Shakespeare’s dead teenage girls retell the stories of their lives, their loves, and their fates in their own words... A testament to how young women can support each other and reclaim their stories in the aftermath of trauma.

What a unique and cool concept, a look through the lens of the women who shaped The Bard's stories. Told in prose and rhyme and written like a stage play, it's the commonalities between these women that is striking- all seeking attention and love but disposable to the men around them. Be warned you have to be in the right kind of mind-frame to read this.

An insightful and hopeful book written in verse about Shakespeare's tragic heroines. Author Joy MCullough finally gives a voice to the female characters in Shakespeare's works who have been quieted for far too long. Sometimes funny and thought-provoking, this book will stay with you long after you've finished it.

Beneath a stage's trapdoor, Shakespeare's tragic female characters gather after their (often terrible) deaths. Awaiting the next staging of their tale, where they will be forced to die again, the girls compare experiences and tell their stories from their own povs. After doing this, they decide to rewrite the script, changing the plots they inhabit and giving themselves a different, if not always happy, end. The book focuses on Ophelia, Juliet, Cordelia, and Lavinia, as such these plays are the ones that are discussed the most. The narration varies from prose, poetry, and stage directions, with conversations between the girls appearing as if part of a script. I thought this was an interesting take on these characters, and how they could have ended differently given a different focus (or a different writer).

I love what the author did in this book. Tragic heroines taking back their story - fantastic. It really makes you look at Shakespeare in a new way.

A stunning exploration of Shakepeare's dead teenage girls given space to tell their stories in their own words and think about what choices they would have liked to have. Beautifully written in verse, leaves the reader pondering.

Enter the Body is a feminist revision of several of Shakespeare's female protagonists. While I appreciated the idea of this book, it feels like it's missing something. The play and verse format work well, but the setting of the Trap Room feels constricting. Part One is a recap of each story from the girls' perspectives, which probably will not be needed for those seeking this book. The best part was possibly the shortest, where the girls each took over their own destiny. Personally, I would have liked to see more interaction between the girls inside the stories themselves instead of in a timeless void with no setting. Overall, this feels more like a literary small group or Shakespeare book club than a narrative. I love the reworking of the Bard's characters but wished the book itself had more to it than dialog. I do not see this appealing to the average library teen, but it will stand out for those literary-minded ones. I can see this more as appealing to a New Adult audience than YA because of its dialog-focused format and literature focus.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it. The Plot was amazing and I can't wait for others to read it too.

Joy McCullough really knows how to capture the "Shakespeare-esk" of writing by making it feel like you are actually reading a play (which essentially you are...). There are many aspects of this book that I loved, but the main part was the characters. I loved how these characters shared their struggles, triumphs, tears, laughs, everything. The plot was my next favorite part of this book, it really felt like you were there with them in this dark space below the stage as they all shared their stories. Overall this book has everything you love about Shakespeare, with some very amazing, memorable, and badass female main, even side, characters that make this story what it is.

I am becoming a large believer that Joy McCullough wants me to feel everything I have ever felt when reading anything written her no matter the genre.

Enter the Body by Joy Cullough is a lyrical retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedies told through the POV of the heroines. Each leading lady also gives her alternative ending to her story without the manipulation and maneuvering of men.

Juliet really redeemed herself for me in this book because when I read Romeo & Juliet in high school, I thought that they were both silly hormonal teenagers, but in Enter the Body, Juliet was very opinionated and a great critical thinker. I didn’t like that the author gave her a valley girl speech, but regardless she was my favorite of the heroines because she stood out as an individual and free thinker, which is rare.

I was confused by many parts of this story because it has been so long since I read the original plays. With that being said, I think this would make a great novel companion in school while the plays are fresh in students’ minds. This will help students explore alternate ends and alternate POV’s from the stories.

Favorite quotes:

a kind of freedom in clear roles

Romeo and I needed none other than the spark that traveled from his hand to mine and back again.

It elevates the language. Gives it a structure. Plus, the rhythm mimics the human heartbeat, which helps the speaker or the audience connect—

I stood up to what my entire culture expected of me.

want me to pose as their doll and stage a conversation with the prince

Dying isn’t the problem. Being remembered only for our deaths and the moments they gave to the men onstage with us—that’s what I’m over.

