This was really excellent, one of Updike's later novels. If you're a fan of Shakespeare's play, and have read about some of the Bard's sources, you'll find this an interesting take on the source material. It's really a sort of "prequel" to Hamlet, a novel that fills in the sketchy backgrounds of Gertrude, Claudius, and Hamlet's father. Interestingly, Updike changes the names of the main characters in each of the three sections of the book, using the names as they appear in Saxo Grammaticus in the first section, the names from Belleforest in the second section, and the names from Shakespeare in the third. If you're not very familiar with the Shakespeare play, you may find this book pretty confusing. Even if you are familiar with Shakespeare's version of the story, if you haven't read about Shakespeare's sources, you may find it a bit confusing. Still, well worth reading for any fan of the play, I think.