Will

by Christopher Rush

Startlingly poetic - excellent' - The Spectator 'This fictional autobiography does more than eulogize - Burgess is the only other novelist to pass this test' - Times Literary Supplement 'A brilliantly witty and imaginative piece of writing.' - Classic FM William Shakespeare is dying, with his lawyer at his bedside. It is time to dictate his will. But how can a man put his affairs in order before he's come to terms with his past? Acclaimed poet, novelist, and Shakespeare professor Christopher Rush has put thirty years of scholarship and creativity into this unforgettable re-imagining of the Bard's life. Rush takes readers into the mind of William Shakespeare, a man whose almost superhuman art was forged from very human frailties and misfortunes. Will takes us back to Shakespeare's childhood, his first encounters with sex, and the dangers of politics, plague, and love. We hear the chilling account of the Tyburn executions, see him crossing the frozen Thames with the wooden beams that would become the Globe theater, and return with him to Stratford on the heartbreaking journey to bury his only son. Rush has created an utterly irresistible figure whose voice rings true across four hundred years - irrepressible, bawdy, witty, and wise, his every word steeped in the situations and phrases of his own plays.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Shakespeare, Fiction, Historical, British Literature

Hardcover

First published July 1, 2008

About the author

Christopher Rush is a Scottish writer, for thirty years a teacher of literature in Edinburgh. His books include A Twelvemonth and a Day (1985) (chosen by The List magazine in 2005 as one of the 100 best Scottish books of all time) and the highly acclaimed To Travel Hopefully (2005).

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it to any other fans of historical "faction". You have to like a book with a superb pun for a title like "Will".

I also found it got better as it went along and the evocation of the grim realities of late 16th and early 17th century London life, particularly the plague and the almost casual executions, were completely absorbing. It's quite "fruity" as well. We feel that sex was abolished by the Victorians and reinvented in the 1960s but it was obviously alive and well in the 16th Century.

I also found myself reading Wikipedia in a parallel, looking up the lives of the many people who Mr Shakespeare's path crossed, or the author imagines must have crossed. Either the author also read Wikipedia when he was writing it or his historical research was thorough (assuming Wikipedia is right of course) as the historical accuracy seems very good.

Other reviewers have complained about the language but I had no problems with it. If it had been written in archaic 16th century English it would have been difficult to read and had it been entirely modern it would have lacked authenticity. The author has struck about the right balance with more modern English but with old fashioned phrasing and obviously Shakespearian language.

But this is really a book about Shakespeare the man, attempting to put a human story onto the bald and well known facts, using a conversation with his lawyer while writing the titular will as the framework. And as such it succeeds, even to the point where the conceit of a "ghost written" (ha ha) epilogue giving the great man's views on events after his death work fairly well.

Most enjoyable and a pity the great man only made 52, though given the plague and the volatile politics of the time I suppose he did well to last that long.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shakespeare is on his death bed. His lawyer has come to Stratford to write his last will and testament. As Shakespeare decides who to leave what to, he tells the story of his life. This is how a young man from nowhere became one of the greatest writers to ever live. I loved this. Rush turns Will into a living breathing man with all the foibles that a man can have. I read this while on a trip to Stratford upon Avon so I enjoyed reading about the town as I was walking the streets mentioned in the novel.

[Rob Osment · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected to be giving this a higher rating - the subject matter of Shakespeare's life told from his death bed to his lawyer making both will and confession is an excellent concept and in parts worked really well. However, the delivery felt like a Slog to get through - the language can be quite cumbersome, repetitive and erratic at times. I understand its attempts to replicate Shakespeare's mind, trying to strike balance of his erudite ways clashing with his feverish dying ramblings - but I felt to the reader this hindered the flow, causing me to read this only in short bursts and not hold my attention for long. A pity - great idea, just over-ambitious in its delivery.

