Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: I am just about done with this book and I have to highly recommend. It did grab my attention in the first chapter and so far I've found it hard to put it down and get to work! The perspective of the girl puts a different slant on the story of Macbeth. I find it fascinating. I plan on purchasing for a friend for the holidays.
Rating: 
Summary: Liked The Mists of Avalon? You'll love this.
Review: I loved the book. I am not very familiar with Macbeth (besides the bubble/trouble part) but the book stands on its own. It was engaging and I was able to really feel the depth of the characters and their surroundings. It's always fascinating to look at events, real or imagined, from the other side of "right."Much like The Mists of Avalon (one of my favorite books) this book gives plausible explanations for "magical" events. It also depicts these witches in a sympathetic light. It gives reasons for behaviors that are strange to others and why they were driven in one way or another. I'm a Unitarian Universalist but have pagan/Wiccan friends and have studied and experienced some of their rituals and theology. It is definitely not a Wiccan book, but I believe it will sit well with those who practice pagan rituals and beliefs. I shared it with one of my Wiccan friends. He also liked the book. I will definitely look forward to more books by Rebecca Reisert.
Rating: 
Summary: A great idea, but it just doesn't come across...
Review: Let me start by saying that when I saw this book in the store, I had to have it. The title and the cover art were seductive enough, but as soon as I found out that the premise surrounded the story of "Macbeth" from the point of view from one of the witches(!), well... it was sold.
The idea is fantastic! It starts as an account of the tale of Gilly, the third "witch" who haunts Macbeth and foretells his doom. Gilly swears revenge against Macbeth for reasons that are unveiled throughout the book. She has a mantra that she repeats throughout the novel: "I have made my life an arrow, and His heart is my home. I have made my life a blade, and His heart is my sheath." As the book progresses, Gilly abandons her life as a woman of the woods to throw herself into the surroundings of the Inverness castle (where she can be close to Macbeth and seek her revenge). The book progresses into a epic story of Gilly's hatred conflicting with her moral growth.
Now let me expound on what I did not like about this book. I was bored for the first two hundred pages. I kept waiting for something to happen. Quite a bit Does happen, but it's all in the last third of the book. Second, Gilly's mantra become annoying.. Gilly, herself, becomes annoying. She eventually grows up, but it happens so quickly that it's not really believable. It seemed to me, that Ms. Reisert painstakingly worked her way through the novel. Every conventional emotion that Gilly should feel is described to a "T." However, it seems a bit contrived. The novel seems more of an act of a need for accomplishment than a wonderful, seamless novel that harkens to the beauty of Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
All told, the novel is a very good debut novel. I think that Ms. Reisert could become more comfortable with herself as a writer (novelist) and then she would convey even more realistic characters. The characters of Nettle, Pod, and even Lady Macbeth are wonderfully explored and seem to lead to a wonderful start toward Ms. Reisert's success as a writer. The idea was brilliant, but I wish things had tied together more fluidly. Overally, I would give this novel a 3.5 out of 5. A worthwhile read, but I recommend reading "Macbeth" first.
Rating:
Summary: A great idea, but it just doesn't come across...
Review: Let me start by saying that when I saw this book in the store, I had to have it. The title and the cover art were seductive enough, but as soon as I found out that the premise surrounded the story of "Macbeth" from the point of view from one of the witches(!), well... it was sold.
The idea is fantastic! It starts as an account of the tale of Gilly, the third "witch" who haunts Macbeth and foretells his doom. Gilly swears revenge against Macbeth for reasons that are unveiled throughout the book. She has a mantra that she repeats throughout the novel: "I have made my life an arrow, and His heart is my home. I have made my life a blade, and His heart is my sheath." As the book progresses, Gilly abandons her life as a woman of the woods to throw herself into the surroundings of the Inverness castle (where she can be close to Macbeth and seek her revenge). The book progresses into a epic story of Gilly's hatred conflicting with her moral growth.
