Enter the Body

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Average customer rating 3.2 (4 comments)

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3.5 stars Enter the Body focuses on Ophelia, Juliet, Cordelia, and Lavinia as they meet beneath the stage following their deaths in their respective plays. While Lavinia remains silenced, Ophelia, Juliet, and Cordelia take turns retelling Shakespeare's stories from their own perspective, then, in part three, rewriting their stories. The novel is written primarily in verse with sections of prose that serve to set the scenes and conversations between characters in script format. Each of the three main characters who got a speaking part had a strong and distinct voice, both in the style of their poetry and the different ways they chose to take ownership of their story. I appreciated that changing the narrative for these girls did not always mean giving themselves a simple, happy ending. Their stories could do them more justice and give them what they needed while still remaining tragedies. I enjoyed the poetry and the ambiance developed in the prose, however, I was less impressed with the script sections. The conversations between characters laid out the author's views and message in a very on-the-nose way and often felt more like a lesson for the audience than an organic conversation between the characters. I felt a little talked down by some of it, like the reader could not be expected to think about these ideas on their own.

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Enclosed in a room beneath a stage by a trapdoor, teenage girls from Shakespeare’s works tell their stories in their own words. ENTER THE BODY uses an interesting format which caught my attention and was what initially made me pick up the book. Narration alternates between the characters with each girl having a different style of poetry used to highlight her story. Dialogue between the characters is written as a play. I really enjoyed the girls telling their stories and though it’s been a very long time since I’ve read Shakespeare, I followed along quite well. Where the book began to fall apart for me was with the dialogue. Much of it consisted of bickering between characters which became rather annoying and I found myself rushing to get past it as it detracted from my overall enjoyment. Nonetheless, I’m glad that I read ENTER THE BODY. It gives an opportunity to think about Shakespeare’s female characters in a different way and also consider the consequences of one’s voice being stifled.

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Artful reworkings of the Bard of Avon’s works are always welcome to the literati who adore English plays. Four hundred years after his birth and Shakespearean performances continue to exert a powerful influence. Ms. McCullough has decided to look at the beleaguered heroines of some of Shakespeare’s plays. While I was interested in hearing Juliet, Ophelia and Cordelia argue in their unique voices about their lives and what they think their endings should have been, I was a bit put out by her omissions. We know Desdemona’s there but she never speaks. Goneril and Regan are referenced often by their younger sister and they are present as well, hidden in the shadows. But they never come forward to tell what their version of Lear’s story are. Why do we get Lavinia, the raped and maimed victim from one of Shakespeare’s earliest and most questionable plays? She can’t even speak yet she’s allowed her mute gesticulations and weird foot tapping. There is even a reference to Joan of Arc (and I admit I didn’t even realize she was in any of Shakespeare’s works). I would have liked seeing something from any of them rather than mute and ultimately murdered Lavinia. But Ms. McCullough made her choices and, imperfect as they are, the resultant work stands as an intriguing play in its own right.

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This was a very interesting take on Shakespeare and I liked the feminist explorations of some key female characters who didn’t get their due in their stories. I did find the first half of the book to be a bit slow for me, I liked the second half a lot better, but I didn’t love the dialogue pieces as much as the story by poetry. In the second half of the book Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia all get to retell their story with taking control and making some changers and that was super interesting. I liked Cordelia’s the most which was interesting since it was the story I knew least well overall. I don’t always like stories told in poetry, but I think Joy McCullough has a great poetic voice and I definitely thought it was the right way to tell these versions of these stories. Overall I gave this one 3.5 stars which I rounded up for the creative take on retelling some classic stories.