[Overlook · Rating 5 out of 5]

March 1616: William Shakespeare is dying, with his lawyer at his bedside. It is time to dictate his will. But how can a man put his affairs in order before he's come to terms with his past? Acclaimed poet, novelist, and Shakespeare professor Christopher Rush has put thirty years of scholarship and creativity into this unforgettable reimagining of the Bard's life. Rush takes readers right into the mind of William Shakespeare, a man whose almost superhuman art was forged from very human frailties and misfortunes. Will takes us back to Shakespeare's childhood, his first encounters with sex, and the dangers of politics and plague and love. We hear the chilling account of the Tyburn executions, see him crossing the frozen Thames with the wooden beams that would become the Globe theater, and return with him to Stratford on the heartbreaking journey to bury his only son.

Rush has created an utterly irresistible figure whose voice rings true across 400 years, irrepressible, bawdy, witty, and wise, his every word steeped in the situations and phrases of his own plays.

"[Rush:] takes us into Shakespeare's mind; he dares to speak in Shakespeare's words. Rush can�t be accused of wearing his learning lightly...a bonanza for fans." - The Independent

"Masterful; a lifetime's engagement with Shakespeare's words informs every page." - James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. I'm not sure what to call the subset of the fictional biographical genre this sort of work belongs to...but it's in most excellent company. Echoing the work of Robert Nye and the wondrous Anthony Burgess ("Nothing Like the Sun"), Rush's work showcases a passionate love of language, poetry, history, and, of course, of the figure - life and work and cultural capital/touchstone - that is William Shakespeare.
The mixing of biographical fact, supposition, loving anecdote, and the words of the plays makes for a reading experience steeped in beauty - and in creative insight and humor.
The framing device - Will writing his will - is well-used and serves the story well. It took a tick to get into the rhythm, but once achieved, the story flowed well. I didn't want it to end.
Lovely book.

[Michael Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

By way of feeble homage and with a hint of apology:

It's tempting to proclaim that you do not
Require a love of Shakespeare for this book.
But really, to be honest, yes you do,
Which is a shame because of what you'd miss.
The tales of life and love and plays are here,
The lurid, lucid, poignant and the rest.
The lyrical, the licentious, the lewd -
At times the man is Bawd as much as Bard!
And if towards the end didactic words
Dilute the flavour of the fragrant whole,
It's just a small and petty price to pay
For such a pageant, clever, vivid, fierce.
So when your reading revels end at last,
Just look upon yourself and praise your fate.

(Worth a try. Read it, it's wonderful. Exit now I think.)

[Christina Orieschnig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely abysmal. I gave up between the 5-page discussion dedicated to “taking a cr*p in the sh*thouse in mid-winter“ and the fifth time the author had the dying Shakespeare lament on how his very young housemaid’s “pert little t*ts” failed to arouse him. This book thoroughly desecrates the poetry of Shakespeare’s works, the mystery of his life - and is simply cringeworthy to read.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book. Will Shakespeare is dying and writing his will. Thus we follow him as he reminisences and reviews his life from his early years if Stratford to the London theatre. This book combines fact and fiction to present a living, breathing, late Elizabethan England and you would swear that you could listen to Will talking to you forever. Truly immersive.

[Mr James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant imagining of Shakespeare's autobiography told as tale to his lawyer drafting his will - but meant as a form of confession before facing the certainty of adventure or oblivion. Bittersweet, baudy but beautiful. Brilliantly imagined feat of vast scale to so so comprehensively meld the man, his works, and his context. Really enjoyed it.

[Alison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a slog to read - Shakespeare presented as an old, self quoting bore.

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

whys shakespeare such a bitch! I love him!

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This imagined autobiography of the life of the eminent bard starts as William Shakespeare, on his death bed, attempts to exit this mortal coil by recounting his life story to his lawyer Francis Collins. Making sense of this enigmatic playwright’s life and times is no easy feat and the author has done a commendable job in fleshing out the details of Shakespeare’s life from his early childhood in Stratford, through to adulthood amongst the glittering court world of Elizabethan politics and Jacobean skulduggery.

