Hag-Seed

I fell in love with Shakespeare as a college undergrad and was introduced to the incomparable artistry of Margaret Atwood at around the same time. Her novel Hag-Seed (the title is a Shakespearean "curse word") slipped past me somehow. Happily, I rectified that oversight this year.

This book is remarkable for its clever plot, colorful characters, and it's satisfying resolution. Set mainly in a prison, it's based on one of Shakespeare's lesser-staged plays, The Tempest. The book's sly humor made me laugh out loud for real, which is no mean literary feat.

Her book also underscores what an essential… show more.

The chronology of my Shakespeare-era novels hasn’t reached The Tempest, but I love how this novel features a production of the play—in a prison. The relation of the inmates to their roles and the protagonist’s personal crisis give Prospero and his island new life in a setting also set apart from society. I enjoyed how the characters come to realizations about Shakespeare’s play as they rehearse, the goal of my own novels from a different angle. Many spinoffs from Shakespeare use his plot devices, but Atwood relies on The Tempest for her plot. Each ‘best’ novel here reveals new… show more.