“take back the narrative”

the lady doth cajole too much,

Stories are for their readers. So, you know, you can decide.

But my story is no less meaningful if I don’t die tragically. I deserve your respect.

3.5 Stars

As an english literature graduate, I can always appreciate some critique and hatred for Willy Shakes. I truly thought this was such an interesting concept and really loved the part in which the girls broke from the storytelling and actually spoke to each other. I think the part that fell kind of flat for me was the end in which the girls were retelling their stories, only because I guess I wanted more significant change in their stories, but they made a good point that there doesn't have to be a huge change to have a positive impact. I would have wanted them to forget the boys entirely, but there is strength in fighting for love and they deserve to have what makes them happy.

Overall I think this is a very important book for girls to read to show that they are not just a prop in someone else's story.

Enter the Body is the story of Shakespeare's tragic heroines, Cordelia, Ophelia, Lavinia, and Juliet as they meet in the trap room and tell their story, which often diverge from the way they were portrayed by the bard. I really enjoyed this book, and although it is still early in the year, I think it will be one of my favorites of the year. A combination of retelling and conversation, each girl finds their voice (in their own way.) I would recommend that any one that chooses to read this book have an understanding of the tragedies each character come from, so the reader can understand the portrayal of each young women in the Shakespeare plays. Each story is retold through a feminine perspective, which changes the motivations of each girl and I appreciated that, as I feel each of the young women are done as a disservice not only by the bard, but by the other characters within the play. McCullough's portrayal of each character makes me appreciate the plays more, and gives a bit more perspective as to what happens to each of them in Shakespeare's work. I will definitely read McCullough's next work.

Thanks to Penguin Canada for an ARC to review! I highly recommend picking this one up, especially for Shakespeare fans.

I’m familiar with a lot of Shakespeare’s plays but haven’t read or seen a couple that are referenced here (namely King Lear and Titus Andronicus). I think you’d be able to enjoy McCullough’s take without knowledge of the plays but personally I preferred looking up some quick plot points to understand how the author has reimagined these girls’ stories. The main plays referenced are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, and Titus Andronicus so if you’ve got those already, you’re good to go. This book exposes the brutality of these plays, as the blurb mentions that all of these girls die. We don’t see much of these deaths on the page but they are referenced so the reading does feel gory at times.

In McCullough’s telling, these girls are somewhere between character and actor, meeting each night below the stage after their character has been dispatched and prepared to face their death once more when the curtain rises on a new day. But when we meet them offstage, they start to question if this is the only end that could exist for them, if these girls might not deserve something more.

The book is presented almost as a play, or several plays, itself and I would love if it was actually adapted for the stage. It’s poetic and beautiful and devastating, and will certainly give you a new way of considering Shakespeares’ tragedies.

I really enjoyed the concept this book explored. What about the stories of the women Shakespeare killed off?! Well this is the book for that. A Novel-in-Prose with the leading ladies of his plays. Hermia , Juliet, Ophelia.. etc.

So if you like an own voices of powerful women, than I recommend reading this book!

This was a very interesting book. I thought the writing was gorgeous and it was super fascinating to see how the heorines of some of Shakespeare's works would have interacted and how they would have changed (or not changed) their stories.

I really appreciate the idea of this novel and what McCullough was trying to do. The initial set up (the characters of Shakespeare's women falling under the stage once they have been utilized to further the play's plot) was clear in its intent - and I think McCullough captured Shakespeare's style of iambic pentameter. It was effective and I realized right away that this novel was looking to discuss how female characters are used to further the plot in the Bard's plays and then cast away to the side without really having the chance to tell their own sides to the story. An important discussion for sure, but I feel like it started to fall a little flat once the characters started talking to one another and interrupting each other's stories. What was charming at first, started to fizzle out towards the end of the novel for me. That being said, I do still think it was a interesting book to look at and think about - and even now as I write this, I realize I am faced with the conundrum that predominates the final pages of the novel: who am I to judge how these girls write their own endings? Clever.
(Also, if you were planning on reading this, I would highly suggest getting the audiobook. It has a full cast and each voice actor really brings the individual personalities to life!)

“Of course we have choices, but you make it sound like if we were just smarter, then the entire patriarchal systems built up around us wouldn’t be able to hold us back.”

