Hamlet Is Not Okay by R.A. Spratt

Title: Hamlet Is Not Okay

Author: R.A. Spratt

Genre: Fiction, Time Travel

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 4^th July 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 224

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: Funny, shocking and brilliant: from bestselling author R. A. Spratt, a whip-smart take on Shakespearean moral dilemmas

Selby hates homework.

She would rather watch TV – anything to escape the tedium of school, her parents’ bookshop, and small-town busybodies.

So Selby didn’t plan to read Hamlet. She certainly never planned to meet him.

This novel transports Selby, and the reader, into the cold and crime-ridden play itself. Here she meets Hamlet: heavy with grief, the young prince is overthinking and over everything. Selby can relate. But unlike Hamlet, Selby isn’t afraid of making decisions. In her world, Selby is used to feeling overlooked. But in the bloody, backstabbing world of Shakespeare, Selby’s good conscience and quiet courage might just save some lives . . . hopefully before Hamlet stabs one of her classmates.

~*~

Fifteen-year-old Selby is in year ten and hates school and doesn’t really like reading. Her parents own a bookshop, her siblings are at prestigious universities, and they’ve all studied literature in some way and they all love reading. So Selby doesn’t really fit in – but she’s never found reading easy, and this is a source of disappointment for her parents. When she starts studying Shakespeare in English and her family finds out she hasn’t been doing her homework, she gets a tutor. Dan is her brother’s friend, and like her, he’s stuck in their small town. Unlike her, he loves to read, loves books, and wishes he could do more. But then they start reading Hamlet. As Shelby reads, her and Dan are pulled into medieval Denmark, and they meet Hamlet and Ophelia, and watch as Hamlet’s mental health is unravelling as he seeks to avenge his father’s death and prove that his uncle is guilty. Hamlet’s lengthy soliloquies show he cannot make a decision – Selby can see that. And she’s not afraid to make decisions, and she is used to being overlooked by everyone.  

But now that Selby and Dan have been sucked into the play, not only do they need to find a way back to her family’s bookshop, but also help Hamlet and Ophelia grapple with mental health, ongoing stabbings – both metaphorical and physical, and abuse of power in a world where modern world sensibilities and understandings are foreign and not really seen as having a place there. But then Hamlet follows Selby and Dan back home … can they get him back before Hamlet stabs Selby’s classmates?

R.A. Spratt’s new novel celebrates reading, a love of words, and the impact Shakespeare has had on literature and English whilst also acknowledging the struggles some people, like Selby, have when it comes to reading. All of this is given equal attention, as we experience Dan’s love for reading and learning, and Selby’s reticence – and slowly, come to understand why. She’s allowed to be like this, to be visibly as she is and I liked that Dan did his best to understand her and help her in any way he could whilst her family didn’t seem to understand or perhaps they didn’t want to understand. This was a novel where everybody had valid views and ways of understanding the world, even if the way they went about what they did with those understandings didn’t make sense or fit in with certain ways of seeing the world. The blending of the twenty-first century and medieval Denmark through Hamlet, Dan, and Selby was amusing and worked well to give a sense of story and place, and the different approaches to mental health and interests, as well as diversity and how the roles of different races and genders were represented in Hamlet compared to today’s world – and Selby isn’t afraid to make her feelings about this known. I liked this about her – she was brave and spunky and her best qualities were her moral compass and ability to understand people.

One of my favourite moments happened when Dan and Selby were talking about what murderers look like – Selby, who has watched a lot of television, says that murderers don’t look regal – they have unwashed hair, dirty clothes, and drive around in panel vans. I giggled at this because it is a well-known trope and the story thrives on the tropes and sayings that Shakespeare’s plays have influenced, and where Shakespeare got his influences from, and how plays work as a storytelling device – where the words and actions have to work together and in some instances, it can be the exaggerated or obvious actions that tell people what they need to know. It also showed that whilst Shakespeare can be read – and many of us have at school, university, or in other instances, it is something that is best understood when you see the play live. Because the way the actors interact with each other, the script, and the stage directions brings a richness to the story that is not always there on the page.

Books like this are a joy to read, because they acknowledge mental health issues, celebrate words, and acknowledge the difficulties some have with reading and make this all okay and show that everyone faces life differently and has different challenges. In doing so, R.A. Spratt has shown that life throws different things at everyone, and everyone manages to get through life in their own way, even if they need a bit of help at times for a range of issues and difficulties. I also liked Selby’s honesty throughout and how her confidence to tell her parents that reading wasn’t easy for her and never had been grew as she worked with Dan and a stabby-obsessed Hamlet determined to wreak revenge on those who have harmed him and his family. And most importantly, the book shows that friendship is one of the most important things, and that we can become friends with anyone, as Selby and Dan are. They bond over a unique experience that nobody else they know has had or can understand. Hamlet Is  Not Okay also introduces kids to Shakespeare, and shows them that it can be interesting and full of a wondrous world of language that has been around for over four hundred years. It also shows readers the impact that authors like Shakespeare and plays like Hamlet have had on all areas of our world – from language to literature, to understanding humanity, and the role of mental health and psychoanalysis as Dan explains to Shelby how far-reaching the influence of Shakespeare and his plays have been on our world. Contemporary movies like The Lion King were influenced by Hamlet, as an example. And this shows readers of all ages just how important older literature can be, and how it and its various interpretations and retellings can enhance our understanding of story and being human. They are more than words on the page – especially, if like Shelby, you fall through a portal right into the play! I loved this retelling of Hamlet and that it has made Shakespeare accessible to new readers. A great book!