Hamlet (the Novel)

Hamlet, by John Marsden is a more modern, prose version of Shakespeare's original.  I thought that Marsden did a good job not being "over the top" with the modern theme -- the characters play football and wear jeans, but the novel is definitely Shakespeare's story.  I love the book's cover, too.

The tension builds nicely towards the tragic ending; the characters' "lines" are believable -- not exactly Shakespeare's words, but close enough to be recognizable.  I think student's interested in the story, or perhaps struggling with the Shakespearean version would find this easy to read and entertaining.

I really didn't like that Shakespeare got no credit on the title page.  There is an "added author" entry in the library record (for those of you who speak "librarian") but I don't really think that's enough.  If you're familiar with works such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, those books give front page credit to the original author as well as the author who "tweaked" the story, as this novel should have.