Nicole Galland

From Nicole Galland, acclaimed author of The Fool's Tale, comes a marvelous evocation of a distant time and place . . . and a breathtaking reexamination of one of literature's classic villains From earliest childhood, the precocious boy called Iago had inconvenient tendencies toward honesty—a failing that made him an embarrassment to his family and an outcast in the corrupt culture of glittering Renaissance Venice. Embracing military life as an antidote to the frippery of Venetian society, Iago won the love of the beautiful Emilia and the regard of Venice's revered General Othello. After years of abuse and rejection, Iago was poised to achieve everything he had ever fought for and dreamed of . . . But a cascade of unexpected deceptions propels him on a catastrophic quest for righteous vengeance, contorting his moral compass until he has betrayed his closest friends and family, and sealed his own fate as one of the most notorious villains of all time. Inspired by William Shakespeare's classic tragedy Othello—a timeless tale of friendship and treachery, love and jealousy—Galland's I, Iago sheds fascinating new light on a complex soul, and on the conditions and fateful events that helped to create a monster.

A Novel

I, Iago

Jamieson

He would leave this mortal coil understood by nobody but me. Is that not a kind of love?


Maybe more of a 1.5 girl, idk

I, Iago is a half prequel, half retelling of Othello told from Iago's point of view. The first 2/3 of this book are Iago's backstory and the events leading up to him meeting Emilia and Othello, and then later Desdemona and Cassio. The last third is the events of the play Othello, but from Iago's point of view. 

The first 2/3 wasn't awful but wasn't great. The events moved slowly and I felt the narrative kept me at a huge distance from Iago. Even though it's from his point of view, and this is a character study, I didn't feel particularly invested in his point of view. But the historical fiction element was interesting and I was liking the creativity the author put into exploring Iago's history and his meetings with the various characters. But mostly I was holding out for the events of the play to start

spoiler warnings for the events of Othello if you care about being spoiled for a 400 year old play)

When they did it went ... to shit. So many of the choices the author made just made me feel icky. Instead of this being an interesting exploration of a villain it turned almost, sympathetic? The scene of him killing Emilia had a weird romantic undertone which made me uncomfortable. I also thought the author replicated so many of the worst tropes of this play, like the racism and the sexism. And yes, he's the villain, but many of these tropes were presented passively and didn't play into Iago's villainy.

For example, when Othello kills Desdemona, there's a racial undertone that it was an implication Iago didn't calculate on because 'a civilised Venetian man wouldn't have done it'. Throughout the events of the book, we get this sense Iago was just a guy who accidentally had a plan that got way out of hand because people like Othello aren't 'normal'. I basically thought this did too much to remove most of Iago's characterisation and actions in the play and cast him as the tragic hero which ... no? The tragedy is that innocent people like Cassio and Roderigo and ESPECIALLY DESDEMONA AND EMILIA.. DIED?? 

Anyway, this is getting ranty so to conclude. I think this author didn't really tackle the character with the nuance or complexity this book needed. The majority of the book is a plodding historical fiction with a character at the centre who is not nearly as dynamic or interesting as he could have been. And the books fell into replicating the same beats and tropes when it could have done something interesting to present the play in a new way.

I, Iago A Novel

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