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A review by aylea
Hamlet Is Not Okay by R.A. Spratt
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Selby would rather watch TV than do homework, which she does until her parents notice and punish her by making her work with a tutor. That tutor insists she reads Hamlet, but neither of them expect to find themselves in the play itself, spending time with Hamlet.
For a book about how amazing reading is, this book is so boring. I’m not sure how you can make hanging out with Hamlet so dull, but somehow this book managed it.
The dialogue is weak and strange. People don’t talk like the kids do in this book. There’s a lot of strange banter that . Their actions don’t fully make sense. A lot of what’s happening in Hamlet has to be explained by her tutor, and that somehow makes Hamlet seem much less interesting than it is. This book might have been better if Selby was younger because her being 16 and this infuriating made the book feel more aggravating. The book in general feels like it should have been middle grade instead of YA. I think a ten-year-old is more likely to enjoy this than a fifteen-year-old.
The plot doesn’t completely make sense. Why does Selby travel to Hamlet specifically and not other books? How did she manage to not turn in homework for months? Why are her parents, supposedly smart people, more clueless even than the average parent in 90s cartoons? What on earth was that ending? How were Hamlet and Selby able to understand each other when they speak such different varieties of English?
However, the book had some funny lines. I liked the unique take on Hamlet and the ideas, even if I didn’t like the execution.
I’m usually such a sucker for books where the point is how wonderful reading and words are. This book did manage to convince me how important it is to use them well because this book doesn’t.
For a book about how amazing reading is, this book is so boring. I’m not sure how you can make hanging out with Hamlet so dull, but somehow this book managed it.
The dialogue is weak and strange. People don’t talk like the kids do in this book. There’s a lot of strange banter that . Their actions don’t fully make sense. A lot of what’s happening in Hamlet has to be explained by her tutor, and that somehow makes Hamlet seem much less interesting than it is. This book might have been better if Selby was younger because her being 16 and this infuriating made the book feel more aggravating. The book in general feels like it should have been middle grade instead of YA. I think a ten-year-old is more likely to enjoy this than a fifteen-year-old.
The plot doesn’t completely make sense. Why does Selby travel to Hamlet specifically and not other books? How did she manage to not turn in homework for months? Why are her parents, supposedly smart people, more clueless even than the average parent in 90s cartoons? What on earth was that ending? How were Hamlet and Selby able to understand each other when they speak such different varieties of English?
However, the book had some funny lines. I liked the unique take on Hamlet and the ideas, even if I didn’t like the execution.
I’m usually such a sucker for books where the point is how wonderful reading and words are. This book did manage to convince me how important it is to use them well because this book doesn’t.