There is no doubt that the author has done his research extremely well and has unearthed snippets of Shakespeare’s life which shows that the bard lived a colourful and extremely lively existence. There are some lovely descriptive accounts of both Elizabethan and Jacobean England when the glittering prose really does leap off the page and by leaving nothing to the imagination the sights, sounds and smells of the era really do come gloriously alive.

There is a compelling lyricism to the narrative which is rather poetic and it certainly has more than enough historical content, in fact, there were times when I forgot that the book was a novel as it is presented more like a non-fiction account and some of the lovely literary prose is achingly reminiscent of some of Shakespeare’s own writings.

I’m not sure that this book will appeal to reading groups per se unless they have a real interest in complex historical content. My view is that this book stands rather as a multifaceted personal read and more as one to be savoured slowly rather than read at full speed.


Reviewewed for newbooksmagazine

[Derek Bridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's much to admire here, but admiration doesn't necessarily bring much pleasure.

William Shakespeare, in his deathbed, recounts his life to his lawyer, Francis Collins, while ostensibly dictating his will (Will's will, get it?). His rambling and bawdy account is laced with quotations from his plays and sonnets (sometimes cleverly interwoven, sometimes heavy-handedly).

The trouble is: this has been done before. Robert Nye does it in "The Late Mr. Shakespeare", using an aged player as his unreliable mouthpiece. And the brilliant Anthony Burgess does it even better in "Nothing Like the Sun", where a lecture given by a drunken academic parallels Shakespeare's own descent into delirium.

Rush's novel, while vivid, told me little I didn't already know, save perhaps for speculations about the impact that the early death of Will's son Hamnet had on the man and his plays.

And then there's a dead-hand on every page, and it isn't Shakespeare's. It is that of the lawyer, Francis Collins: a two-dimensional glutton, whose quips wouldn't make it into a Carry On script. He sucks the poetry from every paragraph.

[Mandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never leave a book unfinished, and I hated to do it with this one, but when reading "Will" began to feel like a burden, I knew I needed to stop. A first-person narrative in Shakespeare's voice is a huge undertaking, and Christopher Rush wasn't really up to the task. Rush flounders in page-long descriptions, such as the one of Shakespeare's route (not the journey, the route) to London, and fails to instill a greater meaning in those passages. Occasionally the dialogue is witty, and there are a few moments where quotes from Shakespeare's plays are subtly woven into his monologues (a treat for the Shakespeare nerd), but the good stuff is far out-weighed by the bad. There's barely a plot, very little character development, and too much pointless description. I wanted to like "Will," but sadly it just wasn't very interesting.

If you want to read an amazing book about Shakespeare's life, go for Stephen Greenblatt's "Will in the World." Don't let the fact that it's non-fiction scare you away; it's more fun and compelling than the best moments of "Will."

[Laura]

This book took me longer to read than I would have thought because it didn't always hold my attention. Though clever and poetic, it isn't always a page turner. I don't want to get too detailed in my review (I have a stack of books to get through, and little enough time to read as it is), but I will say that although I found Rush's use of Shakespeare's words throughout this book to be well placed, it often felt redundant. What makes Shakespeare so special, in my opinion, is that he is not only a poet but a storyteller: his words are beautiful but the man can write a damn good plot (even if he ripped that plot off from someone else...no one quite tells a story like Shakespeare). I enjoyed Rush's meditations on Will, and let's all admit that stepping in to voice the man lauded as the greatest western writer of all time is a HUGE undertaking. It felt authentic, if not always gripping.

[Venetia Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiction or biography, poetry or gutter humour? I'm really not sure what to make of this book. In fact, I'm not sure whether 'Will' deserves 5 stars for its flashes of brilliance and insight or 2 stars for getting bogged down in blood, excreta and sex and completely losing the plot.
It started off brilliantly. William Shakespeare is nearing his end and must dictate his will (and life's memoirs, it seems) to his gluttonous lawyer. Rush's narrative was so poetic in these early chapters that I was happy just to revel in sentences that sung and never concern myself about mundane matters of storytelling. But the magic wore thin after Will's marriage to Anne, perhaps understandably. Poetry was increasingly replaced by crude humour until I could no longer bear to read on. I closed the book about halfway through.
An admirable attempt to resurrect Shakespeare, if only to put him back in his grave again. Rush very nearly succeeded.

