Othello

Shakespeare for Everyone Else #2

by C.E. Wilson

When Archer decides that he's had enough of Orion and Devony running what he thought was going to be his school he takes desperate measures to ruin everything. Through lies and betrayal, deceit and deception, Archer will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and he doesn't care whose lives he has to destroy in the process.Can anyone stop one of William Shakespeare's most villainous characters in this Young Adult retelling of the epic tragedy of Othello?

Genres: Drama, Romance, Retellings, Young Adult, Contemporary Romance

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

C.E. Wilson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, grew up in Millersville, Pennsylvania, and has been living in Pittsburgh since 2009. For the first few years living in Pittsburgh, she was an English teacher. Her first book, "Oath of Servitude," was published in 2012. In 2013, she quit teaching to be a full time author and hasn't looked back since. She loves spending time with her daughter and husband.
 

Reviews

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the author for the review copy.

In this Young Adult retelling of one of William Shakespeare’s most memorable plays, join C.E. Wilson as she breathes new life into Othello, the second book in her series Shakespeare for Everyone Else.

When Archer decides that he’s had enough of Orion and Devony running what he thought was going to be his school he takes desperate measures to ruin everything. Through lies and betrayal, deceit and deception, Archer will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and he doesn’t care whose lives he has to destroy in the process.

So a great idea this, the author takes Othello, brings it bang up to date, gives it a thoroughly modern twist but keeps all the heart of the original right on in there. A difficult one to pull off but done in a great way here.

I’m actually a big fan of Shakespeare’s stories but I do struggle with the language, beautiful as it is and I love what the author has done here – given it a whole new twist and still giving the nuances and discussion points that make Shakespeare such a great teaching tool.

Add to that its fun! A good story well told for the Young Adult audience, I imagine that a great thing to do would be to read the original and then read this – in fact it did encourage me to re-visit the base material. I know that there are more in this series available already and coming soon – personally I want to see what happens to Romeo And Juliet.

All in all a terrific read, a great Sunday Afternoon spent and I will definitely read more. Recommended.

Happy Reading Folks!

[Sorcha O'Dowd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever and unique Young Adult interpretation of one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. A brilliant, suspenseful read. Full review will be posted on my blog on the 14th March on my stop on the 'Othello' Blog Tour. http://www.oldvictorianquill.wordpres...

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Any author who re-writes any well known classic to make it more relatable to people today, has a huge feat ahead of them, none more so than authors who rewrite Shakespeare. C.E. Wilson took on an incredibly difficult challenge, and not only succeeded, but also wrote the story so well, that the emotions that are more difficult to experience whilst reading Othello in script form, just flew off the page and I really connected with the characters and storyline.

Being a huge Shakespeare fan, I have read all of his known plays, and Othello is one of the more difficult ones to read and understand. C.E. Wilson did a fantastic job in brining Shakespeare’s characters alive in the 21st century, and made their motives, feelings and struggles seem very much relatable to real problems that young people face today. I liked how it was set in a school, which made an excellent way for all the characters to know each other, and have jealousy issues related to school related drama.

I particularly loved how the characters were introduced to us. I really felt the connection between Orion (Othello) and Dev (Desdemona) and I could see the love that they had for each other so clearly that it broke my heart to see Orion’s descent into jealousy. The pacing of the story was also perfectly in line with the way that Shakespeare’s original work was paced. Whilst many may feel the ending is very sudden and not much closure is given, I loved how C.E. Wilson tackled this tragic ending, as it was very much in line with how Shakespeare’s plays do end very abruptly after the final dramatic scene, with less prominent characters speaking the final lines.

I gave this book 4 stars, as there were a few moments in the book where I felt the dialogue was a bit stilted, almost as though it were written for a play and not for a novel, but in the grand scheme of how well-thought out and produced this book was, this was really only a little thing.

This is one of the best Shakespeare retellings I have read, it is incredibly well-thought out and was extremely relatable to young adults, and I feel that this sort of book would have helped a lot of my class-mates when I was studying Shakespeare at school.

A clever, unique and intriguing young adult adaption of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’.