Now let me expound on what I did not like about this book. I was bored for the first two hundred pages. I kept waiting for something to happen. Quite a bit Does happen, but it's all in the last third of the book. Second, Gilly's mantra become annoying.. Gilly, herself, becomes annoying. She eventually grows up, but it happens so quickly that it's not really believable. It seemed to me, that Ms. Reisert painstakingly worked her way through the novel. Every conventional emotion that Gilly should feel is described to a "T." However, it seems a bit contrived. The novel seems more of an act of a need for accomplishment than a wonderful, seamless novel that harkens to the beauty of Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
All told, the novel is a very good debut novel. I think that Ms. Reisert could become more comfortable with herself as a writer (novelist) and then she would convey even more realistic characters. The characters of Nettle, Pod, and even Lady Macbeth are wonderfully explored and seem to lead to a wonderful start toward Ms. Reisert's success as a writer. The idea was brilliant, but I wish things had tied together more fluidly. Overally, I would give this novel a 3.5 out of 5. A worthwhile read, but I recommend reading "Macbeth" first.
Rating:
Summary: A FAMILIAR STORY FROM A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW
Review: Rebecca Reisert's retelling of the story of Macbeth from the point of view of one of the three witches is an interesting approach to this familiar tale - and one that breathes quite a bit of life into a story that many readers, having it thrust upon them as 'required reading' in Shakespeare's version, should find refreshing. The author, in her note at the end of the novel, mentions that she realized early on in her research that she could either be faithful to history or to Shakespeare, but not to both. She chose the playwright as her touchstone, and her writing skills have drawn nicely upon the Bard's immortal sense of drama to produce a very entertaining, readable and absorbing book. The 'third witch' of the title is a young girl named Gilly - raised as a foundling by two older women who live in a hut in the forest. They have a great knowledge of nature - of the animals that live in the forest, as well as the medicinal (and other) uses of the herbs and plants that grow there - and are viewed with more than a little suspicion by the peasants who live nearby. Suspected witches are not tolerated well in mediæval Scotland - and for their own safety, they keep a low profile - but from time to time the villagers, desperate to care for or to cure their loved ones, seek them out for assistance. Gilly narrates the novel - and her burning need for revenge against 'Him' is made known to the reader right away, and often. 'He' turns out to be Lord Macbeth himself - and her reasons for the deep hatred that fills her and drives her on what she sees as her life's mission to bring about not only his downfall, but his death, are revealed deftly, and in due course. I won't spoil anything for any potential readers by going into them here. Suffice to say that she is determined and dedicated to such an extent that it frightens the two other women with whom she dwells. Her adventures in attempting to accomplish this end make up the bulk of the book - and the author's writing skills, as well as her research, make the experience a very involving one for the reader. Gilly is of an age that is a difficult time for any young person to bear - and the burden of her quest doesn't make it any easier for her to grow from a child into a young woman. She disguises herself as a boy for much of the story - and without becoming a feminist treatise, the novel subtly allows her to make some very relevant discoveries about the treatment of women in her society. She also comes to discover many things about herself - the rejection that she has felt for emotion (especially that of love for others, which she considers a hindrance) comes to be seen by her in a very different manner by the story's end. The concept of the novel interested me when I first read about it - and I'll admit that I was a little leery of how well it could be done - but I have to say that I was thoroughly entertained and pleased with the work.
Rating:
Summary: Gillyflower, The MacBeth Witch
Review: Told from the viewpoint of one of the three witches in Shakespeare's MacBeth, this is a historical fiction story told almost completely in the 1st person. The story sides more with Shakespeare than it does true history, but that doesn't effect the flow. Gilly is a young teenage girl, hellbent on revenge. Her only desire in life is to kill Macbeth, and she makes many mistakes because she is so one-sighted in this. No matter how she tries to convince herself she's incapable of feeling, her true nature keeps appearing. She disguises herself as a boy and works as a kitchen scullery in order to get closer to Macbeth, which is when her life, and her plans, take a real turn. While wise in many ways, the flipside shows her immaturity in so many others. There's a nice little bit in the back for book clubs, as well as a brief interview with the author. If you like historical fiction or Shakespeare's Macbeth, you'll enjoy this.
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