John Harwood Harwood itibaren Raiwal Dona, Punjab 144701, Hindistan
This is by far the best book I've read in the last year. Chabon has the ability to write and create scenes that are vivid, amazing and lifelike. The book is long, but I was left wanting it to continue, with the beautifully interweaving plot lines hitting pinnacles at contrasting times and the characters showing true human forms.
I don't think Much Ado ranks with Shakespeare's very best for three reasons: 1) the plot is weak, particularly the deception that moves things along during the first act (why does Don Pedro choose to woo by proxy en masque? What is to be gained by it except delay and confusion?), 2) Dogberry and Verges are second-rate clowns, and 3) Claudio, in his readiness to believe ill of Hero, is too unsympathetic a lover for a non-problem comedy. On the other hand, whenever Beatrice and Benedict are sparring--which is much of the play--Much Ado is equal to anything Shakespeare had written up to this point. At last he has learned how to take the euphuistic preciousness of Love's Labor's Lost's dialogue, preserve all its wit and courtly delicacy and combine it in casual, idiomatic speech full of character, naturalness and humor. Later in the play, when the plot turns serious and Beatrice demands of Benedick Claudio's death, both she and Benedick embark on a journey toward growing wisdom and deeper love that makes the ending of the play very moving as well as formally complete.