4 Stars!

[Deniz · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some really good parts in this.. And others I didn't like
I was wondering if Wilson is going to be able pull of this rendition set in a contemporary high school. I had many doubts- but frankly she somehow did manage to transfer the classic tale
Though I do have some issues with it, I also was positively impressed

At first I was surprised at the name changes Wilson did. Well, not so much most of the changes mostly Archer. I found it an interesting and simultaneously odd choice. And I was worried that I would mix-up the names and characters, with my terrible name memory that would be a given. But I didn't, Wilson build the characters well enough for me to immediately get who is who in comparison to Shakespeare.
Though Orion on some level was a bit too good and Archer too mischievous teenager for me at the beginning, I think Wilson did nail that part quite well.
The retelling in a high school setting- had me super worried, but again Wilson did a pretty good job with that.
So while I do thing that Wilson did a really good re-telling when it comes to plot and character building, I gotta say it doesn't replace Shakespeare- if you struggle with his english get a modern version. I think this is great for young people interested in his works. Maybe an introductions to the epic english author, but it does not carry his weight or even come close to his use of language.
I guess on some level that was clear. And I did honestly factor in this in my rating, cause frankly if I didn't I would have rounded it down to 2Stars, rather than up to 3. Because my biggest issue was the prose. Wilson went from teen slang to stoic dialogs, some of this felt very wooden and honestly her writing style missed the beautiful flowing prose that Shakespeare uses. And that's my biggest issue, set aside the fact, that I expected more beautiful prose. I am not sure how I feel about Wilson's prose in general. I can't say if this is because Wilson tried to incorporate some of Shakespeare's dialogues and somewhat failed - or if simply her writing style is not to my taste.

The amazing thing though and I have to say, Wilson made me realize this, this tale of jealousy, racism, love and betrayal is still extremely current. While I was aware that Shakespeare's work is still of great value but Wilson with her work has highlighted how important and current it still is!
So it's 2,5 Stars rounded up to 3.

[Elizabeth Creel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I RECEIVED A FREE ECOPY OF THIS NOVEL IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

As someone who tends to suffer from "can't-read-Shakespeare-without-going-huh?-every-few-minutes", this retelling of Shakespeare's classic made it much easier for me to understand. I thought that it was a very clever and interesting way of retelling a classic by Shakespeare, and that's what made it really unique to me. I have always loved Shakespeare, and since it's sometimes hard to understand all the complexity and beauty to it, this novel helped me to appreciate this classic tale in a new light. I really enjoyed reading it and would gladly recommend it to anyone.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me want to read Shakespeare... The author has a very clever and interesting way of retelling a classic in modern terms. I couldn't put it down and having never read the original I was blown away by it all. I would defiantly recommend this Author and book to everyone.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 Stars, rounding up to 4*

This version of Othello is a re-telling set in a high school. Since Othello is one of the books that I didn't study (Confession time, I've only studied Merchant of Venice, King Lear and Julius Caesar. At least, these are the three that I feel fairly confident about), I can't really make any comments on whether this is a faithful re-interpretation. So, I'll just judge the book on its own merits and throw in a few "I wonder if Shakespeare did this too" thoughts now and then.

Orion (Othello) is dating Devony (Desmonda), the mayor's daughter. After six months of sneaking around, they're finally publicly a couple (Ok, so they were outed by 'friends', but same effect). Unfortunately for Devony, Archer (Iago) hates Orion for not making him Vice-President of the student council and so is plotting and manipulating everyone to get his revenge. Even more unfortunately, Archer succeeds and a lot of people die (that cannot be a spoiler, the entire plot of Othello is on Wikipedia after all).

Just now, I wrote "Unfortunately for Devony" and no, I did not leave out Orion by mistake. The character I felt the most sympathy for was Devony and she basically only has a victim role. She never does anything to anyone and she's just collateral damage.

There is where, I feel, the book falls short. The characters are all very one-sided. Now, from what I can see, Shakespeare is supposed to have portrayed Othello very progressively for this day, but unfortunately, like the portrayal of Sherlock, these are characters that cannot triumph. The author was probably working with limitations like these (not to mention plot constraints) so we have: Archer - Evil genius who can manipulate almost anyone and yet somehow didn't win the election; Orion - way too gullible for his own good and with a terrible temper and too obsessive about Devony; Devony- Basically good; and so on.

