Book Review: The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet

Not my image

I have been wanting to read this book for quite a while, but someone keeps checking out of the library before I can get my hands on it. I am happy to say that it was worth the wait, while it wasn't the absolute best book I've ever read, it was definitely good.

Synopsis: Hamlet Kennedy is just starting eighth grade, she's excited that this year she'll be able to blend in and just go by unnoticed. That is, until her parents, Shakespeare fanatics through and through who wear 17th century clothing on a daily basis, tell Hamlet that her younger sister, Desdemona is going to join the school. Dezzie is a genius, she is only seven years old but she's taking college classes, the only problem is that she doesn't have any credit for the arts so the college won't take her full time. When she joined the middle school, only for the morning by the way, she becomes 'friends' with two girls who are the mean girls. She doesn't really see this, but Hamlet does and she doesn't want her sister to get hurt. In addition to that, Hamlet also has the problems of Pre-Al, a Shakespeare term project and a best friend who like likes her! But maybe Hamlet's story won't turn out to be a total tragedy.

Good things: The story is written in the first person, so we get to see a lot of what Hamlet is thinking, and we realize pretty soon that Hamlet almost never fights with Dezzie. She also is very sweet to her friends and looks out for her sister. *SPOILER ALERT!* Hamlet is ashamed of her parents at first for being to weird, but then she starts to embrace it.*END OF SPOILER!*


Bad things: Not much, I thought that there was going to be a lot of language, but there wasn't anything too bad other than "jerk" and stuff like that. Dezzie and Hamlet fight and the two mean girls are trying to cheat off of Dezzie. *SPOILER* Dezzie and Hamlet conjure up an embarrassing plan to reveal the two girls cheating. *END OF SPOILER* As I mention before, Hamlet is extremely embarrassed by her parents.

Notes on the writing: I liked it a lot, there were things that made it seems sort of like a diary, such as adding 'Grrr' to sentences. Some of them seemed a little bit choppy, but overall I think it was really good. I liked how certain scenes were showed like it was a script for a play, and how the parts are called "acts".

Other things: General middle school crushes and Hamlet gets a kiss on the cheek.

Rating: ****(4) out of *****(5) stars.
Age group: I think probably ten or eleven and up
Should you read it?: I think you should give it a shot.