Book Review: Ophelia

[dansesdesirene]

Little is known about Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet other than her love affair with the prince of Denmark, her descent into madness and her untimely death. But what if that wasn't the true story? Lisa Klein gives her version of Ophelia's tale, chronicling Ophelia's relationship with Hamlet to her supposed death and what happened afterwards.

Ophelia has always been my favorite character from Hamlet, partly because she is portrayed by Kate Winslet in the Kenneth Branagh film and partly because her story is so tragic. Because of this, when I saw this novel on the shelf at the bookstore I had to read it. The novel started off a little slow for me. In the middle it picked up and I was hooked but once it reached the end it slowed down again. It starts before the events of Shakespeare's play and ends after. The part of the story I enjoyed was what took place during the original play. The rest, for me, could have been cut out.