I think the most wasted part is the portrayal of Orion. Like I said, Shakespeare is supposed to have been progressive, but Orion here is just a one-sided figure. He's almost unlikable. As unlikable as Archer even. He does not listen to reason or anyone except Devony. And since he goes from all-round good guy to crazy murderer in what feels like overnight (but is supposed to be just a few short weeks), the transition felt a bit unnatural. Shakespeare had his audience, who probably believed all that about Othello from the start, but I have problems believing that Orion is that base.

Where this book does shine, however, is in its readability. The book is easy to read and hard to put down. Even though the plot was already decided in advance, if the prose was clunky, I would still have had a hard time reading it.

To end, I'll just note that Othello was originally a play. That alone means it's visual and auditory, while a book is expected to be deeper, to reveal more (hard to do unless characters constantly break into monologue, and even that can feel unconvincing). So I suppose the limitations of the play has somehow affected the book itself. I did find it an interesting read, and more importantly, it piqued my interest in the original play.

Disclaimer: I got this book as part of Oops! I Read a Book Again blog tours in exchange for a free and honest review.

This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got "Othello (Shakespeare for Everyone Else)" by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Orion and Devony are in love. They have been dating all summer, but the two of them are still very happy together. The only problem is Orion wants to tell everyone, including Devony's father, about their relationship while she wants to wait. Also little do the two know that Archer, Orion's treasurer, wants to ruin Orion's life to get revenge on him for ruining his chances to go to a good college.

When I first started this book, I wasn't sure that a YA version of Othello would work especially not one that took place in a high school. I figured that the Shakespeare comedies would work better in such a setting, but this does work better than I thought it would. It wasn't a perfect novel, but it was pretty enjoyable for the most part. I feel like this would be a good thing for students to read at the same time as Othello. They could make comparisons between the two books and maybe write short stories of their own.

I found it interesting what names the C.E. Wilson picked for the different characters. A lot of them were not ones I would have picked for the characters, but for the most part they made sense. I didn't quite get while the Iago character was named Archer.

Speaking of Archer, he seemed kind of off to me. He seemed more like a spoiled little brat than like the Iago in the play, especially at the beginning of the novel. As it went on, he did sort of seem more like Iago. I guess there is no way that he could be exactly like he anyway since C.E. Wilson is not Shakespeare.

I wanted the ending to stay the same as the play's from the very beginning of the book. I worried that the author would change it and it would ruin the entire novel. I'm not going to tell if she did or not, but I did feel like the ending was rushed. I would have liked if it was handled better than it was.

Overall, I would give this book three our of five stars. I am interested in reading more books in this series however. I want to see how Wilson writes other novels based on other Shakespeare's plays.

[Syahira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've anticipated more from this YA version of Shakespeare Made Easy. I've read a bunch of others similar Shakespeare-to-Modern English books but this is the worst modern rendition of Othello and I haven't read the original play yet.
The most powerful thing about Shakespearean plays was its clever use of language and his poetry. All of which made Shakespeare still a household name after 400 years. Even if you translate Shakespeare to make it understandable, you can still retain the essence of the story even if you sacrifice the language usage.
But this book dumb down Shakespeare for the teenage audience that its almost unbearable. There are potential in the first few chapters but then the style regressed badly. If you've read a badly translated book, this is an example. The narration actually switched unevenly between Shakespearean and a teenage pulp fiction. One time they acted like teenagers and then the next they sounded like someone from four centuries ago. The dialogues changed from a teenage drama to badly translated soliloquies. Sometimes the short teen speak feels like a substitute to a long complicated dialogue that the meaning flew out of the window. Later on the teen dialogues read like the monologues translated by each singular words. By the end, I'm not sure whether it was a retelling or a teen-speak translated Othello.
I know that there are a limitation and the difficulties in translating a hard tragedy but I wish the book had maintain its purpose as a retelling instead of a direct translation. There were no understandable complexities between the characters that all of them came out one-dimensional and the dialogues and plot was very uneven and random that the flow came out unnatural which is sad since those was the definite areas you could expand more in a retelling. Now I'm worried about Macbeth and Hamlet.
The ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Danica Seavoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so I have to admit: I never read Shakespeare’s Othello . . . aaaand I will admit that the thought of reading the original is pret-ty intimidating. Which is why when I snooped out this retelling I was relieved to find a premise I could actually relate to.

