A Perfect Gem of a Book

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When entering college it was a toss-up--major in biology or major in English. Opted for biology and taught it happily for over 30 years. Now wish to be reincarnated and teach Shakespeare the next time around. Every English teacher should read this book! Felix staging The Tempest with a cast of incarcerated medium security prisoners is a wonder in motivation and success. That is one plot, the other is Felix's own true life coping with loss that is two-fold. Like Prospero he has been usurped by someone he trusted and for twelve years has nursed the resentment of his plight, while also mourning the loss of his three year old daughter. She died of meningitis at three years old just shortly before his dismissal as the Director of a well-known community theatre of some renown. How he plots and achieves his revenge is ingenious and as absorbing as his molding of a motley cast into a coherent team in a well formed version of The Tempest.

For those who need it, and I was one, there is a review of the original Tempest in the back of the book. That is where I started so that Shakespeare's original was fresh in my mind.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."


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