Othello

by William Shakespeare

Julius Lester's "beautiful and powertful" (SLJ, starred review) modern retelling of Othello, now in a striking After Words edition.

Othello is a powerful general, revered by his soldiers and honored by his peers. But his strength cannot contain his jealousy and rage when he believes his beautiful wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful. As deception leads to tragedy, nobody is safe.

Award-winning author Julius Lester takes one of Shakespeare's most intense plays and brings modern life to this saga of two doomed, passionate souls and a kingdom torn apart by secrets, lies, and violence.

Genres: Classics, Shakespeare, Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Adult, Historical Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Tamanda Kanjaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

the way this story escalates after a certain point is absolutely insane.Towards the end, Desdemona literally asks, " How did matters reach such a place as this?" And I was like, "girl, same." All in all, decent book if you're looking to understand the tale of Othello without reading the play or the Wikipedia page.

[Nicole Perry Kurilchick]

A YA adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. The story is written in narrative form. The story is not altered, but the language is more accessible.

[yeduski · Rating 3 out of 5]

El plot en sí está bien, pero Shakespeare encandila por el lenguaje, cosa que a mí me parece pedante.

Emilia es una reina, Desdémona una pobre alma, Otelo no hace más que dar discursos interminables y odio a Yago. También cabe destacar que Rodrigo es un pagafantas y nunca vi a un personaje ser más inutil, no aporta nada a la obra más que ser un petardo. Ni siquiera hiere él a Casio, es muy penoso. Creo que cada personaje da exactamente la imagen que Shakespeare quería, que no es la que he puesto yo. Pero es que leído con los ojos del siglo XXI, son todos unos petardos.

Quizás se me cruzó a obra porque me obligaron a leerla para clase en inglés, que es bastante complicado y se me hizo pesado. Viéndolo con los ojos de entonces (o con ojos que no estén cansados), me gustó. Si se lee, aunque sea en inglés, sin hacer un speedrun como yo, se disfruta.

[C. Basma · Rating 4 out of 5]

re-read it and enjoyed it this time as much as i did the first

[Carrie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this is undoubtedly a story that Shakespeare would love! Not surprised its one he took and ran with... seeing as most of the important characters die at the end! And now I want to read Shakespeare's version even more... see what plot/character choices HE made.

I thought the choice that Lester made to make Iago and Emily African, like Othello, was an interesting one. It certainly makes the betrayal by Iago more personal and shocking. It also helps to highlight the factors that affect how a person is perceived by others.

Honestly, though, I didn't really like the direct quotations from Shakespeare's play that were included in the book. They felt random and many seemed to be trite, unimportant lines. I'm not sure that they really added anything to the novel.

[Sarah Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this book I thought that I would be bored out of my mind. I actually originally read this book for nonfiction points. But after I finished this book I had a different opinion, Julius Lester does an excellent job retelling this story, from the betrayal of Iago to the love of Othello and Desdemona. Othello reminded me of Hoot because in both of them there is a common theme of betrayal that affects the ending of the book. This book will grab you the first page, the themes of drama, action, romance, and suspense just adds to this book. I recommend this book to students of all ages, Shakespeare gives you a lot of points, it also is an excellent book.

[Rosa Mendoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty solid book. A quick read that keeps you engaged. I enjoyed it more than expected since I normally avoid tragedies. Nonetheless, it served as a reminder to not blindly believe what you are told without first applying any logic.

[Leah Schmickley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great and accessible version of Othello. Lester’s decision to make Iago and Emily Africans, therefore closer to Othello, it made the betrayal much more significant. Despite that adjustment, the book follows the plot of the play very well!

[Helene Åberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tää oli yllättävän hyvä. Ei ehkä semmoiseen nyky kirjallisuuteen verraten, mut jotenki aihe on ajasta huolimatta tavallaan ajankohtainen. Joskin luokkajako ehkä aikanaan ollut isompi kuvio tässä.
Näytelmät on aina vähäsen kökköjä lukea, mut tää oli aika jees!

