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Look Hamlet
A hilarious, darkly comic graphic retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in radically condensed prose by legendary Swedish children’s author Barbro Lindgren and illustrator Anna Höglund.
Look Hamlet.
Hamlet not happy.
Hamlet’s mom mean.
Hamlet’s dad dead.
So begins this wonderfully strange, dark, and hilarious picture book version of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy boiled down to its smallest possible size: 100 words, give or take, and fifteen etchings that look like the lovechild of Beatrix Potter and Edward Gorey.
In our despondent antihero, a lop-eared bunny Hamlet with handbag in tow, is somehow embodied all the tremendous pathos of Shakespeare’s Danish Prince. And in legendary Swedish children’s author Barbro Lindgren’s pithy prose resides the poetry of the original, reworked for the era of memes and short attention spans.
Bold and brilliant, irreverent and humane, Look Hamlet is the perfect irreverent gift for Shakespeare readers of all ages. As the Bard himself wrote: “brevity is the soul of wit.”
Look Hamlet.
Hamlet not happy.
Hamlet’s mom mean.
Hamlet’s dad dead.
So begins this wonderfully strange, dark, and hilarious picture book version of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy boiled down to its smallest possible size: 100 words, give or take, and fifteen etchings that look like the lovechild of Beatrix Potter and Edward Gorey.
In our despondent antihero, a lop-eared bunny Hamlet with handbag in tow, is somehow embodied all the tremendous pathos of Shakespeare’s Danish Prince. And in legendary Swedish children’s author Barbro Lindgren’s pithy prose resides the poetry of the original, reworked for the era of memes and short attention spans.
Bold and brilliant, irreverent and humane, Look Hamlet is the perfect irreverent gift for Shakespeare readers of all ages. As the Bard himself wrote: “brevity is the soul of wit.”
32 pages, Hardcover
First published August 31, 2017
140 people want to read
About the author
Barbro Lindgren
186 books39 followers Barbro Enskog was born in Bromma, Stockholm. She graduated from art school in 1958 and has been writing books for publication since 1965. Her style has exerted a major influence on Swedish children's literature. Located between realism and surrealism, her works are humorous and imaginative, and her books for children treat important issues to be taken seriously and treated for children.
Early in her career Barbro Lindgren won the 1973 Astrid Lindgren Prize, an annual Swedish literary award distinct from the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The once-in-a-lifetime award established on Astrid Lindgren's 60th birthday honours good writing for children or youth. Barbro Lindgren's long-time collaborator, the illustrator Eva Eriksson (born 1949), won the Prize in 2001.
Early in her career Barbro Lindgren won the 1973 Astrid Lindgren Prize, an annual Swedish literary award distinct from the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The once-in-a-lifetime award established on Astrid Lindgren's 60th birthday honours good writing for children or youth. Barbro Lindgren's long-time collaborator, the illustrator Eva Eriksson (born 1949), won the Prize in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
October 15, 2019
NOW AVAILABLE!!!
do you like Hamlet? would you like it better if it were written using fewer than 100 words? wherein “swords” is used as a verb? as in Hamlet swords Ophelia’s daddy? wherein vast soliloquies are reduced to Hamlet super sad? wherein Hamlet’s mommy drinks danger juice. Now Hamlet’s mommy dead?
i personally love Hamlet, but i also love efficiency, and this book cracked me up, proving that, indeed, “brevity is the soul of wit.”
apologies for all the Hamlet-spoilers, but this is a shakespearian tragedy—the ending is a no-brainer:
Now everyone dead.
Nighty-night!
come to my blog!
do you like Hamlet? would you like it better if it were written using fewer than 100 words? wherein “swords” is used as a verb? as in Hamlet swords Ophelia’s daddy? wherein vast soliloquies are reduced to Hamlet super sad? wherein Hamlet’s mommy drinks danger juice. Now Hamlet’s mommy dead?
i personally love Hamlet, but i also love efficiency, and this book cracked me up, proving that, indeed, “brevity is the soul of wit.”
apologies for all the Hamlet-spoilers, but this is a shakespearian tragedy—the ending is a no-brainer:
Now everyone dead.
Nighty-night!
come to my blog!
February 5, 2020
Speechless!! A very short, very dark retelling of Hamlet. Do not mistake this for a book for children. Very effective illustrations.
October 4, 2024
Nu alla döda.
Gonatt, gonatt!
Härlig teater på Orionteatern!
Gonatt, gonatt!
Härlig teater på Orionteatern!
September 28, 2022
This book is an insult to both Shakespeare and children. It claims to be written in such terrible prose due to social media and its consequent short attention span, promoting the disintegration of language that at least literature has attempted to avoid. The important details of the story are obfuscated in the name of a simplicity that renders the book tasteless, forgetting that children are complex and insightful.
