The latest book that I finished is called Hamlet’s Dresser by Bob Smith.

I found this book in a Little Free Library.

Any book with a reference to Shakespeare- I have to pick up!

(Read this post to find out my Shakespeare connection!)

And since this one had good reviews on the cover…well, I brought it home.

It turns out to be memoir of a person who reads Shakespeare to people who are in retirement homes. He shares his love for Shakespeare’s work with the older generation, and that time in their week is one of joy and connection that they look forward to with eagerness.

But this is just a small part of what this book is about.

This memoir is the narrative of Bob Smith’s life intertwined with passages from the various plays of Shakespeare. The situations and feelings of characters that Shakespeare has created for his characters adapt beautifully to the various life situations that that author faces over the years of his difficult childhood, and his exciting but hard adolescence and early adulthood. A story of resilient living…

Once he finds Shakespeare in a library where he spends his time as a child, he looks for ways to stay connected in some manner or the other.

The author reads the plays at school hiding the book inside his textbook. He finds a job as a dresser at the summer production of Hamlet in his town of Stratford, New York. He then travels with a Shakespeare production throughout US being an assistant to a major actor.

All of this ties his life closely to that of show business focused on works of Shakespeare.

He finds great meaning and comfort in the words and stories of the various characters throughout the hardships of life. He meets interesting people- actors and backstage crew of various Shakespeare productions, including stars like Katherine Hepburn. All this while he is trying to avoid his home of a difficult childhood come to haunt him- living with a sister who has major physical and mental disabilities, mother who is loving but lost, and a disconnected father.

The language of this book is rich…

As any narrative connected to Shakespeare’s work must be!

The author creates great depths with his words and the melancholy feel of the narrative, so that reading this book feels like a great experience.

I found it a slow read to start with and would only get through a chapter at a time during the week when life was busy. But when I picked up the book on the weekend past, with a bigger chunk of time on my hands, I really got into the book and found it hard to put down!

The string of melancholy that weaves itself throughout the whole narrative- whether from the author’s time in the past of childhood and youth, or the time of his meeting his audience at the retirement homes- ties the whole book together for me, and keeps the feel of the book consistent. 

The two themes of this book are love for Shakespeare’s words and the heartbreaking love that the author  has for his sister over the years…love is what this book is really about.

Any fan of William Shakespeare, and good writing that makes one stop and examine oneself through the mirror of life of another human, would appreciate this book.

I am glad I picked up this book.

When I put it back in the Little Free Library, I hope it finds another reader who would gain from it’s richness and stop to breathe in the melancholy of Bob Smith who has given us this vulnerable view into his life made rich, and possibly saved, by the works of William Shakespeare.