Having ordered an audiobook of this title, I found it difficult to follow without a copy of the book in hand. Once I got a copy, it made far more sense, while the chapters were read aloud to me. Essentially, this is a summation of William Shakespeare's plays and poetry, told in the order in which historians believe they were penned.
Each chapter is one play. There's a synopsis of the plot, the themes of the play, some of the most famous lines found in the play, character lists, and settings. The author shows a timeline of the scenes. There are also photos of noted performances and movies. The idea is to make the plays of Shakespeare more accessible to someone not familiar with aspects of the Bard's plays.
As a text (not an audiobook), this would be a great reference. As an audiobook, I found this to be just about worthless. The truth of the matter is that some information can best be delivered in text form and this is one of them. I am not a rabid bibliophile, dedicated to the printed word. I read over half of my books on a Kindle-type platform. This information simply isn't conveyed easily in audio form.
The narrator has an engaging style; I found no fault with him. Shakespeare has a large body of work and this volume also discussed his sonnets. The thing I gleaned from this book was that Shakespeare was a wildly talented bard with wide-ranging interests and skills. His comprehensive understanding of history is truly amazing. He wrote plays so rapidly that he must have thought in blank verse!
Each chapter is one play. There's a synopsis of the plot, the themes of the play, some of the most famous lines found in the play, character lists, and settings. The author shows a timeline of the scenes. There are also photos of noted performances and movies. The idea is to make the plays of Shakespeare more accessible to someone not familiar with aspects of the Bard's plays.
As a text (not an audiobook), this would be a great reference. As an audiobook, I found this to be just about worthless. The truth of the matter is that some information can best be delivered in text form and this is one of them. I am not a rabid bibliophile, dedicated to the printed word. I read over half of my books on a Kindle-type platform. This information simply isn't conveyed easily in audio form.
The narrator has an engaging style; I found no fault with him. Shakespeare has a large body of work and this volume also discussed his sonnets. The thing I gleaned from this book was that Shakespeare was a wildly talented bard with wide-ranging interests and skills. His comprehensive understanding of history is truly amazing. He wrote plays so rapidly that he must have thought in blank verse!
