Name: The Tempest
Rating: 3.764705882352941 (34 reviews)
ISBN: 9780804141291

Margaret Atwood

Bestselling and multiple award-winning author Margaret Atwood retells The Tempest, one of Shakespeare's most stirring and unforgettable plays.

The Tempest

sharkie

The rest of his life. How long that time had once felt to him. How quicky it has sped by. How much of it has been wasted. How soon it will be over.

It didn't take Felix long to discover that it was easy to disappear, and that his disappearance was borne lightly by the world at large.

He can sense the rest of his cast emerging as if from a fog, their faces indistinct but present.

The 'riotous, insanely readable' (Observer) retelling of The Tempest from the 2019 Booker Prize-winning author of THE TESTAMENTS. ‘Riotous, insanely readable and just the best fun...'Observer Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he’s staging a Tempest like no other. It will boost his reputation. It will heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. Also brewing revenge. After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It’s magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall? **LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2017**

Hag-Seed

Interesting, but not great. I nearly put it down a couple of times. The machinations of spurned luvvies didn’t do it for me. And the prisoners were a bit stock. 

Jan Jackson

Ryan Mateyk

This didn't feel like Atwood but I still loved it, of course.

** Longlisted for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction ** Selected as a Book of the Year -- Observer, Sunday Times, Times, Guardian, i magazine 'It's got a thunderstorm in it. And revenge. Definitely revenge.' Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge. After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It's magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall? Margaret Atwood's novel take on Shakespeare's play of enchantment, revenge and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own.

The Tempest Retold

Hag-seed

Kyle Curry

Theatre friends, if you've been wishing for Slings and Arrows season 4- this is it.

It's Hogarth Shakes book I was most looking forward too, that was totally worth the read.
For readers new to the Tempest and old alike, you won't miss out on a thing. Atwood doesn't just update the tale. She gives us a Tempest within the Tempest. And what I love most is that the moments paralleling the actual plot of the Tempest are the briefest, most driving chapters of the plot. The rest sprawls out all the parts we never get to see but always wonder about: how did Prospero fall? What was he doing all that time? What kind of man is he? What happens to everyone after? Is there forgiveness? Is their healing?

Questions with many possible answers that Atwood explores with relish. In incorporating the source material we get to enjoy swatches of Ole Bill's verse amongst the tale, plus Atwood has written a bit of poetry herself, which I won't give anymore away about. 

A glorious romp with tragedy just on the fringes, yet full of heart and a large helping magic. Just like any good production of the Tempest.

Selected as a Book of the Year -- Observer, Sunday Times, Times, Guardian, i magazine 'It's got a thunderstorm in it. And revenge. Definitely revenge.' Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge. After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It's magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall? Margaret Atwood's novel take on Shakespeare's play of enchantment, revenge and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own.

Sonja H

Wow, das ist nicht *eine* Interpretation von Skakespeares "Der Sturm", das sind gleich mehrere! Ich bin total begeistert von der Idee und der großartigen Umsetzung und werde das Buch auf jeden Fall noch einmal lesen, schon allein, weil die Charaktere sehr liebenswert und schräg sind.

Celeste Richardson

This book was fan-freaking-tastic. I adored it. 

I have such immense respect for Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid's Tale is right up there with other dystopian classics like 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 in its scope of influence. But that’s the only book of hers that I’ve read all the way through, and that particular book was assigned for a class. I liked it, but it was homework, which always skews my enjoyment level a bit. There are other books by Atwood that I’ve picked up, but I could never get into them. But Hag-Seed was so small. Surely I could get through that one, right?

To prepare for reading it, I assigned myself some homework; reread The Tempest, the Shakespearean play that Hag-Seed retells. And reading it definitely felt like homework. But I’m so glad that I read it, because there was a richness to Hag-Seed that I would have missed without the play fresh in my mind. Do you have to read The Tempest to enjoy Hag-Seed? Nope! There’s a short summary of the play in the back of Atwood’s book, for anyone who isn’t familiar.

So, what did I think of Hag-Seed? I adored it. Five-star reviews are usually reserved for my favorites, books that I will read again and again, but I can’t find enough fault with this book to bump it down to four stars. I was hesitant about it when I picked it up and figured that, if I did enjoy the book, it would be in the same way that I enjoy a classic or a popular novel. That I would (hopefully) like it and feel that I had checked something off of a to-do list. But I should have had more faith in Atwood. Hag-Seed was fabulous! The Tempest is a play-within-a-play, and Hag-Seed added another layer of “within-a-play” to that. Felix was pitiable in the opening chapters of the book, but he wasn’t likable. At all. His growth throughout the story was wonderful to follow. Hag-Seed was deep, and moving, and funny. And that's all I'll say, so as not to spoil it for anyone. I was immensely entertained, and I highly recommend it!

