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So, in his infinite wisdom, Orson Scott Card decided to rewrite Hamlet. As one might expect, this did not turn out very well, as detailed in this review.
It's not just a terrible book, though, it's also disgustingly bigoted. Unfortunately, this is also not surprise to those who have followed the author's career. Now, like the review, I'm going to spoil the big plot twist OSC decided to add to Hamlet. You'll be glad I did.
The reviewer, William Alexander, explains:
The extent of the novella's failure is surprising—and embarrassing, given that Card is a skilled veteran novelist and Subterranean a well-respected press. The most polite thing for us to do would be to walk away and quietly forget the whole painful exercise. But Card does not deserve our polite amnesia. His failures should be known and remembered, because the revelation in his "revelatory new version" turns out to be a nightmare of vitriolic homophobia.
Here's the punch line: Old King Hamlet was an inadequate king because he was gay, an evil person because he was gay, and, ultimately, a demonic and ghostly father of lies who convinces young Hamlet to exact imaginary revenge on innocent people. The old king was actually murdered by Horatio, in revenge for molesting him as a young boy—along with Laertes, and Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, thereby turning all of them gay."
Oh, Orson Scott Card. How did this happen to the guy who wrote Ender's Game? I know being a good writer is no defense against being a homophobic bigot, but I thought it might prevent someone from catastrophically MISSING THE POINT OF HAMLET.
And people wonder why I refused to read OSC's Dragon Age comic series despite being completely obsessed with the universe.
It's not just a terrible book, though, it's also disgustingly bigoted. Unfortunately, this is also not surprise to those who have followed the author's career. Now, like the review, I'm going to spoil the big plot twist OSC decided to add to Hamlet. You'll be glad I did.
The reviewer, William Alexander, explains:
The extent of the novella's failure is surprising—and embarrassing, given that Card is a skilled veteran novelist and Subterranean a well-respected press. The most polite thing for us to do would be to walk away and quietly forget the whole painful exercise. But Card does not deserve our polite amnesia. His failures should be known and remembered, because the revelation in his "revelatory new version" turns out to be a nightmare of vitriolic homophobia.
Here's the punch line: Old King Hamlet was an inadequate king because he was gay, an evil person because he was gay, and, ultimately, a demonic and ghostly father of lies who convinces young Hamlet to exact imaginary revenge on innocent people. The old king was actually murdered by Horatio, in revenge for molesting him as a young boy—along with Laertes, and Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, thereby turning all of them gay."
Oh, Orson Scott Card. How did this happen to the guy who wrote Ender's Game? I know being a good writer is no defense against being a homophobic bigot, but I thought it might prevent someone from catastrophically MISSING THE POINT OF HAMLET.
And people wonder why I refused to read OSC's Dragon Age comic series despite being completely obsessed with the universe.