Macbeth #killingit

OMG Shakespeare

by Courtney Carbone, William Shakespeare

Macbeth, one of the greatest stories ever told . . . in texts?!
 
Imagine: What if that tragic couple, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, had smartphones? A classic is reborn in this fun and funny adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays!
 
A prophecy from three witches.
A social-climbing couple committing a murder most foul.
A cover-up that spins way out of control.


and h8. The classics just got a whole lot more interesting. ;)
 
 
tl;dr A Shakespeare play told through its characters texting with emojis, posting photos, checking in at locations, and updating their relationship statuses. The perfect gift for hip theater lovers and teens.
 
A glossary and cast of characters are included for those who need it. For example: tl;dr means too long; didn’t read.

Genres: Humor, Young Adult, Retellings, Classics, Graphic Novels, Shakespeare, Fiction

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 5, 2016

Reviews

[Nemo (The ☾Moonlight☾ Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not as familiar with Macbeth as someone who calls themselves a 'Shakespeare scholar' should be. I studied the play at University and I love watching film interpretations, but it's been a while since I've seen one and I confess I'd forgotten some of the more important facts.

I also am a complete n00b when it comes to emojis. I'm afraid I might just be a little too old to really care about them when I grew up with emoticons, which are basically the same thing, so why bother learning what that's all about?

That being said, this book was the perfect Macbeth refresher, complete with comedy, because the characters are all talking to each other via text! It's particularly funny when the characters can't find the right emoji.

I'd recommend this book as an introduction to Shakespeare for a younger reader or a refresher to Shakespeare for an older, experienced Shakespeare reader.

I received this book for free from Penguin Random House Australia in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Lilian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the definition of a short-read. I read this last month in a few hours. I was super sick and yucky, I needed something easy for me to understand. And I just happened to have this book lying around, so I picked it up and I was done with it pretty quickly.

I really did enjoy the book, and it makes me want to read the original. But I tried reading Romeo and Juliet last year and I couldn’t get more than a few pages in, so I may need a simplified version of Macbeth. Since this book is so short, they cram a lot in it at once, and it can get kinda confusing. My main struggle with this book was it had SO many characters. I kept getting them all confused with each other, I couldn’t keep them all clear.

I really do love the modern take on these Shakespearean classics, and I feel they set a good base for my generation and possibly generations to come to grow a love for Shakespeare. I mean, after reading this one book, I already want to read some Shakespeare. I can’t imagine how many others probably feel the same way after reading this. And this could totally be used as an outline for reading the original, considering I’ll probably get confused many, many times.

I’m also planning on reading the rest of the series! They have YOLO Juliet, A Midsummer Night #nofilter, srsly Hamlet, and the newest addition Scrooge #worstgiftever!

It did have a little language and a little suggestive content, but most of it was told in the form of modern abbreviations. It wasn’t overwhelming at all.

What do you think about retellings of classics like this?

-Lilian-

[Beth Cato · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son was gifted a set of three of these OMG Shakespeare books, and the premise looked so amusing that I put them in my own to-read pile. This was the first one I selected to read because I actually haven't read the full version of Macbeth. I know the gist, of course, and many of the famous lines, but this proved to be a fun way to read a synopsized version of the story.

The whole tragic tale is told as in through modern social media postings: texts, group chats, to-do lists, and public check-ins. As a ripe-old 39-year-old, I knew a lot of the slang (I was LOLing before the target audience of this book was born!) but even so, the acronyms and emojis were so thick they lost me at times... but even with that, I never ceased to be amused by the book. (There is a slang-decoder at the end of the book, which I wish I had known from the start.) This was a VERY quick read for me, but a good one. I look forward to reading the next two in the set soon.

[Lori Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG LOL.

[Paige Bradish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received Macbeth #killingit from the publisher and this is my honest review.

I was fortunate enough to receive copies of the first two books published in this cute little series which were, YOLO Juliet, and srsly Hamlet which I loved! I got another chance to read the next to books. The first being, Macbeth #killingit. The first and only time I read Macbeth was in my sophomore year of high school. I enjoyed it a lot actually especially the way my teacher taught it.

Again, this version of Macbeth is mostly aimed at younger kids. I feel like these books are good for younger kids to get a little fun taste of shakespeare plays before they have to jump in full force when they get to high school. I love reading through the manuscript I got and seeing all the emojis and the social media that was included. My favorite which I did not see in either of the books before was the addition of the kingterest board which is obviously a shakespeare version pinterest. Pinterest is a relatively new love of mine so I was excited to see it.

The book definitely gets a 5 stars it does the job of giving younger eyes a look at shakespeare in the language they speak nowadays so as to prepare them for what is to come to them in high school and even college depending on their major!