July 16, 2019
Look at Hamlet. Hamlet not happy. Hamlet's daddy dead. Hamlet's mommy mean. Hamlet gets other daddy. Other daddy really mean.
I'm not sure what the target audience for this book is, but I'm in it.
Everyone dead. Goodnight!
I'm not sure what the target audience for this book is, but I'm in it.
Everyone dead. Goodnight!
January 22, 2020
Adorable! Made me laugh out loud!
September 21, 2017
Ett litet mästerverk!
December 27, 2017
Hahaha! Fantastisk.
November 24, 2017
Aldrig har en version av Hamlet varit så tillgänglig. Alla viktiga delar av berättelsen är med, det enda jag saknar är hur Hamlet själv går hädan. Som det fan av all mörk, tramsig, superseriös och grundad på väldigt-hypad-klassiker barnlitteratur jag är, anser jag denna perfekt!
September 24, 2020
Sobrevalorado.
Hamlet convertido en una fábula donde los personajes son animales y donde se resume a grandes rasgos la trama en “idioma indio/Tarzán”.
No aporta absolutamente nada a la obra de Hamlet, ni tampoco al lector, que únicamente le puede aportar lo que le pasa a los personajes principales y se pierden todos los grandes matices de la obra. Quizás no es este el objetivo de la obra y el objetivo es hacer una parodia de Hamlet. Pues como parodia es muy flojita. No es nada sarcástica. Si quieres enseñar una buena parodia de Hamlet a tus hijos/alumnos, enchúfale la de Los Simpson, que al menos tiene gracia.
Sobre las ilustraciones demasiado infantiles para una historia que no lo es.
Quizás podría funcionar como "lectura fàcil", pero con todos los inconvenientes nombrados.
Hamlet convertido en una fábula donde los personajes son animales y donde se resume a grandes rasgos la trama en “idioma indio/Tarzán”.
No aporta absolutamente nada a la obra de Hamlet, ni tampoco al lector, que únicamente le puede aportar lo que le pasa a los personajes principales y se pierden todos los grandes matices de la obra. Quizás no es este el objetivo de la obra y el objetivo es hacer una parodia de Hamlet. Pues como parodia es muy flojita. No es nada sarcástica. Si quieres enseñar una buena parodia de Hamlet a tus hijos/alumnos, enchúfale la de Los Simpson, que al menos tiene gracia.
Sobre las ilustraciones demasiado infantiles para una historia que no lo es.
Quizás podría funcionar como "lectura fàcil", pero con todos los inconvenientes nombrados.
July 2, 2019
The “gist of it” version. All Shakespeare should be this compact.
November 7, 2019
I mean...this is pretty much.
And remember, neither a borrower nor a lender be - buy your own copy!
And remember, neither a borrower nor a lender be - buy your own copy!
December 12, 2019
6/10, and very funny with it!
May 10, 2022
The story of Hamlet, now a picture book for adults!
November 24, 2022
Una mica el llibre que escriuria un indiu. La veritat és que no tinc massa fresca la trama de Hamlet, però m'he pixat igualment
August 19, 2024
Absolutely hilarious retelling of Hamlet. Now, to give it to kids, or not to give it to the kids…that is the question.
January 15, 2018
Haha läs denna. Bästa versionen av Hamlet EVER.
January 24, 2018
Läs min recension på bloggen: http://www.fiktiviteter.se/2018/01/19...
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December 18, 2017Gullig - tror dock att mina höga förväntningar gjorde att jag inte tyckte om den lika mycket som jag trodde att jag skulle göra.
January 30, 2021
¿Conocen Hamlet? La gran tragedia del teatro isabelino escrita por Shakespeare de donde proviene el famoso monólogo "ser o no ser". Pues ahora imaginen a un grupo de niños pequeños a los que les apetece que se los cuenten antes de ir a dormir. Sí, estás cansado y tienes que contarle Hamlet, con todas su muertes, diálogos profundos e intensidades vitales a niños muy pequeños. Hagámoslo.
Este pequeño libro es una gran delicia repleta de ironía. Aunque, pudorosos, lo hemos puesto en esta categoría, hemos explorado su alcance con más pequeños. Es decir que puede estar aquí o en la categoría anterior, da igual. En cuanto a los niños es un libro que funciona en distintos niveles: con el lector cuyo referente de la obra original le hace dar una nueva dimensión la lectura o aquel que se encuentra con un libro salvaje, brusco, violento y poco complaciente. Un libro que incomoda hasta la risa. Más se espanta el adulto o el joven pensando en ese libro para la infancia, que el niño que lo explora. Quizás, hasta se aburre.