This version made the story of Othello so easy for me to understand–it really put the plot into perspective without me having to struggle through the language and references in the original.

Transplanting the plot right into a high school setting? Well done, I say!

But with that said, the dialogue was a little stiff for me. It was easy for me to follow along with, yes, but it didn’t flow like normal conversation would. It was stilted enough that I was bothered by it.

And MAN, was it full of drama! My word, there’s so much manipulation and suspicion and deceit! I feel like I need to see this performed, because I think it would be infinitely more amazing to see it played out as was its original purpose.

All in all it did the job that I was looking for–I followed the story line and understood everything that was happening, but I felt like the dialogue needed to slide along smoother than it did.

3/5 stars;)

[Ems. (afternoonbookery) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read a previous C. E. Wilson book i was quite chuffed to spot this on netgalley, a retelling of the tragedy of Othello. I have no knowledge of the story of Othello, so for me it was a great chance to learn the story in a more simplistic way. Telling the story of Orion who is dating a girl called Devony we follow their tale as Archer puts the seed of doubt in Orions mind, causing him to believe Dev has cheated, and gets him to seek revenge. Throw in a cast of characters with their own personalities and reasons and we have the story.

It is very simplisitc in its nature, set in a high school it makes it easier for us modern day readers to relate too. I felt to start with that i would be overwhelmed by all the names, but i quickly got past that, and found i could barely trust anyone. I enjoyed this, it did a great job of sharing the story on a more accessible level. There is alot going on, and a lot of both deceptive and mischievous characters.

[Jai · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am always eager to read new adaptations of Shakespeare, so I had high hopes for CE Wilson's modernization of Othello.

Wilson's version takes place among teens in a high school. This helps readers to connect with the setting since it's more familiar.

I felt there was a lot of exposition in the writing -- remember that rule from creative writing...to show, not tell, if possible? Well, this version has a lot of "telling," which reduces the sophistication of the adaptation. Part of the problem is that this is a prose version of a play, so to translate lines of dialogue meant for the stage into descriptions and modern dialogue, while also developing the characters is not an easy feat. Also, the names are changed, which adds another set of details to keep in mind when reading and comparing to Shakespeare's version.

Overall, this novel could be used as an introduction to the original Othello, or excerpts could be used as part of a comparative media study.

Note that there is swearing.

[A Book Vacation · Rating 2 out of 5]

To see my full review:

http://wp.me/p1jhaj-4C1

This retelling of Othello makes the bard’s play a bit easier to understand as it’s written in everyday English, but as a young adult novel taking place in a high school setting, well, it's just not believable. Neither the situations nor the characters lend themselves to a high school situation that I, personally, find feasible, and the fact that the characters speak in a manner that just isn't natural made it almost comical in a sense. While in play format, it makes sense for the story to be a little clipped, but in novel format, it just didn’t sit well with me. While Wilson does a great job staying true to the bards play, the conversations between the characters, and the asides, just did not translate in a manner that made the story believable for me as a reader, and I must say that overall, I personally didn’t really care for it.

[Heatherly Hardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anything that makes students want to read Shakespeare gets a thumbs up from me! This modern day adaptation of Othello will certainly appeal to reluctant readers. I would use this book as an intro to the actual play text, allowing students to have familiarized themselves with the story before tackling the Bard's words. It's a quick and easy read (could even be a read-aloud) that will be a great accompaniment to teaching Shakespeare to struggling high school students.

[Bunnita (Worth Reading It?) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Y.A. high school setting didn't quite work. New Adult Contemporary may have made a better choice. I thought that the characters didn't speak as teenagers would in some parts of the book. As far as the story, she stayed pretty close to the them of Othello.

Bunnita at Worth Reading It?
rating 2 stars (2.4)
*This was an ARC review

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally able to Enjoy the Shakespearean Language!