[Kate krajeski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the raunchiest book i've ever read! (At least the most recent) It takes place at the time that William Shakespeare is on his death bed writing his will. It sounds pretty boring, right? But its not! There is a lot of historical facts, yes, but the language that is used is very modern day! Here's an example: "My balls were barbarians, the prick (you know what) a giant thistle, its purple head bristling with lethal seeds..."

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read and made me want to read all of Shakespeare's works. The story is written, amazingly, in first person and captures his tone (as I imagine he spoke, anyway) perfectly. I liked the cameos of the bard's life and how he used these seemingly inconsequential events in his work. This book made Shakespeare seem very real and not a distant, antiquated historical figure. The very reason he is given the title of Greatest Literary Figure in history is because of his ability to address basic issues that are common to all people.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever and colourful, extremely earthy, but very very wordy which made it a bit of a chore to plough through.

As a fictional (but probably highly researched) portrait of Shakespeare, it made me think semi-profound thoughts about what makes a person 'successful', for example, Will is undoubtedly a master wordsmith, but he's a completely lousy husband and father; does this make him successful in his life then, or not?

It didn't go as far as to make me want to launch into reading my compendium of Shakespeare, BUT I did go and order a copy of The Hollow Crown DVD - does that count?

[eq]

Ugh. This book gets no stars.

The first page was a chore. The author created this weird dialogue that Shakespeare was having with himself as well as with his lawyer who was on his deathbed. It just wasn't smooth reading and the first 3 pages just dragged. Yawn.

You also know that the publisher doesn't take your work very seriously when they give you next to no front matter for your author's note or dedication (on the copyright page!) Yikes!

[Hillary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually did not finish the book--I only read about a third of it. While I can appreciate the author's research and hard work in trying to recreate William Shakespeare's voice, it was just too much for this poor reader: too long, too dense, too repetitive. Too bad. I really wanted to like this book.
I even put it aside for a few weeks, but when I came back to it, it was more of the same. A few pages are enough.

[Mlg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shakespeare is dying and has summoned his lawyer to write out his will. In the process, he relives parts of his life, interspersing it with lines from his plays. Very well written, the author has an exceptional grasp of Shakespeare. Perhaps a little too strong on the bawdiness for my taste, but an interesting read.

[Karen H]

No stars!

This was chosen by someone in my book club for our monthly reading. She chose it based on reviews. I got about 3 Chapters into this and decided I would rather stick needles in my eyes than continue. It was tedious, boring, and disgustingly violent. At book club, most hadn't continued reading it for the same reasons. The person who chose it felt the need to apologize. Nuff said...

[Logan Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may have been expecting to much with this novel, but I stand by my assumption the book wasn't going anywhere. Christopher Rush's ability to infuse a voice very near to the Original Bard is clearly exceptional, but by chapter 15 I saw no movement in the story and my attention began to waiver. The story felt forced, so much so, that it felt unnecessary to keep reading. So I didn't.

[Christine]

I'm a little worried - I started this book last night with high hopes and the first dozen or so pages were, well, awful and difficult to follow. I will read a bit more before deciding but I think this one might be a goner.

[danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting fictional account of William Shakespeare's will writing. It took a while to get into it, but I found it a decent, entertaining read.

[Davida Chazan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Christopher Rush brings us a fictional autobiography of one of the world's greatest writers ever - William Shakespeare. Read my review of this book here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2015/03/2...

[Samantha Hartke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not since Anthony Burgess has anyone so captured the voice and heart of William Shakespeare. This almost stream of conscious effort is startling in its color, descriptiveness and directness of prose. Astounding!

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a quitter. Couldn't make it past the first chapter. I really really wanted to because I find The Bard a fascinating subject, but alas. I'll have to look around for something else to read about him... In any case, NEXT!