[Emily Mueller · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I picked this book up out of sheer curiosity when I had some extra time to kill. Macbeth is my favorite Shakespeare play, so when I saw the entire series, I thought this would be a good place to start. Needless to say, I wasn't expecting much, which only made me more surprised and impressed when the content was genuinely funny, charming, and clever.

The text talk can get a little tedious, but I think that that's just because of the medium. Texting lingo changes so frequently that I don't think there's a way you can write it without it sounding dated. And besides, if you can look past the clunky text speak, there are some genuinely hilarious lines. The book really takes advantage of its medium and condenses things extremely well. Carbone is amazing and undercutting some of the overly dramatic bits of Macbeth, usually with a punchline, but sometimes by just punctuating every other word with emojis. It brings a levity to Macbeth that I didn't know it needed but very much appreciate.

Is this book for everyone? No. Do I only like it because it caters to my specific weird brand of humor? Most likely. I feel like you have to be in a very specific demographic to like this as much as I do, and even then it's unlikely, but I enjoyed every bit of this.

[A. Mickey Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've heard people complain about how books like this "Make a mockery of literature", and I have to disagree. All books like this are doing is making the works more accessible to people or to be humorous. If you want to read Shakespeare's original text, then do. But this book isn't hurting anything. And it's honestly a great adaptation.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 3 of BookTube-A-Thon is completed!

My favorite of these is still Hamlet, I did love this one too though. I don't have much to say about it other than that. I am not sure how to put my feelings for this into words.

[Anja · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm so sorry, but this is sad. It's sad to see our real language turning into this madness.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always been fascinated by Shakespeare’s plays. But, like many, I find them confusing and hard to understand. I’ve taken classes on Shakespeare, purchased “Shakespeare for Dummies,” Googled translations and even watched the movies. But I still have a hard time grasping the language. Macbeth was also one of my least favorite plays when we read it in High School and, to be honest, I had forgotten pretty much everything about it - the plot, the characters, everything! So when I first started reading, I found myself really confused, trying to remember who was who! Let's just say I was really thankful for the character index!!

Confusion aside, Macbeth #killingit was hilarious and entertaining. Once again, the OMG Shakespeare books took a play that should have been serious and boring (sorry, Shakespeare fans! This one was boring for me when I read it in school!) and made it hilarious and entertaining. By breaking down the complex language into modern phone/internet speak (via text messages, group chats, status updates, emojis, etc), I was actually able to grasp what the play was about and follow along!

Overall, Macbeth #killingit was just as LOL as srsly Hamlet was! Though I definitely struggled with the characters, the content itself was easy to grasp and follow and I really ended up enjoying it - YES, I ended up enjoying one of my LEAST FAVORITE Shakespeare plays thanks to this epic OMG Shakespeare interpretation!

Whether you want to learn Shakespeare or teach Shakespeare, I highly recommend this book. You’ll never view Macbeth in the same way, ever again! And you’ll (actually) enjoy reading it!


You can also find more from me on my blog: Pandora's Books

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another funny book from #omgshakespeare! Macbeth isn't one of the plays I enjoy or have read as often as Shakespeare's others, but I thought this text/emoji format was great! Like the "srsly Hamlet" I reviewed recently, I think this is a good refresher of The Bard's plays, or as a companion to students after reading the original.

[n · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like what this book attempts to do? And it's a really interesting way to make people, especially younger audiences, interested in Shakespeare and interpreting the play into a more 'modern' way. However, there are a few issues:

1. It's already dated, and it's 2018. As someone who still interacts with teenagers (as a teacher) and participates in a lot of online communities, it's already confusing in the way that it's written and not entirely clear with the use of emojis to really open up the text to other audiences. Because use of language and emoji changes really fast, a couple more years is going to make this book even more difficult to recognise.

2. It's somewhat condescending in how it treats the themes of the story, or it feels that way. It's also super awkward to try to make a tragedy into something 'funny' just to entice young people to read it? Text-speak Shakespeare works better as a school assessment.

[Alexa (Alexa Loves Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I happen to be a Shakespeare fan, so it was a no brainer that I was going to read this. I am always on the hunt for iterations of his work that are modern, easy to read and also worthy of recommending to others. This is one such read. Like "srsly Hamlet", this is also told entirely in text, status updates and tweets and other modern day forms, and I thought it was a clever twist that really worked in making the story more accessible.

Like Hamlet, I'm not a huge fan of the original source material, Macbeth. However, this iteration of it is awesome. It made me laugh, kept me intrigued and I think the way the characters were portrayed were really memorable and easy to keep track of. I definitely think that, if you're looking for a way to get into Shakespeare into a digestible and fun format, this is a good one to try!