What would happen if the women in Shakespeare’s plays had the opportunity to rewrite their stories? This book gives them the voice to do just that as Juliet, Ophelia, and Cordelia tell their stories from the trap room beneath the stage.

I am not very familiar with Shakespeare since I have not read it since high school but don’t let that deter you. Joy creatively weaves together the retellings and it reminded me of the musical, Six.

I loved that the women supported each other to help tell their stories the way they felt they deserved to be told without letting Shakespeare or the men from the stories determine it for them.

Highly recommend this novel in verse and it’s feminist take on the Bard.

Thank you to @penguinteen for my review copy.

Do you ever read a book so amazing you can’t think of what to say? I have that with Enter the Body, this book is amazing and I cannot recommend this book enough. This book covers the stories of the Bard's most famous tragedies and the women that were affected by them. It gives the stories back to Ophelia, Juliet, Cordelia, and Lavinia and lets them tell the story the way they would have told it.

I loved how Joy McCullough wrote Enter the Body using playwriting and poetry to convey to the reader the stories she wanted the women to tell and it made for an empowering read. I have been a fan of McCullough since I read Blood Water Paint and I can't wait to read more of her work in the future. I was pulled into this book as soon as I started and I could barely put it down when I was reading, this review does even cover everything I loved. This is one of my 2023 favorites!

Check TW before reading this book

5 stars

Enter the Body is the story of three Shakespearian heroes, Ophelia, Cordelia and Juliet, as they hang out under the stage after their untimely demises in their respective plays. They each tell their story as The Bard had, and then later, they retell and reclaim their story with them at the center (instead of basically serving as a foil for male characters).

Let me start by saying I really liked this, and I picked it up because Blood Water Paint is a CLASSIC and I couldn't wait to see what the author would do with these Shakespearean characters. First off, the setting is pretty cool - they are in some weird liminal space for recently offed Shakespeare characters (so like, Lady Macbeth and Desdemona are chilling in the corner) that lends a sort of creepiness to the tale. I neither know nor care about poetry to catch cool poetry things that she was doing but I think the different players likely spoke in different poetic rhythms or whatever it's called (Cordelia is definitely in iambic pentameter, that is very much a THING). The first half of the book is the characters telling their stories as they are, and weirdly that's what I preferred - I think the criticisms within are going to really land with younger readers. I do think folks will like the second half of the book as well, where the characters reimagine their own stories, especially because it's not all sunshine and rainbows. I also really liked that the author used and played around with pretty modern language and slang (and I think "The Bard" would dig that as well) - Cordelia calls Juliet a "sweet summer child" at one point, for example, and much is made of "horny teenagers" (which, sorry Juliet, but that is THE take lol).

Anyway, this is one that could easily be read in classrooms along with the Bard's original works, and I think high school students are going to really like it - I know I sure did! I will be booktalking it. 4 stars - I really liked it.

Thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the eARC which I received for an unbiased review. Enter the Body is out now!

**Thank you to Penguin Teen, Libro.FM & NetGalley for the eARC. This in no way changed my rating**

I really enjoyed this book and I hope many, many readers read and love it. McCullough's book would also be great for teachers, especially ones that do an in-depth Shakespeare unit. I think having a knowledge of Shakespeare deepens the experience, but the only one I was confident in my knowledge was Romeo & Juliet (I've read and seen both Hamlet and King Lear, though). The book is very short as it's a novel in verse. The audiobook was also great and a full cast recording! The book is told in alternating POVs from Juliet, Ophelia, and Cordelia (with Lavinia playing a role, although it's harder to include her in the narrative as she is mute). I liked the idea that the first half is explaining the story Shakespeare gave them and the second half is the women taking their story back and making it their own. I also liked that McCullough explored Cordelia's character in terms of asexuality and included important and often overlooked rep that made sense for the character. It was very well done. All of the prose styles make sense for the character. Ophelia's reads like someone telling a story (fitting because that's largely the narrative framing for her). Juliet's visually looks like couplets, even if they don't always rhyme. She also seems to use the most text from her story. The characters make a point of pointing out that Cordelia uses Iambic pentameter. When none of them are narrating, McCullough uses a stage play style, writing out the narrative like a script. It was very creative and an aspect I very much enjoyed.

Overall, I think this would be best used in a classroom, but I would recommend it as a fun read for those who love Shakespeare or Feminist stories. It was well done.