APRIL 2021 - AudioFile
This unique audio anthology shakes up 15 of Shakespeare’s classics with contemporary spins. Familiar characters are recast as queer or people of color, familiar plot lines frequently shift genres, and some stories even play around with different formats, using text messages or oral histories. Each story is voiced by one or several narrators who match the gender expression of the main protagonist, giving the audiobook a robust collection of distinct performances. Every tragedy, romance, and comedy is narrated with the ideal amount of enthusiasm, high energy, or relaxed pacing and allows listeners to savor each shortened interpretation. A delightful listen for Shakespeare fans looking for a more contemporary approach. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
03/15/2021
Thoughtfully curated by Adler (His Hideous Heart), this sumptuous anthology reframes Shakespeare’s work, linking themes to contemporary concerns while bringing a critical eye to the originals’ cultural assumptions. Anna-Marie McLemore’s “King of the Fairies” refocuses A Midsummer Night’s Dream to reveal the experience of the brown-skinned changeling at the center of Titania and Oberon’s quarrel. Adler’s “I Bleed” transposes The Merchant of Venice into the tale of a Jewish high schooler forced to deal with a menacing white supremacist classmate. Other pieces set in contemporary U.S. high schools include “We Fail,” Samantha Mabry’s haunting, Macbeth-inspired tale of football rivalry in small-town Texas, and Kiersten White’s “Partying Is Such Sweet Sorrow,” which conveys Romeo and Juliet solely through text messages. Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy’s “Some Other Metal” follows two bickering members of a space-hopping acting troupe, who sort out their feelings while performing in Much Ado About Nothing. Riffing on the names of Coriolanus and real-life rapper Tory Lanez, Tochi Onyebuchi assembles “The Tragedy of Cory Lanez” in a music magazine multi-person interview. With its range of narrative styles and diverse protagonists, this collection offers much to savor. Ages 12–up. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
“From comedy to tragedy to sonnet, from texts to storms to prom, this collection is a knockout.” —BuzzFeed.com
“Thoughtfully curated, this sumptuous anthology reframes Shakespeare’s work, linking themes to contemporary concerns while bringing a critical eye to the originals’ cultural assumptions. With its range of narrative styles and diverse protagonists, this collection offers much to savor.” —Publishers Weekly
“That Way Madness Lies is a must-read for theater kids ready to consider their favorite comedies and tragedies in a new way, as well as Shakespeare skeptics.” —Booklist
“The stories stand capably on their own merits but will be enriched by familiarity with—or better yet, reading alongside—Shakespeare’s original plays and sonnets. Budding writers may even be inspired to put their own spins on the Bard of Avon’s timeless tales.” —BookPage
“Queer and diverse, this Shakespeare anthology takes 15 of the Bard’s most iconic works and builds an eclectic collection that successfully subverts the original white heteronormative canon. Built-in curriculum potential and excellent representation mean school libraries in particular will find this anthology a worthy purchase.” —School Library Journal
“Ranging from grim and gritty to starry-eyed and futuristic, these 15 stories retell the Bard’s works as they’ve rarely been presented before. A radical reimagining and avant-garde interpretation of Shakespeare.” —Kirkus Reviews
“That Way Madness Lies is a stunning collection of laughs, heartbreak, and beauty. The authors and the source material shine in this book.” —PaperbackParis.com
“That Way Madness Lies is a spectacular, spell-binding Shakespearean collection that you will fall deeply in love with...Each tale is a gem in the glittering crown of this anthology, which is one of the best anthologies I’ve ever read.” —TheNerdDaily.com
Praise for HIS HIDEOUS HEART
“Adler’s anthology brims over with fierce delight and uncanny invention; the stories here vary in their effect nearly as much as Poe’s do. If you haven’t read Poe before, His Hideous Heart works equally well as an introduction, a tribute and a loving critique.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Presenting 13 reinterpretations of Poe’s works alongside the originals, this enticing anthology offers an accessible, multifaceted reading experience for fans old and new.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A genre-bending collection of 13 twists on Edgar Allan Poe’s works does Poe proud with this creepy and atmospheric set of stories inspired by a handful of his most well-known works. Diversity in race, gender identity, and sexuality is well-represented. Poe’s ghost happily haunts this fresh, delightfully dark collection.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“While we love Edgar Allan Poe—the original sadboi and Halloween’s unofficial literary mascot—we have to admit that his 150-year-old stories could use a 2019-worthy glow-up. The YA story collection His Hideous Heart takes that challenge and runs with it. Each of the anthology’s contributors revamp or totally reinvent 13 of Poe’s best-known stories and poems, imbuing most of them with a much-needed dose of feminism, LGBTQ representation, and racial diversity.” —HelloGiggles.com
