4 Stars
Elegant and very clever.
Hag-Seed is a retelling of The Tempest. Atwood takes the premise and overlays a modern tale.The setting, the characters, the plot all take their inspiration from Shakespeare. Issues of imprisonment and vengeance are paramount as this story within a story within a story unfolds. Very clever.
This room has two doors, one at the front and one at the back. It has no windows. It smells faintly of salt and unwashed feet. This is the extent of it, Felix muses. My island domain. My place of exile. My penance. My theater.
While the overlay might seem obvious at first, and it is, The Tempest production set within a real prison, the details are what makes this shine. In particular, the piece that easily catapulted this to 4 star territory, advancing it beyond a mere retelling, is the sublime elegance of the acting teams' post-production wrap ups. The prisoners' summaries and how their lives and criminal history affect their interpretations is simply superb.
This is a book that I came to with no expectations and leave impressed. It is also one I can see revisiting in the future for I feel that there are aspects to it that I might not have appreciated fully in one reading. Therefore, my rating of 4 stars is solid with room for an upgrade at a later date.
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