Ian Doescher
Quirk Books, 2013
Oh. Stars.
How do I love thee?
As a Literature major, I'm one of those people who actually likes Shakespeare. In fact, I sort of love him. I love the rhythm of the words, all the turns of phrase he added to the English language, I love the stories themselves. I've also come to terms with the fact that I am, without a doubt, a geek. And I love Star Wars (original theatrical releases of the original trilogy only, thanks!). So when I saw that Quirk Books was publishing Star Wars told a`la Shakespeare? I may have begged to be added to the review list.
How to describe this story, this reading experience ... The text is a play, so it's written with stage directions and pretty bare bones in terms of description and etcetera. There's much dialogue, and not a few monologues (true confession: I loved the monologues). The story is familiar and much loved. Seeing it told in a new way brings new life, new sparkle, to the story. And the characters. Maybe it's just the simple change in language, or maybe it's reading the words instead of watching it play out on screen, but it felt almost like a totally new experience. In truth, it felt as if I were reading any Shakespeare play: I knew what was coming, how it'd end, and who was ultimately the hero -- but I loved the reading of it anyway. Also, we all know I'm a huge Han Solo fan, and Doescher gave him some lines that made my heart. stop. As if Han needed to get any dreamier, give him a Shakespearian accent, and this girl's a goner. Sa-woon.
Book provided by publisher for review.
I saw this one around twitter (oh how I love Quirk!!) and was curious but you make this sound like so much fun. I love Shakespeare as well--I'm always tickled by how funny he can be.
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