The Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless Guide to the Best of the Bard

I can't imagine a better guide to Shakespeare than this. It's like a "for dummies" book, but better. The author covers just about everything, but she never bores you. In fact, I could hardly put this book down.After a very lively introduction (about Shakespeare's life and the Globe theater), the author lists the plays in the order in which they were written. She divides them into four groups: the romantic comedies, the historical plays, the tragedies, and the romances. Then she tackles each of the four groups, writing about some of the plays. She tells you why the play is famous, she covers key characters (like Falstaff), and she explains the controversies that surround some of them. (For example, the charge of anti-Semitism about Merchant of Venice.) She makes a point of not covering every play --- if she covered them all, the reader would eventually lose interest.Instead of getting bored, you are starved for more. The book is packed with trivia and intelligent observations. The author isn't shy about the sex and violence in the plays, either, which keeps things interesting. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an overview of Shakespeare's work. If you don't know about his plays, you probably want to, but you need a guide that was written specifically for you. This is the book.

+++++ This book's preface instructs, "Don't feel compelled to read this book from cover to cover" since it's meant for reading at a relaxed pace. Guess what? I DID read it from cover to cover!! Why did I do this? Here are my reasons: (1) THE AUTHOR'S WRITING STYLE. The author, Norrie Epstein, writes in a relaxed and leisurely but enthusiastic way making a somewhat difficult subject easy and enjoyable to read. She writes for the intelligent, common reader who's tired of technical, academic (and patronizing!!) jargon. (2) THE BOOK'S ORGANIZATION. The book progresses logically with general comments on the works of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) to discussing the man himself to looking at the Elizabethan stage and then lastly discussing the plays. There is also a discussion of the Shakespearean sonnets. Finally, there is a fascinating end-discussion on the spin-offs that have resulted from Shakespeare's works (for example, music and films). (3) DISCUSSION OF PLAYS. Not only are the popular ones discussed but the more obscure plays are also given attention. The plays discussed are as follows: eight romantic comedies, eight histories, one "problem" play, seven tragedies, and one tragicomic romance. All discussions are EASY to follow. And don't worry. There are NO boring plot summaries of the plays to read. For many of the plays, there is a "What to Look For In" section. These informative sections highlight what is particularly significant in a play. As well, a major Shakespearean character of a particular play may be highlighted and given more detailed attention. For example, there are good, solid discussions of Shylock and Falstaff. (4) ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS. These are peppered throughout the book. I especially liked the black-and-white photo of Patrick Stewart ("Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise") dressed up as Shylock. (5) SIDEBARS. These also occur throughout the book. They highlight interesting bits of information that the author wants to bring to the reader's attention. One of my favorite sidebars is an open letter a critic of the 1600s wrote to Shakespeare entitled "As I Don't Like It." He commented on why he didn't like the play "As You Like It" (one of the Bard's best plays). (6) INTERVIEWS. These are scattered throughout the book. The author interviews people (such as actors) who have a passion for Shakespeare. Notable interviews are with Kenneth Branagh and Ted Lange (of "Love Boat" fame). (7) TRIVIA. And lots of it!! This Shakespearean trivia occurs throughout the book. For example, what does Shakespeare's epitaph say? Or, what Shakespearean character was Orson Welles' life ambition to play? Finally, the big question: who is this book written for? Answer: for both novices and Shakespearean scholars--in short, everybody who is interested in the Bard. I must confess that I thought I knew a lot about Shakespeare and his works. Was I wrong!! This book opened my eyes to how

