Ever since his plays and sonnets first entered the literary scene over four hundred years ago, Shakespeare has been viewed as everything from a master to a fraud; from an inspiration to an annoyance. Now though, thanks to Laurie Maguire, we can take another broad leap and use his works as little bits of self-help wrapped in middle-English parables. Does the idea really work though, or is this simply another case of forcing the Bard into an ill-fitting mold of modern design?

Maguire is a Ph.D who has spent her professional life studying and teaching English in general and Shakespeare in particular. She uses the up and downs of her own life as examples of how Shakespeares plays and words can have meaning and gravity in our situations today. She breaks down the basics of our lives, from friendship and love to jealousy, anger, and grief and how we can appreciate the best and overcome the worst of these by remembering the words that Shakespeare wrote so long ago.

Unfortunately, like many self-help books this one is filled with platitudes and ideas that may have helped the author but as with any healing or growing process, the reader needs to find their own answer. The very idea of "self-help book" is an oxymoron and I didn't find anything in this one that gave me new answers or shed any light on the roller-coaster of emotions surrounding the divorce that I'm currently muddling through. In fact, the sheer wealth of controlling, angry, and murderous husbands in Shakespeare plays made me a little nervous at night. It's an interesting theme but it doesn't quite hit the mark.
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Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Perigee Trade (October 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399533672
ISBN-13: 978-0399533679
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