I enjoyed this book. I expected a rehashing of Shakespeare play in novel form. That is not what I got. This is richer and fuller giving not only Romeo and Juliet's story but more background into their families' feud. There is more about Paris here. Juliet is a strong woman. Romeo is more dreamer than realist. Opposites certainly attract here. The parents, especially Juliet's, are more fleshed out. They are typical parents though her father is harsher than expected with an only daughter. Romeo's parents are more like Romeo, more idealistic be and willing to comply with the town leader's orders. The friars are more prominent as is the nurse who is not as flighty as we expect.

The reading by Richard Armitage is excellent. He does all the voices and pulls it off. I especially liked the author's notes at the end, read by the author. He gives a history of the story of Romeo and Juliet beginning with the first recorded version back in the 1400's then through Shakespeare. He also gives some details he used in his story.

This story, though known to us, is worth a listen. It has all and more of the intrigue from Shakespeare's play. ( )

Violent gangs roaming city streets looking for trouble, murder, illicit love, poisoning, suicide, and what amounts to the sale of a human being, these are the crime elements of thriller writer David Hewson’s latest reimagining of one of Shakespeare’s works. I’m not talking about one of the Bard’s tales of the murder of kings or caesars, but a story more often thought of as the pinnacle of romance, Romeo and Juliet.
Hewson’s is a wonderfully readable and entertaining recasting of a story that itself was reconceived several times before Shakespeare took his turn with it. According to an author’s note, the fundamental story appeared in a volume published in 1476, which a Venetian writer adapted in 1531, with a subsequent version in 1562 that was translated into French, then into a poem in English, which was the version Shakespeare used in creating the play, published in 1597.
In the spirit of a story that has repeatedly evolved to fit its time, Hewson has changed some things. Most notable is the ending, which may give purists fits, but the author says, “that’s what adaptation entails.” Juliet comes first in the title, because, with Hewson’s shifted emphasis, it’s her story. She’s a self-actualized, practical young woman, while Romeo is a dreamer, a little fuzzy around the edges. She knows what she wants and it is definitely not the forced marriage to the older Count Paris that her father has in mind. “So that’s the role Count Paris will perform,” Juliet challenges her father. “Not so much my husband as your proxy son. I marry him because it’s good for business.”
In addition to immersing himself in Shakespeare’s plays, Hewson comes to this project with a solid understanding of Italian culture, reflected in the contemporary crime stories he sets in Italy. The book is a full novel rework of an award-winning audio project he did with Richard Armitage, who narrated Hewson's exciting version of Hamlet.Clearing out the underbrush of Elizabethan-era language and putting more modern words in the characters’ mouths creates a refreshing experience. Hewson’s brilliant adaptations Macbeth: A Novel and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel, written in collaboration with Shakespeare scholar A.J. Hartley, prepared Hewson to penetrate to the core of Shakespeare’s characters and situations, bringing new insights to the familiar. Read and enjoy! ( )

I enjoyed Hewson's novelizations of Macbeth and Hamlet, so I thought I would give his version of Romeo and Juliet a try, even though it is not a favorite of mine. I listened to this book on audio, masterfully read by Richard Armitage. In a novelized form, Hewson was able to expand on characters, giving greater depth to some of the secondary characters, such as the Nurse, Mercutio, Friar Lawrence, and Paris. But others, like the elder Capulets and Montagues and Juliet's cousin Tybalt, remained maddeningly stereotypical. Hewson provides an alternate ending, one laden with ironies. It isn't exactly a happy ending, and it's up to the individual reader to decide if it is, in the end, more bleak than Shakespeare's.

While this was a fast and enjoyable listen, I'd recommend reading the play over the novelization. There, at least, you will find some mighty fine verse. ( )