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another very funny book from the OMG books. I just wanna say Lady Macbeth is SAVAGE The ghost texting and taunting Macbeth is hysterical, especially with the usage of emojis. I think Shakespeare's work, in particular, is a great way to use this format. I know a lot of stuffy English teachers (the one I had in senior year especially) would probably be horrified by this. But Shakespeare was not all prim and proper and literally invented euphemisms for sex and made nothing but penis jokes all the time. I feel that these books do him an honor by taking the core of his plays and then making them hilarious but true to the story. I also liked, and this was in the other books as well, the fact they do memo pages for the asides and monologues and stuff. Very creative and clever, so great.

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicht mein Lieblingsstück und hier hinkt die Umsetzung der Idee irgendwie am meisten. Klar, die Notizen an sich selber sind ganz nett und die to do Listen, aber auch hier sind die Geister ein Problem. Geisterhacker?
Die Hexen und ihre chats sind ganz witzig und wie MacBeth ihren Thread dann doch zuspammed.
Wenn man die Reihe schon liest, dann halt auch diesen Band, für mich aber definitiv der schwächste.

Insgesamt kommt aber bei 40+ durchaus ein Shakespeare Feeling auf, weil einem, genau wie beim Originaltext, diverse Akronyme fehlen. Das ist der Augenblick, wo man, wie bei den kommentierten Originalen, in die Sektion 411 schaut, was denn das schon wieder heißt.
Absolut nicht geeignet als Vorbereitung auf das Stück, denn wenn man es nicht kennt, kann man der Handlung nicht so wirklich folgen und sich orientieren, weil eben auch die Textarten zwischen Notizen und SMS, Gruppenchat wechseln. Ohne solide Handlungsgrundkenntnisse kann man sicherlich schon mal den Faden verlieren.

[Florence Migga · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quality fun, you guys. First of all, the dedication at the beginning of the book from the author reads: "For all the slackers being quizzed on this tomorrow, good luck."

It was clever and I literally LOL and several parts of it.

Such an enjoyable 30 minutes of my life. (Yeah, that's how long it took to read this -- lol.)

Apparently there are others in this series (OMG Shakespeare) so clearly I have to find them all.

[This is the entire review, but if you want to see it on the blog, here you go: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com....]

[Katie Kaste · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the modern retelling of Macbeth through text messages, notes, and social media posts. I had to remind myself of the seriousness of the play. This was an accessible way to share the story of the doomed Macbeth. It was able to demonstrate the slow ease into madness. Macbeth and his wife take the Scottish thrown by force and face the consequences of their choices. These are super cute novels.

[Abby Monhollen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an English Major, who has read Macbeth many times, I could most definitely appreciate the humor in this. Such a good idea. I laughed out loud a ton of times. I would definitely recommend this to my friends and probably read it again. I can't wait to read some of the other books in the OMG Shakespeare! And I'd love to use these in my classroom one day!!

[jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and quick way to cover the plot and main characters. It was clever how the author used more than texts (to do lists, check ins, pictures, a quiz, etc). Funny modern updates, too. The pro and con list fits great with a lesson my class recently did. Not great for theme or tone or figurative language, but good for summarizing plot and getting students engaged with a tricky text.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic bit of fun to share with your students before or after reading Shakespeare's Macbeth. Even the most reluctant readers of the Bard will love this text-ual, tweeting, modern way of presenting the classic tale. Simply Hysterical! Additionally, for those who are not savvy with common text abbreviations or emoji meanings there is an index in the afterward.

[Sami Passlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who hasn’t actually read the original novel ‘Macbeth’ I really enjoyed reading this adaptation/version. It saves me the time of trying to read the original and may or may not liking it but since I did enjoy the story I will definitely be reading the original ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare.

[Christy Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series! Extremely creative and fun to read. You really should read the originals or these won’t make much sense to you. These books are a great way to have students read Shakespeare’s works and then reinterpret them for the modern age.

[Leyanna Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this book was so so so good .And i want to read more i want to reread this book. It was also funny and it was like i was their. so i would get this book to my sister so she can read and i will .i like the emojis it was cute😀😀😀😀😀😀.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the OMG Shakespeare series --- and very funny. It's the story of "Macbeth" told in texts and emojis. It works best if the reader is quite familiar with the play. Otherwise, some of the humor will be lost, but amusing in any case. A quick, light read.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is SO WELL DONE! My hat is off to Carbone, who made a laugh out loud version of Macbeth. Truly unique, funny, easy to follow. This would be a great companion for a literature class dissecting Macbeth. Love it. I will be reading more of the OMG series classics.

[Kier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this 3/5 stars. This was entertaining and I'm hoping to find a way to include it in my classroom.

[Bel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still like the Pride and Prejudice one the best but this was pretty funny too. Can't get enough for these and the humour through the emoji are hilarious and accurate to the original.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book to read, but I recommend reading the original play first.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witty take on Shakespeare - aimed for YA, but entertaining for anyone who's used an emoji. Probably won't get you an 'A' on that lit test though

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 probably. The books in this series take no time to read (I read this one while I ate lunch...in one sitting), and are cute and fun.