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Dana (24 KP) rated Twelfth Night: Texts and Contexts in Books

Mar 23, 2018  
TN
Twelfth Night: Texts and Contexts
William Shakespeare | 2001
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am actually giving this play a 3.5 star review, not a 4 star review. This is the third or fourth time I have had to read this play; the second time for college alone. Oh, and this review may have spoilers to the plot of this play, so if by some chance you haven't read it yet and do not want to know any of the plot points, read at your own risk.

I used to absolutely love this play. It used to be one of my favorite Shakespearean comedies, but I think I've had to study it so many times that I'm getting tired of it.

The class that I am reading it for, my Approaches to Shakespeare class, is really fun. I feel like I am going to start liking the book more the more I study it in this class because we are not just reading it for plot. The first day we were studying it, we went line by line for the first scene and talked about the various possible meanings each word could have meant and that was so much fun to me!

Also, I love the title: Twelfth Night: Or What You Will. It makes Shakespeare seem like he's saying, "Twelfth Night: Or Whatever." I don't know why, but that cracks me up.

I love looking at a text in a new way, and this class is definitely doing that. We are looking at dress and identity, sexuality and identity, the nature of love, setting the scene, the problem of Malvolio, and clown and comedy in the next few weeks that we are studying the play. I think my favorite parts to study are going to be the dress and identity and the problem of Malvolio.

Dress and identity are main aspects of the play. I mean, the entire think is about mistaken identities and disguises, so of course that would be heavily shown throughout the play. But even with this, we are going to look at connections within the characters to see if there are even more layers to this.

The problem of Malvolio is also very important. He is the loose cannon of this play because he does not necessarily fit with the comedic structure. Most of the time in comedies, everything is wrapped up and everyone is happy, but not in this comedy. In this, he seeks revenge on those who messed with him, but why did Shakespeare go so dark with this ending? Especially since he did not do this for the other comedies. That is what I can't wait to find out in my class.

I may do an update after we finish studying this book just in case I get an answer for that question, but that will only be seen in the future.

Overall, this play will always have a place in my heart, but I need to see if time will let it come back to the higher spot it used to have before.
  
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Carma (21 KP) rated Royally Arranged (Bad Boy Royals #3) in Books

Jun 17, 2019  
Royally Arranged (Bad Boy Royals #3)
Royally Arranged (Bad Boy Royals #3)
Nora Flite | 2018
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Royally Arranged is the 3rd book in the Bad Boy Royals series. Although I’ve enjoyed other Nora Flite books, this one left me a little disappointed. For that reason I can only give 3 ¼ stars.

Nova Valentine was basically a pawn in her own family. They used her when they needed her and she was expected to do whatever they wished of her. Meeting Hawthorne Badd gave her an unexpected dose of freedom.

Thorne Badd was a self made man, helping his father in the business was just expected of him. He couldn’t have been more surprised to find his father was a Prince in his old life. After the King dies, the country needs a new leader and turn to Thorne as heir apparent.

Nova and Thorne embark on an arranged marriage to benefit both families and save the country of Torino, or so it seems.

This book flip flopped a lot for me and I actually thought it was a flashback scenario for a while until I got further in and realized it was just a case of mistaken identity. I didn’t really enjoy any of the Valentine characters including Nova. She was just too spineless for me to even consider. Thorne and his father were my favorite characters from the book but even they couldn’t help me enjoy it more.

I doubt I will pass by another Nora Flite book in the future but this definitely wasn’t my cup of tea. I received a copy without expectation for review, any and all opinions expressed are my own.