School Library Journal
03/01/2021
Gr 9 Up—Queer and diverse, this Shakespeare anthology takes 15 of the Bard's most iconic works and builds an eclectic collection that successfully subverts the original white heteronormative canon. The anthology juggles an array of voices and genres, with several standouts stealing the show: K. Ancrum's banter and soul-searching in "Taming of a Soul Mate," Kiersten White's text message reincarnation of Romeo and Juliet in "Partying is Such Sweet Sorrow," and the fairy-tale yearning Melissa Bashardoust imbues in her The Winter's Tale retelling "Lost Girl." Not every entry will appeal to all readers, but Adler curates a wide-ranging collection in which there is something for everyone. Each author takes on a different style and tone, from the deeply poetic prose of Brittany Cavallaro's "His Invention" (Sonnet 147) to the bare-bones script formatting of Joy McCollough's "Out of the Storm" (King Lear). Some stories feel unfinished, with rushed beginnings or too-open ends, which forces readers familiar with the source material to surmise the missing pieces. Not every tale adheres to the Bard's work, but for all their differences, each selection features themes of identity and community, tying the stories together and highlighting the Bard's idiosyncrasies. The authors often change the race, gender, and sexual orientation of characters in their stories, creating diverse and nuanced worlds reflective of real society. VERDICT Built-in curriculum potential and excellent representation mean school libraries in particular will find this anthology a worthy purchase.—Emmy Neal, Lake Forest Lib., IL
APRIL 2021 - AudioFile
This unique audio anthology shakes up 15 of Shakespeare’s classics with contemporary spins. Familiar characters are recast as queer or people of color, familiar plot lines frequently shift genres, and some stories even play around with different formats, using text messages or oral histories. Each story is voiced by one or several narrators who match the gender expression of the main protagonist, giving the audiobook a robust collection of distinct performances. Every tragedy, romance, and comedy is narrated with the ideal amount of enthusiasm, high energy, or relaxed pacing and allows listeners to savor each shortened interpretation. A delightful listen for Shakespeare fans looking for a more contemporary approach. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-01-12
Ranging from grim and gritty to starry-eyed and futuristic, these 15 stories retell the Bard’s works as they’ve rarely been presented before.
As noted by editor Adler, these tales—by a range of noted YA authors including Adler, Amy Rose Capetta, Cory McCarthy, Kiersten White, Tochi Onyebuchi, Samantha Mabry, and others—are designed to subvert the lack of diversity in the canon. While the plots mostly adhere to predetermined arcs, the characters and settings diverge wildly, with most protagonists recast as LGBTQ+ and people of color. Some authors play with format—retelling Romeo and Juliet through text messages—while others blend genres—Hamlet leans on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Much Ado About Nothing goes SF. While the major comedies and tragedies appear, lesser-known and less-performed works like Coriolanus and problematic plays like TheTaming of the Shrew and TheMerchant of Venice—which can be uncomfortable to modern audiences—also get a shot at the spotlight. Although all are engaging, some of the stories feel incomplete; with the first acts and finales left unexplained, readers must interpolate from the source material; this volume will be best appreciated alongside the originals. Still, many of the comedies abound with energy and enthusiasm and the tragedies with current-day woes. These tales aim to and succeed at introducing brave new worlds and creating spaces for those previously omitted, maligned, or silenced in Shakespeare’s works.
A radical reimagining and avant-garde interpretation of Shakespeare. (about the authors, about Shakespeare) (Anthology. 14-18)
