William Shakespeare's The Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh (William Shakespeare's Star Wars)

by Ian Doescher | Plays & Scripts |
ISBN: 159474985X Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 12/1/2017
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Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, December 1, 2017
I enjoyed The Phantom of Menace very much, and wanted more of Doescher's Shakespearian-style retellings of the "Star Wars" movies. Got this one, based on "The Force Awakens", from Barnes and Noble.

As with other books in the series, this one does a deft re-telling of the entire movie in Shakespearian prose and verse, with some delightful shout-outs to in-story issues as well as to fan-based quips and peeves. The author explains some of this in an afterword, such as the choice to give the three main villains opportunities to spout their thoughts in the form of villanelles (a tricky and eerie poetic form that I was pleased to spot). The bleeps and bloops of BB-8 are, apparently, a decipherable code, so those who like cryptography can find out what he's actually saying. And Chewbacca, whose dialogue consists of bellowed "Ergh"s and such, gets extensive translation in footnotes - where, apparently, a single howl translates into a page-long and quite beautiful ode to a fallen friend...

Among my favorite bits: the standard "those two guys talking" sequence, which appears in each book. Here, it's two stormtroopers, comparing the events of the current situation with those recalled by the older one, who was present for the events of "A New Hope". The entire speech consists of them insisting on how different the current situation is - while calling out every single similarity, from the moody guy in black to the use of Jedi mind tricks. (Turns out the older trooper remembers being told that "those were not the droids he was looking for"!)

There's humor here, of course, including variations on Shakespeare's lines ("What fight through yonder window breaks?"), but also some very moving speeches: key among them, Leia and Han reuniting, worrying over their son, hoping and fearing for the future... Han even gets to speak a variation of the St. Crispin's Day speech when rallying the rebels to go after the Starkiller base!

Another enjoyable and well-crafted entry in this series. I look forward to Doescher's version of "The Last Jedi"! [Update: And here it is: Jedi the Last!]

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Little Free Library, 65 Main St. in Wilton, New Hampshire USA on Friday, December 29, 2017

Released 6 yrs ago (12/30/2017 UTC) at Little Free Library, 65 Main St. in Wilton, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book in the charming Little Free Library (decorated for the season!) on this chilly day; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2017 What's in a Name release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2017 D for December release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2017 Movie release challenge. ***

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