Ophelia – Lisa Klein
Allen & Unwin Bloomsbury, 2007
325 pages
RRP: AU$15.95
ISBN: 9780747587330

Reviewed by Kate Williams

If you have ever studied, read or seen Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and, let’s face it, few of us have escaped unscathed then Lisa Klein’s Ophelia will provide at least an entertaining read littered with familiar characters and quotations. For those of us who always thought that Ophelia was given short shrift compared to the male characters in the play then this book is even more satisfying.

In Ophelia Klein takes the idea that the character of Ophelia was in fact feigning her madness as much as Hamlet and even goes so far as to fake her own death to escape the corrupt court of Elsinore. The Ophelia of this novel lives to tell her tale in three parts beginning with her impoverished youth, then her rise in favour and the intrigue of the court and finally the life she finds after she flees Elsinore.

The plot provides an interesting retelling of a familiar story and, as it is written for young adults, it is generally well paced. The first two parts work well, especially the second as Klein has managed to work in many quotes directly from the play without making the story sound stilted or archaic. The third part is less convincing as its plot has no grounding in the play and it strives a little too hard for a happy ending to what is really a tragic story.

The most satisfying aspect of this novel is the characterisation of Ophelia. Klein has created a young woman adolescents can relate to. She is intelligent, witty, curious and idealistic. She experiences love, loss and rejection. Klein manages to create a young feminist in this character without losing the historical feel of the novel. Ophelia share hopes, dreams and fears with the reader, which are universal to young people thus bridging the gap between Renaissance Denmark and the 21^st Century.

Ophelia is a plausible and well written reinterpretation of Hamlet, which, although a little predictable at times, offers some original insight into an often dismissed character. Finally Ophelia manages to have her time “i’ the sun”.