Aunque no lo creemos. Su mayor recurso es el ahorro del lenguaje, con el que consigue conectar rápidamente con el atento lector y condiciona una lectura llena de humor y plagada de ¿muertes? Sus ilustraciones, con animales humanizados, un ambiente abigarrado y sombrío, con poco uso del color, permiten darle aún más fuerza al microtexto que enuncia el argumento de Hamlet, desprovisto de los artilugios literarios de Shakespeare.
Es un ejercicio de poder entre el pasado y el presente, un pulso entre lo clásico y una nueva forma de diálogo. ¿Dónde queda la literatura? En las emociones primarias del teatro: amor, soledad, tristeza, venganza... Esas que se desgranan en la lectura de la imagen y estallan en el encuentro con el referente. No es una invitación a no leer Hamlet; al contrario, sin su lectura, este libro no se disfruta de la misma manera. Sería solo una masacre entre animales.
Este pequeño libro es una gran delicia repleta de ironía. Aunque, pudorosos, lo hemos puesto en esta categoría, hemos explorado su alcance con más pequeños. Es decir que puede estar aquí o en la categoría anterior, da igual. En cuanto a los niños es un libro que funciona en distintos niveles: con el lector cuyo referente de la obra original le hace dar una nueva dimensión la lectura o aquel que se encuentra con un libro salvaje, brusco, violento y poco complaciente. Un libro que incomoda hasta la risa. Más se espanta el adulto o el joven pensando en ese libro para la infancia, que el niño que lo explora. Quizás, hasta se aburre.
Aunque no lo creemos. Su mayor recurso es el ahorro del lenguaje, con el que consigue conectar rápidamente con el atento lector y condiciona una lectura llena de humor y plagada de ¿muertes? Sus ilustraciones, con animales humanizados, un ambiente abigarrado y sombrío, con poco uso del color, permiten darle aún más fuerza al microtexto que enuncia el argumento de Hamlet, desprovisto de los artilugios literarios de Shakespeare.
Es un ejercicio de poder entre el pasado y el presente, un pulso entre lo clásico y una nueva forma de diálogo. ¿Dónde queda la literatura? En las emociones primarias del teatro: amor, soledad, tristeza, venganza... Esas que se desgranan en la lectura de la imagen y estallan en el encuentro con el referente. No es una invitación a no leer Hamlet; al contrario, sin su lectura, este libro no se disfruta de la misma manera. Sería solo una masacre entre animales.
May 31, 2020
Spartan yet accurate. I loved the illustrations.
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February 4, 2020Look Hamlet is an absurd, dark, extremely condensed picture-book version of Hamlet that ends with — spoiler! — “Now everybody dead. Nighty-night!”
It was translated from Swedish and published by Restless Books; I’m a member of their Restless Readers program through which they send me a translated book of their choice every other month, and this book arrived in today’s mail.
It’s like a clever social media post in book form, and I’m not sure who’s the intended audience, yet it’s oddly wonderful.
It was translated from Swedish and published by Restless Books; I’m a member of their Restless Readers program through which they send me a translated book of their choice every other month, and this book arrived in today’s mail.
It’s like a clever social media post in book form, and I’m not sure who’s the intended audience, yet it’s oddly wonderful.
November 3, 2021
Good for a cheap laugh (and I don't mean that critically, it just is what it is AKA a Hamlet retelling in under 100 baby words (e.g. Hamlet hearts Ophelia. Ophelia hearts Hamlet. Ophelia's daddy sketchy.) that makes you go ha — sometimes that's what you're in the mood for).
It's just not as funny as it thinks it is (yeah yeah now I'm being critical and perhaps I was all along).
It's just not as funny as it thinks it is (yeah yeah now I'm being critical and perhaps I was all along).
March 3, 2019
There was no information that this was NOT for kids. I am dissappointed this is not made clearer as I wasted money on this book. Only if one knows of the author's previous publications could one guess that this is not for kids.
August 3, 2019
One might think that a graphic novel of Hamlet in such a small number of words--oh, and Hamlet is a floppy-eared bunny!--could not possibly work. In some odd dark way, it really does. I actually really enjoyed this.
November 28, 2019
I have to be honest and say I don't get it. This is Hamlet boiled down to a hundred words and...why would anybody spend money on this? I just don't understand the point. The pictures are cute and it's mildly funny.
March 16, 2022
Beh, l'ho comprato solo perché l'ho trovato di seconda mano ed è stato il mio primo incontro con Barbro Lindgren.
Direi che mi ha sorpreso! I disegni non sono nel mio stile però la battuta finale... Fantastica!
Direi che mi ha sorpreso! I disegni non sono nel mio stile però la battuta finale... Fantastica!
October 16, 2017
Världens bästa pekbok!
Kommer bli min nya standardpresent!
Kommer bli min nya standardpresent!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews