Ugh. I hate to rate such a lyrically written book with two stars, but it really was "just ok." For a love story about famous Shakespearean lovers, the book is really lacking in passion. (Though not in sex scenes, which are also pretty dull.) I agree with reviewers who say Updike's characterizations are superficial. King Hamlet is predictably egotistical and sexually underwhelming, Claudius is his hot younger brother, Ophelia is, well, Ophelia. I prefer the mystery and possible deviousness of Shakespeare's, or even Branaugh's Gertrude to Updike's; here her motives are so straightforward as to be completely boring. And Updike LOVES to hate on Hamlet, and argues in the afterword that everything would have been fine for Claudius (yes, the murderer) and his court if that jerk Hamlet hadn't led them all to death. Um, no. This frustrates me for a bunch of reasons, not least of all because one of Updike's most successful themes involves the sort of chain reaction that happens when the various Kings in the story selfishly treat people like pawns, or accessories. (See King Hamlet -> Claudius -> Prince Hamlet.) Spoiler alert: this tends not to work out so well. Sorry, Claudius. You're still doomed, and I'm still not sorry.