why I'm not saying the other stories were bad, they just didn't leave as much of an impression.

As a certified Hamlet girl, I will admit that this wasn't my favorite version. I loved the concept of Hamlet With Vampires, but I think the concept demanded a longer length. With a shorter page limit, the idea just seemed poorly executed, as if it was cut short. This was one of the short stories that was followed by an Author's Note, and I think that didn't help; I'm not sure that the author and I have meshing interpretations. Which is fine. Again, it wasn't bad, just wasn't for me.

I really liked the Author's Notes when they were available. Dahlia Adler ("I Bleed" / The Merchant of Venice, which I have read) and Anna Marie McLemore ("King of the Fairies" / A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I have not read) in particular had really interesting thoughts on Shakespeare and his portrayal/inclusion of minorities and the harmful consequences of his works. I appreciate the nuance that was brought about from this book, because when you look at Shakespeare from a modern lens, there's a lot to criticize about his portrayals of ... well, everyone but straight white men. Intentionally bigoted or not, the harm is still there. But there's also a lot in these works that people do still connect with. Therefore, it was cool to see these authors own the stories and their communities together.

I will often critique Shakespeare retellings where it feels like the author hates the original work and it trying to fix it, and I'm grateful that these authors didn't fall into that category. There's clearly a lot of joy here while also being able to acknowledge the problems from the originals. For adults like me, these stories will lean to the young side, but overall they're a good way to recontextualize these stories for young audiences.