Gr 8 Up-In this beautiful and powerful novelization of Shakespeare's play, Lester has kept the plot intact but made some other changes crucial to his purpose. He shifts the setting from Venice to England and, most significantly, makes Othello, Iago, and Iago's wife all definitively black. They share a three-way friendship that originated in their native Africa. It is important that Iago is black and thereby released from any racist intent; the author is then able to maintain the focus of the tragedy on the weaknesses of the human soul and on problems of perception versus reality. But through the enhanced character development afforded by the novel form, Lester has also explored problems of racial alienation. His prose is an incredibly skillful blend of his own words and Shakespeare's, both paraphrased and quoted directly, interwoven seamlessly into a narrative that transmutes the musical feeling of Shakespeare's language into modern English. This is a book to be enjoyed on its own but is sure to send many readers back to the original with a heightened understanding of and appreciation for it. This wonderful achievement is a must for all libraries.-Margaret Cole, Oceanside Library, NY
Some may wonder what Lester is up to here. A novelization of Shakespeare's "Othello"? Why not just read the play? But in his well-reasoned introduction, Lester tackles that subject head-on, and his answers should convince even purists that there's a place for this book. After all, it's common knowledge that Shakespeare took plots from other works, so Lester is only following the Bard's example. Moreover, Lester firmly states that his book is not a substitute for the play but, rather, a re-imagining of the story
Though he follows the original story line, Lester has made significant changes in the characterizations. Now Iago and Emilia (Emily in the play), like Othello, are black. Lester wanted race to be a more central theme of his novel, and by repositioning these characters, he brings a new and powerful dimension to that aspect of the story. In portraying Othello, Iago, and Emily as Africans who have come to England (the new setting) together, Lester gives them a mutual history that also adds psychological depth to his new conceptualization
Another goal of Lester's is to make his book a bridge to the play. Since Shakespeare's language can be an inhibiting factor for young people, this more modern rendering makes the story accessible. But Lester does not entirely remake Shakespeare's style. Sometimes Lester paraphrases; at other times, he uses exact wording, which is printed in boldface, a useful, if occasionally awkward device
There's only one problem with the book, and it's one that has played around the edges of Shakespeare's work as well. Othello's dramatic about-face concerning Desdemona, ending in her murder, comes with a quickness that will probably startle young readers. Despite the pyschological motivations Lester has tried to establish, Othello's haste to distrust does not seem to mesh with the image of the noble general that's been presented. Perhaps because of the intimacy a novel engenders, this jump seems more jarring here than it does in the play. On the whole, however, this is a fascinating effort. The story of "Othello", with its questions about perceptions, race, and the nature of love and friendship, will be a natural draw for young people, just as it has been for readers worldwide, for centuries.
