BOOK REVIEW: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Folger Library edition

This post may contain affiliate links -- making a purchase through these links is at no additional cost to you, but may earn a much appreciated commission for my blog. Thank you.

As part of the Shakespeare 2020 reading challenge (see THIS post for more info), I started off 2020 by reading Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.

Please note:

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

if you aren't familiar with the story line of Twelfth Night. 

I read Twelfth Night in high school, and frankly, I remember enjoying it a lot more. The play is one of Shakespeare's comedies and centers around deception and mistaken identities, as well as love triangles, with a bit of mischief thrown in. 

As one of my tutoring students put it, many of Shakespeare's plays -- especially the comedies -- start out and end with a lot of action and the middle is almost all explication and background. I found this particularly true of Twelfth Night. I loved the beginning and the ending, but the middle was just a slog. While I suppose some of the mischief and trickery involved was necessary to heighten the main comedic aspects of the love triangles set up earlier in the play, I found that these portions overshadowed the rest of the play and the main story: the separation of siblings who believe each other dead and the love triangles based on mistaken and disguised identities. 

I really wanted more at the end of the play -- more action surrounding the unmasking (of sorts) of Viola, more around the reunion with her brother, Sebastian, and more tension between Orsino and Olivia.

There are definitely comedic aspects to the play, but it really confirmed that I very much prefer Shakespeare's tragedies over his comedies. 

I am officially quite far behind in the reading plan for the challenge, but hope to eventually catch up. I started reading Henry VI, Part I last night, and I LOVE IT! This is my first time reading Henry VI, and I wish I'd picked it up sooner! 

A couple of notes about reading the plays of Shakespeare:

1. Although plays are meant to be watched, heard, read aloud, I find great enjoyment in reading them. There's quite a bit of controversy in one of the online reading groups I participate in with regard to reading plays in general. I love it.
2. I specifically chose to read the Folger Library editions of all of Shakespeare's work, unless I am unable to get my hands on a copy. While there are may editions available, I particularly like Folger's approach to the material. Each book starts with several explanatory sections, including a brief overview of the specific play in the book, and each also has a brief synopsis of each Act and Scene at the start of each part of the play. Additionally, on the left page, specific vocabulary and notes are listed by line to assist in understanding as you read. The right page contains the text as closely to the original as makes sense (the prefaces include notes about changes that may have been made to the texts and why).

What is your favorite work by Shakespeare? Is there a particular edition that you like over others? Drop a note and let me know!

BOOK REVIEW: The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani

Title: The Storyteller's Secret

Author: Sejal Badani

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Year published: 2018

ISBN: 9781542048279

Genre: contemporary fiction; cross-cultural and cross-generational fiction set in India and the United States

Pairs well with strong chai,

the laughter of children,

and a side of devoted friendship.

Wow.

That's the first word that comes to mind after finishing The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani. I just loved this book so much. I read it as an e-book via Amazon Prime Reading, but loved it so much that I'd like to buy a paperback copy. 

The Storyteller's Secret follows the path of a young woman in the United States, daughter of parents from India, who returns to her mother's childhood home in India after a third miscarriage. She is mired in the unfathomable loss and sadness, and with it the sadness and potential loss of her marriage. She escapes to India where she meets Ravi, the confidant and best friend of her grandmother -- a woman of strength and conviction who was trapped in tradition and had to make many hard choices. The story follows the main character, Jaya, as she learns the hard truths about her mother's childhood, her grandmother's sacrifices, and worlds of hurt. But, Jaya also learns the true value and meaning of friendship, love, sacrifice, and forgiveness throughout her journey.

The novel crosses cultures and generations. Although it starts in the United States, the book eventually is set primarily in India -- both modern day and colonial India under British rule. The reader is transported back and forth between the present and two generations past through dual storytelling. Jaya is telling her story and her experience as she flees a potentially broken marriage and three miscarriages, but she also hears the story of her grandmother, Amisha as told by her grandmother's best friend and servant, Ravi. Amisha's story is told in present tense, but because the author has taken great care with her story, it is quite easy to keep the timelines and stories clear. 

Jaya is young but brilliant and an incredible writer. However, her relationship with her mother is strained and she does not really understand why. When she flees her personal tragedies by traveling to India, she learns the tragic truth about her mother's childhood and a secret that led to her mother's own losses and fears. 

Ultimately, this is a story of homecoming for Jaya, Ravi, and Jaya's mother. 

The Storyteller's Secret is absolutely tied for my favorite book of my 2019 reading with Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I hope you will read and love both novels!

Find The Storyteller's Secret on Amazon HERE.

Find Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine on Amazon HERE.

I found The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani as a free e-book via Prime Reading, a membership perk of Amazon Prime. If you aren't a Prime member, you can get a free 30 day trial HERE. With Prime Reading (not to be confused with Kindle Unlimited), you may borrow up to 10 free e-books (the selection changes periodically) from the current selection. There are NO due dates as there would be with e-books from your library. Instead, you get to keep them until you return them (but if you have borrowed 10, you can't get another until you return one). As long as you haven't returned a book, you will also keep your access to the book even if it is no longer a Prime Reading offering!

***Links may be affiliate in nature. Purchases through these links may result in a small commission for me at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance!