John Updike’s Gertrude & Claudius, 2000, about sixty-five thousands words in three parts spanning 210 pages.
Here is a short review I shared with a couple of friends some years ago:
Gertrude & Claudius - A novel by John Updike
I was looking for books by Barry Unsworth in [a bookshop] and saw this book (Updike coming right after Unsworth), from the praise on the cover, e.g. “chosen by the New York Times as One of the Ten Best Books of the Year”, and what I could gather to be the story: I made an impulse decision and bought it.
The book tells the story of Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, how she was brought up and married to King Hamlet and her relation with his brother, Claudius. The book is divided into three parts, each covering a certain span of time and events. The novelty of this book is that each part uses a different style, even different names for the characters and places.
I really liked this book. It’s not long, about 200 pages, and except for the first part is really an easy read. If you are a Shakespeare fan, you’ll like this book as it tells the background story to Hamlet and somewhat explains the action of the principles (an explanation with which I do not 100% agree).
**** (out of five)
The first part of the book takes place in about 1000 AD with the names and the setting reflecting that. The second part takes place in about 1300 AD, the last part in 1600 AD using the same names as Shakespeare and reflecting a Tudor setting.
The stylistic journey reflects the story’s own journey from a Danish story that probably started (or took place) in 1000 AD and ending with the famous play.
Hamlet himself only appears at the end of the novel and the lines he speaks are lifted right out of the play. A basic knowledge of the play’s plot is needed; otherwise the ending will be somewhat abrupt and anti-climatic.
The reason I say that I don’t agree with explanation because I had read a weird analysis of Hamlet sometime before reading the novel and that was on my mind at the time.
Despite the high marks I gave this book, I knew that John Updike is not the writer for me and hasn’t bought another book by him since.