Laura Dobie

Darkly comic, and very touching in places. A masterpiece.

I liked this a lot! I haven't read The Tempest yet so I'm not sure how it compares to the original, but the story was really good. I liked the idea of a character in the story possibly emulating a character in the play.


I really liked the fact that it took a look at prison programs as well. It is always nice to see someone highlight those in literature.

Laura

Prior to this book, I've never read anything by Margaret Atwood. Actually, that's not entirely true; I do really like her poem They Eat Out- there's a musical quality about it that I enjoy, even if the message behind it is fairly obvious if you've ever heard of her. But I've never read The Handmaid's Tale, nor any other novel by her simply because feminist lit just isn't my thing, and that particular book has always struck me as, well, reactionary isn't the right word but kind of like Atwood decided the best way to destroy an ant hill was to break out the blowtorch and gasoline. But I digress. 

I decided to read Hag-Seed though because I always wanted to read something by her, if for no other reason than she's a famous modern day literary icon whose name is known by basically anyone involved in literature. Even though it was both a retelling and Shakespeare, two things I am not as crazy about as a lot of people are. While I have no excuses nor regrets about not really liking retellings, Shakespeare is a point of shame with me and I do fully intend on reading Shakespeare voluntarily someday, but that day just hasn't come yet. Still, this was the least likely of her books to be filled with tired ideology, so I was willing to give it a go, and decided to keep an open mind and not go in with any expectations about her writing or the story.

One thing I noticed is that Atwood lacks subtlety. The connections between The Tempest and Felix's life were always fairly obvious, even without her explicitly pointing that out to us several times, and even to someone like me, who has just enough knowledge of the play itself to be able to understand references to it and make them myself, thank you TS Eliot. And even if you know nothing about the play, don't worry, this book basically tells you everything you need to know about it.

It's almost like Atwood just wanted to write about The Tempest, and then she remembered that she had to make it a retelling. Because a lot of this book is Felix teaching the inmates and putting the production on and not a lot is retelling. Which I liked, but it made the retelling parts feel like afterthoughts, and I had a hard time getting into the actual climax with Felix's revenge plot and Freddie and Sal and Tony and Anne-Marie because it was transparently obvious it was only in there to fill some requirement. 

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

Rebecca Harwood

tilly ✨

Benjamin Harlow

Our greatest literary innovator and beloved novelist has reimagined Shakespeare's final, great play of magic and illusion. Entertaining, gripping, emotionally rich and wise, Hag-Seed is an homage to a master, positioned for the fall celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death. "It's got a thunderstorm in it. And revenge. Definitely revenge." Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And brewing revenge. After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his motley crew of inmate actors will put on his Tempest, and snare the traitors who destroyed him. But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall? Margaret Atwood's novel take on Shakespeare's play of enchantment, revenge and second chances leads us on an illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own.

Jacob Atchison

Steinunn

annette 

Rhonda Roy

Manoli Macarounas

Hannah Swithinbank

Gabby Holt

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The beloved author of The Handmaid’s Tale reimagines Shakespeare’s final, great play, The Tempest, in a gripping and emotionally rich novel of passion and revenge. “A marvel of gorgeous yet economical prose, in the service of a story that’s utterly heartbreaking yet pierced by humor, with a plot that retains considerable subtlety even as the original’s back story falls neatly into place.”—The New York Times Book Review Felix is at the top of his game as artistic director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. Now he’s staging aTempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, but it will also heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge, which, after twelve years, arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own. Praise for Hag-Seed “What makes the book thrilling, and hugely pleasurable, is how closely Atwood hews to Shakespeare even as she casts her own potent charms, rap-composition included. . . . Part Shakespeare, part Atwood, Hag-Seed is a most delicate monster—and that’s ‘delicate’ in the 17th-century sense. It’s delightful.”—Boston Globe “Atwood has designed an ingenious doubling of the plot of The Tempest: Felix, the usurped director, finds himself cast by circumstances as a real-life version of Prospero, the usurped Duke. If you know the play well, these echoes grow stronger when Felix decides to exact his revenge by conjuring up a new version of The Tempest designed to overwhelm his enemies.”—Washington Post “A funny and heartwarming tale of revenge and redemption . . . Hag-Seed is a remarkable contribution to the canon.”—Bustle

The Tempest

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