Title: Lear's Shadow
Author: Claire Holden Rothman
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Pages: 304 (Paperback)
Publisher: Penguin Books Canada
Publication date: July 10th, 2018
Synopsis from Lear's Shadow's Goodreads page
During a sweltering, stormy Montreal summer, Bea Rose finds herself about to turn forty having lost her lover, her business, and her bearings. When the opportunity to work for an outdoor production of King Lear arises, she grabs it despite her utter lack of theatre experience.
Things get off to a rocky start when Bea learns the artistic director, Arthur White, is a childhood friend whose presence stirs up painful memories. Then she inadvertently sparks the lascivious attentions of the aging star of the play and alienates the stage director, who happens to be his former wife. As Bea learns the ropes of her new role, her beloved but demanding father begins behaving erratically and losing himself in forgetfulness and her younger sister Cara reveals cracks in the foundation of her apparently perfect life as a devoted mother and co-owner, with her charismatic husband, of a successful raw foods restaurant.
The sisters do their best to care for their father, but his deteriorating condition soon exceeds what either can handle. To make matters worse, the star of Lear is also faltering amidst the confusions of age, illness, and regret over transgressions from his past. In a masterful scene of raucous celebration whirling out of control, the various forces in Bea's life collide in a shocking act that could destroy more than one life--or reveal how those lives might come together in new and stronger ways.
Synopsis from Lear's Shadow's Goodreads page
During a sweltering, stormy Montreal summer, Bea Rose finds herself about to turn forty having lost her lover, her business, and her bearings. When the opportunity to work for an outdoor production of King Lear arises, she grabs it despite her utter lack of theatre experience.
Things get off to a rocky start when Bea learns the artistic director, Arthur White, is a childhood friend whose presence stirs up painful memories. Then she inadvertently sparks the lascivious attentions of the aging star of the play and alienates the stage director, who happens to be his former wife. As Bea learns the ropes of her new role, her beloved but demanding father begins behaving erratically and losing himself in forgetfulness and her younger sister Cara reveals cracks in the foundation of her apparently perfect life as a devoted mother and co-owner, with her charismatic husband, of a successful raw foods restaurant.
The sisters do their best to care for their father, but his deteriorating condition soon exceeds what either can handle. To make matters worse, the star of Lear is also faltering amidst the confusions of age, illness, and regret over transgressions from his past. In a masterful scene of raucous celebration whirling out of control, the various forces in Bea's life collide in a shocking act that could destroy more than one life--or reveal how those lives might come together in new and stronger ways.
THOUGHTS
I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review- Thank you Penguin!
Going into this book, I was pretty excited. I've been struggling through one of the worst book slumps I've been in in a long time, and something that always cheers me up is a good book about Shakespeare. However, I found that this story itself was completely overlooked by Shakespeare, which was odd, because I figured that the story itself would be the main focus.
To elaborate, I found that the plot of the story as a whole, as well as the mini sub plots, were a bit overlooked in favour of focusing on the story of Lear as well as a lot of the acting. I found that a lot of the characters were also overlooked in the same way, and I found myself wanting more from the characters and less descriptions of the play itself, as I have studied King Lear and know the play very, very well.
I found that the characters were wonderfully written. Each one of them had quirks and their own little aspects, and none of them were alike. I found myself wanting so much more from the characters and I wanted to learn so much more about every single one of them, and unfortunately I wasn't able to learn as much as I had hoped I would about the characters.
The setting of the story was very well written, however. As someone who has never been, and would love to one day go, to Montreal, I found that it was described wonderfully and I felt like I was actually there, walking the streets with Bea.
I also liked how the author was able to tie the setting to the play and story itself. King Lear is a story about tragedy and loss, and having it rain and storm throughout the book at pivotal times was very well done.
However, I also found that I wanted more from the sub plots of the story, and I found that some of the minor characters' lives were a tad bit more realistic than Bea's, and I really wanted more from them and to learn more about every one of them.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read, however I wanted much more from the story line itself, as well as the characters in it, and I also found it to be quite repetitive.
Overall - ★★☆☆☆.75
No comments:
Post a Comment