[TPC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this was a great retelling of Othello! It filled in most, if not all, of the holes in the original plot. It gave more closure to the tragedy. I thoroughly enjoyed this version.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novelized & more modern, but an OK way to understand the plot. I want to read the Shakespeare version now.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was reading this one for a YA Lit class and I'm still not too sure if this even in teen fiction, not that it would be "bad" for teens. I didn't particularly like reading it, probably because I knew the tragedy and didn't like the feel of the inevitability of its approach. I did find Lester's impulse to investigate the racism in the book interesting but I couldn't help reading it from a feminist lens as well. In my opinion he could have made a much more interesting book by portraying Desdemona and her father and both black Africans and everyone else as white and addressed both racism and feminism. Desdemona is just such a flat character. I have not read the play but have seen in a couple times so I'm not really sure which I like more. The novel is pretty accessible and adds some interesting ideas to the play. The difference in media between play as public and novel as private is fascinating and would make an interesting study unit, especially in contrasting personal reading with reading out-loud in class (or listening to a recording, or watching it, etc).

[Tiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qué maravilla. El nicho literario de Shakespeare se mantiene pero se le agrega el toque de Lester. Algo que dejar en claro es que nada de este libro me sorprendió específicamente, pero sí considero llamativos los personajes de Iago y Emily, en especial porque el desenlace de esta versión de la obra de Shakespeare es totalmente distinto al de la versión original (y sí, puede deberse al cambio de Iago y Emily como personajes de color y amigos de Othello de toda la vida), pero en sí el mensaje queda claro: una historia de envidia, venganza y supervivencia que toma un curso interesante al cambiar la perspectiva del protagonista y darle poder al antagonista.

[Ruffin · Rating 1 out of 5]

unimpressed. I felt it was uneven and inaccessible to younger readers. The two big pieces that bugged me were 1) the strange treatment of Shakespeare's language (some passages are adapted, some are bolded, and some aren't) and 2) the characterization of Iago. Emily and Iago are African too - and I liked that. But Lester says in the intro that he wanted to play with Iago's racism as the cause for the plotting against Othello. I don't think he succeeded at all with Iago, though Othello came out well. not worthy as an alternative, nor a companion to the original.

[C.O. Bonham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting take on the classic Shakespeare play. It also served as a kind prequal to Othello by giving a well thought out back story to the tragic Moor. I wasn't sure at first if making Iago Black as well was a good thing but Lester made it work.

All told I think that Shakespeare would aprove. Though I am sure that even he would be annoyed by the constant bold faced type(Indicating Shakespeare's words from the play)interupting the flow of words.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I think Othello is just not really my bag. This was a little weird because Lester highlights a lot of text that he has only changed slightly from the original and it sort of interrupts the flow. At the same time, it's nice that Lester wants to honor the original. Just kind of bleh.

[Hilary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just another horrible choice in the string of bad reads for this grad class. I am not opposed to Shakespeare being rewritten on principle, but this particular version is atrocious. Blech.

And, hello? Another Shakespearean priest marrying a couple in private? That never turns out well.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lester has taken from Shakespeare and written for the YA audience.

[Haifa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned that love can conquere anything that gets in its way and so can hatred.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Othello in novel form with some of William's dialog through out. Better than cliff notes.

[Elizabeth Lund]

Well done, adding more depth to the characters. Painful to read.

[Katu Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this novel interpretation of the play. Great writing.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me cry so much...

[Scott Williams]

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[Scott Williams]

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[Erin McDonnell-Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good and easy to read adaptation for struggling readers. A few liberties were taken with the plot, but the author wrote a nice introduction to explain his choices.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't add much to the original story for me, but was interesting in terms of the source of jealousy

[Jerry-Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14429398

[Lolxd]

good

[Wendopolis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your basic retelling of Othello, somewhat modernized