I mean it. It really is.Norrie Epstein, who also brings you _The Friendly Dickens_, has produced an absolutely unbelievable wealth of information involving Shakespeare's life, work, and times, all in an extremely readable, interesting, and -funny- way. If you ever thought Shakespeare was unapproachable, you thought wrong. _The Friendly Shakespeare_ takes everything your high school English teacher said about Shakespeare's elegant and classy prose and throws it out the window, showing Shakespeare's work for what it really was: sex and violence - extremely graphic sex and violence, filled with the ultimate bawdy talk and most injuring insults ever to be seen in English. It takes the sentimentality out of Shakespeare, making it as unclean as it always was, explaining out-of-date references and slang that would otherwise mean nothing to the modern ear but made a great deal of sense for the Elizabethans. Epstein explores almost every possible aspect of the Shakespearean world: examining each play and its virtues and downfalls, delving into the twisted world of Elizabethan culture, discovering Shakespeare's life (and the mystery as to whether Shakespeare was who we think he was, or a pseudonym for any number of other writers, or if Shakespeare stole credit), interviewing actors and directors, the zany adaptations and unusual performances by unlikely actors, and reviewing the many film versions available on video. Nearly every page has a marginal tidbit with a quote or statistic or other little-known fact about Shakespeare's world or productions of his plays. Just from flipping randomly through the book, you could learn more about Shakespeare than you thought you ever wanted to know. Being a student, I can say that _The Friendly Shakespeare_ is the finest reference for students - whether or not they have an interest in Shakespeare. Everything is presented in a fresh, exciting manner, and for those "experienced" students who have a passion for Shakespeare, it isn't "dumbed down." This isn't _The Idiot's Guide to Shakespeare_. It provides both the basics to get those non-enthusiasts going, and some extremely thought-proviking information for the veterans. Never once is Epstein's text dry or boring or overly wordy, like people expect most Shakespeare studies to be. Nor is it childish or pathetically simple. What I love most about this book is how it really breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that most teachers have set up, making students HATE Shakespeare - they oversanitize it, making it pretty and beautiful, they oversentimentalize it, making it weak. Shakespeare's plays would not have lasted so long if they were just attractive poems about love. Certainly not. _The Friendly Shakespeare_ takes us back to the true Shakespeare, the Shakespeare that the original audiences must have seen - the gritty, dirty, audience-pleasing text, from the sexuality of _Othello_ to the extraneous gore of _Titus Andronicus_, to the often hushed-up fact that the sonne

How do most people come to know Shakespeare? The vast majority read a play or two in high school or college, barely understand them, and never ever have occasion to think of them again. And that's too bad. Norrie Epstein in THE FRIENDLY SHAKESPEARE reaches out to those who had been forced to swallow whole a set of plays without their ever wondering what it is they are trying to digest. For those who wish to reacquaint themselves with WS, her book is invaluable. Nearly all one volume editions of his works are written in deadly earnest prose, usually in teeny tiny print, as if to emphasize their scholarly intent. Yes, most of what a reader needs to know is there in that volume, but his chances of either finding it or of connecting a myriad of linguistic and thematic dots are nearly zip. What Epstein does is to isolate in BIG letters her points. She writes easy to understand analyses of that point. If one is preparing to read, say, 'Titus Andronicus,' one of WS's early efforts, then her discussion of the historical background and the play's use of bloody mutilation can ease one into a more technical, scholarly digression available in other texts about the play's latent anti-feminist or pro-Freudian elements. Also useful are areas that high school teachers try to avoid: the 'bawdy' elements. It would be a shame for a thoroughly bored student to miss all the phallic symbolism in 'Hamlet.' Now he won't have to.

"Shakespeare is very good in spite of all the people who say he is very good": Epstein thus quotes Robert Graves in her preface and notes that she wrote the book for people who are not familiar or comfortable with Shakespeare. Fortunately, this companion is delightful for longtime fans as well. Epstein discusses twenty-three of Shakespeare's thirty-six plays (unaccountably skipping `Julius Caesar' because, she says, "I don't like it and felt it was time to give the play a rest". She offers the most insights into the best-known tragedies (35 pp. on Hamlet, 24pp. on `Othello', and useful thoughts on the difficult `Tempest'), and discusses film adaptations, actors, the cult of Shakespeare, puns, sex, and the Elizabethan era. In short, she provides wonderful, readable color to enhance plays that many have read over and over and others have avoided all their lives. Divided into a series of accessible articles of a few pages each, the book need not be read in any particular order. Thumb through and you'll find something to catch your fancy. Thumb through again tomorrow, and you'll find something else. Epstein is a great place to start before seeing or reading a play, and if you don't have tickets for a nearby production, reading this book will induce you to fall in love with Shakespeare or remind you why you fell in love the first time.