I Was Cleopatra

February 26, 2018
Abrams’s first novel is a well researched yet at times impersonal fictional memoir of John Rice, an actor who performed at Shakespeare’s theater as a boy. John, age 35 when the book opens, pays a sad and loving farewell to his past life through the narrative that follows. At 13, John leaves his home in Reading, England to join the King’s Men theater troupe in London. His beauty, sensitivity, and feminine qualities allow him to excel at playing female characters at a time when women were played exclusively by men. PW correspondent Abrams meticulously details John’s development as an actor, playing under various masters, including Shakespeare himself; the Bard’s lines appear throughout. John is cast in the biggest roles—Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra, and Cordelia—at the Globe Theater, but feels lonely despite romantic attention from a fellow actor. Abrams’s discussion of gender fluidity and sexuality are among the novel’s most intriguing aspects. His knowledge of the historical era and Shakespeare’s oeuvre are evident, yet for all the verisimilitude Abrams brings to the page, his prose has a detached quality that may fail to fully engage readers. Ages 12–up.

April 1, 2018

Gr 7-10-When John Rice, young son of a Reading glover, is apprenticed to The King's Men, a company of actors under royal patronage whose playwright-in-residence is William Shakespeare, he begins a new life, playing female parts in the all-male theatre of Elizabethan England. Complimented on his acting skills by the Bard himself, he thrives under the tutelage of Alexander, another young actor with whom John also has a physical relationship. Eventually he becomes a shareholder in the company, now playing male roles; however, after his wife dies in childbirth, he dedicates himself to the Church, putting his artistic life behind him. Abrams writes in a clear, concise manner, and his story is filled with historical details, but it reads more like a history of Elizabethan theater and less like a novel. There is much description and frequent passages quoted from Shakespeare's plays, but little dialogue or dramatic tension, and the writing is too dry to provoke much interest in YA readers. VERDICT Libraries will fare better with Bernard Cornwell's Fools and Mortals, which tells a similar story of an actor of female roles but with more action, conflict, and realistic dialogue.-Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2018
All the world's a stage, and for John Rice the stage is also his life, the scene of his greatest triumphs and the repository of his personal insecurities.Abrams' (The Play's the Thing, 2015, etc.) novel is a fictional biography of the Elizabethan child actor believed to have originally played many of Shakespeare's major female roles, including Lady Macbeth, Cordelia, and Desdemona. The story opens with Rice's birth as the second son of a successful glove-maker. As one of seven children, Rice struggles to find his place in society, lacking the physical talents to follow in his father's footsteps. His life changes when the King's Men--the most famous theatrical troupe in London--comes to his hometown of Reading. Rice is transfixed by Alexander Cook's performance of Rosalind and, with his father's blessing, becomes the company's apprentice, poised to take over the ingenue roles as Alexander ages out of them. What follows is a poignant coming-of-age tale that explores the complexities of youth and gender performance. Rice is a compelling protagonist, and his journey showcases the theater's unique ability to free its denizens from mainstream societal expectations, although as he rises in the company he grapples with a Peter Pan-like horror of aging.A thought-provoking work that will encourage readers to learn more about the world of Elizabethan theater. (Historical fiction. 13-18)

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April 1, 2018
Grades 7-10 In Shakespeare's England, theater was a man's world. Men wrote plays, they costumed them, and they acted in them?as men and as women. Apprenticed to the theater as a young boy, John Rice was one such actor; lovely and graceful, he found himself perfectly positioned to inherit the female leads when his fellow apprentice, Alexander, grew too old to convincingly portray a woman. John Rice was a real member of the King's Men theater troupe during Shakespeare's tenure, and this fictionalized memoir follows him through his teens as he learns his craft, originates such landmark roles as Lady Macbeth, Cordelia, and Cleopatra, and struggles with his fears of aging. Throughout, he becomes aware of gender performativity and sexuality, growing as much as a person as he does an actor. In his debut, Abrams writes with some distance; John doesn't always understand his situations in the way a modern narrator would, and his reactions to his world are measured and thoughtful. An impeccably researched and precisely told foray into the days of Shakespeare.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)