April 2019 New Boy by Tracy Chevalier was a novelty read for us, with 14 members in attendance. Our leader for this month's book had heard of a new project from Hogarth Press, a Shakespeare project that is found on this link, click here. The information states: "Shakespeare's works have been performed, read, and loved throughout the world. They have been reinterpreted for each new generation, whether as a teen films, musicals, science-fiction flicks, Japanese warrior tales, or literary transformations. The Hogarth Press was founded by Virginia and Leonard Woolf in 1917 with a mission to publish the best new writing of the age. In 2012, Hogarth was launched in London and New York to continue the tradition. The Hogarth Shakespeare project sees Shakespeare's works retold by acclaimed and bestselling novelists of today. The series launched in October 2015 and to date will be published in twenty countries."
So, we were part of this history of reading at least one of the books in the series. The other books written so far were: The Gap of Time, Shylock is My Name, Vinegar Girl, Hagseed, Dunbar and Macbeth. The day of our book club meeting was Shakespeare's birthday, and the date of his death!
As we shared what we felt about the book, many of the members had never read Othello, or if they had it had been a few years. So many did some research and read a little about the story. One member said she could see, very well see, the similarities of Othello. One member noted that each of the characters names started with the same letter as the original Othello, so similarities with the characters. "It was kind of dark." someone said, which it was and the story of Othello was dark. Another added the ending "surprised me." "How can such a good person spiral down so fast."
One member had a good thought. She knew the storyline, and wondered how is it going to play out. With all the school shootings, would it go that direction. It did not and she was thankful it didn't. The kids were very socially involved in the end, all in one day. It was not realistic that they had that emotional connection in one day! Set in the 70's this story would have been different now, someone said, with all the phones they probably are using. A text would have been sent that said they had the pencil pouch!
Another member said it started out subtly and overt, but found that the things they were doing were not things that I would have seen 6th graders do, maybe 9th graders, but not 6th grade (this comment coming from a retired Elementary Teacher). One member said she thought the kids talked more like adults than the 6th graders that they were. In reference to Ian, a member said, "one bad apple wrecks the whole bunch."
It was a short and easy read, the setting of the story all in one day, "how many recesses do they get!" As a new student in school, things progressed rather quickly for the story to come out. A member related her story of going to new schools, as farmers back in the day moved from farm to farm, she wasn't picked on like "O" was, but more "ignored." So the story had a good start to it.
We talked about the racism of the teachers. The one teacher, was very racist towards "O". He kept expecting the worst from him, even because of his skin color. Would this happen now? We thought this was happening at that time. We were sad to read it happened in New York to "O", even with doormen watching him go past buildings.
Character comparison: New Boy - Othello
Osei - Othello Both in love with Dee & Desmenona; Both girls white and both boys were black; Both friended by popular girls. We talked about O's death -- did he really die? Most interpreted he did die.
Dee - Desmenona We thought the girls had a bigger role in New Boy, we were able to see the play through their eyes. Quite the language -- called a girl a whore and yet they are playing double dutch jump rope.
Casper - Cassio Was a good kid, the bad outweighs the good.
Ian - Iago Both bad guys. We felt that Ian probably didn't have the best home life. He had learned fear so he gave fear to others. "Hold your friends close but your enemies closer" applies here! Ian was a social path -- he is terrifying. Even the teachers couldn't rein him in. They couldn't do anything about him it seemed. There was more unrest in Ian's wake, it had a ripple effect.
Mimi - Emilia
Rod - Roderigo
Mr. Brabant - Brabantio
Blanca - Bianca
Someone said that Shakespeare was drama. He was presenting ideas, like jealousy. He didn't mean for it to be real. Sheakespeare was taken after a real event, probably a muslim/moors event and probably prejudice at that time.
We talked about Osei bringing up his sister and the Black Power, Black Panther's. Was there a lot of racism in this or was it more about the bullying? We still have the bullying in school. This happened years ago too, Irish, Polish, different nationalities in the area where we lived. This seems to have repeated itself from Shakespears time to our time, human nature repeating itself. Is this about race or a means to an end? What would it be like with out race, perhaps more bullying?
As we shared what we felt about the book, many of the members had never read Othello, or if they had it had been a few years. So many did some research and read a little about the story. One member said she could see, very well see, the similarities of Othello. One member noted that each of the characters names started with the same letter as the original Othello, so similarities with the characters. "It was kind of dark." someone said, which it was and the story of Othello was dark. Another added the ending "surprised me." "How can such a good person spiral down so fast."
One member had a good thought. She knew the storyline, and wondered how is it going to play out. With all the school shootings, would it go that direction. It did not and she was thankful it didn't. The kids were very socially involved in the end, all in one day. It was not realistic that they had that emotional connection in one day! Set in the 70's this story would have been different now, someone said, with all the phones they probably are using. A text would have been sent that said they had the pencil pouch!
Another member said it started out subtly and overt, but found that the things they were doing were not things that I would have seen 6th graders do, maybe 9th graders, but not 6th grade (this comment coming from a retired Elementary Teacher). One member said she thought the kids talked more like adults than the 6th graders that they were. In reference to Ian, a member said, "one bad apple wrecks the whole bunch."
It was a short and easy read, the setting of the story all in one day, "how many recesses do they get!" As a new student in school, things progressed rather quickly for the story to come out. A member related her story of going to new schools, as farmers back in the day moved from farm to farm, she wasn't picked on like "O" was, but more "ignored." So the story had a good start to it.
We talked about the racism of the teachers. The one teacher, was very racist towards "O". He kept expecting the worst from him, even because of his skin color. Would this happen now? We thought this was happening at that time. We were sad to read it happened in New York to "O", even with doormen watching him go past buildings.
Character comparison: New Boy - Othello
Osei - Othello Both in love with Dee & Desmenona; Both girls white and both boys were black; Both friended by popular girls. We talked about O's death -- did he really die? Most interpreted he did die.
Dee - Desmenona We thought the girls had a bigger role in New Boy, we were able to see the play through their eyes. Quite the language -- called a girl a whore and yet they are playing double dutch jump rope.
Casper - Cassio Was a good kid, the bad outweighs the good.
Ian - Iago Both bad guys. We felt that Ian probably didn't have the best home life. He had learned fear so he gave fear to others. "Hold your friends close but your enemies closer" applies here! Ian was a social path -- he is terrifying. Even the teachers couldn't rein him in. They couldn't do anything about him it seemed. There was more unrest in Ian's wake, it had a ripple effect.
Mimi - Emilia
Rod - Roderigo
Mr. Brabant - Brabantio
Blanca - Bianca
Someone said that Shakespeare was drama. He was presenting ideas, like jealousy. He didn't mean for it to be real. Sheakespeare was taken after a real event, probably a muslim/moors event and probably prejudice at that time.
We talked about Osei bringing up his sister and the Black Power, Black Panther's. Was there a lot of racism in this or was it more about the bullying? We still have the bullying in school. This happened years ago too, Irish, Polish, different nationalities in the area where we lived. This seems to have repeated itself from Shakespears time to our time, human nature repeating itself. Is this about race or a means to an end? What would it be like with out race, perhaps more bullying?
