Make no mistake about it. The New York actors in this novel performing Shakespearean tragedies are participants in a real-life tragedy themselves.

Born into a dysfunctional situation in Kentucky, Margaret Wolf vents her frustration by becoming an actress, preferably portraying Lady MacBeth while using drugs.

She and her husband decide to travel with their company to New Mexico performing summer stock where Margaret meets the costume designer and tailor, Felix Haas. Making no other friends, Margaret and Wesley fall victim to the people who run the summer stock. With their backs to the wall, they take their revenge.

The character development is excellent. There is a Manichean struggle inside each character which is surprising to discover as the story unfolds. It makes each character sympathetic to the reader.

The novel reaches a chilling conclusion. The denouement begs the question, if surviving a tragedy makes you stronger in a sinister fight to devour or be devoured, what will you be capable of doing in the following act?

I wish to thank NetGalley and G. P. Putnam’s Sons for the ARC of this book.

I love anything that talks about Shakespeare, no matter how big or small. This was a great read I just couldn't put the book down.

Wow, what a ride! I couldn’t put this book down! It is a rollercoaster of emotions that leaves you thinking long after you’ve turned the last page.

I applaud the writing and descriptive text.

The subject matter was hard for me to get into and this book wasn't for me, as a result.

It had a similar vibe and style to "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid which is what kept me going, especially as the mid-century time period interests me.

For fans of that book, I could see them enjoying this one.

Have a warning about self-harm being a theme would be good too.

Received an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. Thank you!

For all my earlier-in-life lukewarmness to Shakespeare, advanced age has brought greater appreciation of the Bard's plays, and perhaps none so much as “Macbeth,” which made me especially interested in reading Isa Arsen's “The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf,” in which the titular character is a Shakespearean actor with an abiding passion to play the Lady.
So taken, indeed, is she with the role, so much a part of her very being does she account it, that when she learns that the play is going to be her acting company’s next selection, she makes a special appeal for the role to the company’s director, who for all his rough manner toward his players readily acknowledges the rightness of the role for her: “it’s you, of course it’s you,” he tells her in giving her the role.
And indeed she brings the house down with her opening-night performance –”I’d become the Lady,” she thinks, “I would never feel so powerful again.” But along with the triumph comes the sobering realization that on the personal front, where the scars on her arms bear testimony to the wreckage of her own life, she’ll never be so in control as she is in the role, a realization so devastating that she slits her wrists in her dressing room after the performance.
Which, for all the dramaticness of the act, leaves some doubt what she’d actually intended –“I don't know,” she answers a female friend’s question as to exactly what happened – but it makes for a bloody enough scene that it thoroughly shakes the male actor, Wesley, who accompanies her to the hospital and who is as close a friend as she has. Close enough is he, indeed, that he gets her to marry him even though he's gay in an effort to ward off unwelcome attention from the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Even with his support, though, and that of the female friend, it’s not enough to take the sting out of the director replacing her as Lady Macbeth and even temporarily removing her from the company – a sort of probation, he says. She is able, though, to join the company as an observer as it stages a production of “Titus Andronicus“ in New Mexico.
It's there that the novel reaches its denouement with the introduction of a couple of truly unsavory characters, Felix, a driver with whom Margaret engages in drug-enhanced threesome sex with Wesley, and a truly scary character, Jesse, who will make for an especially frightening scene when Margaret comes upon him menacing a character tied to a chair.
For all the unsavoriness, though, that the western locale brings, including a murder as horrid as anything out of “Titus,” the novel was a bit tedious for me in its earlier stretches, and with Margaret’s behavior, it had me wondering, as I’ve wondered about other novels with such female characters, just how identifiable or relatable women readers would find Margaret. On the one hand, I’m remembering a female colleague to whom I once loaned Sara Davidson’s “Loose Change,” and she returned it with the exclamation “Loose change? Loose women!” and on the other hand I’m remembering a female reader who responded to a review of mine in which I raised the same sort of question about a similar female character in another novel and the reader said she related all too well to the character.
Nevertheless, Arsen’s novel resonated very much with me, especially with how it depicted a time and place of particular interest to me, the ‘50s, and how it evoked other works of special affection for me, including, with its thespianism, Robert Stone’s “Children of Light,” or, with its gay representation, the recent TV series, “Fellow Travelers,” or, with its diction, the fiction of Joan Didion or, with its picture of blacklisting, my favorite novel of that time, Ellen Feldman’s “The Unwitting.”

“The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf” was a historical novel that centers around 2 shakespearian actors from the 1950s. They exist in an unusual marriage and both are plagued by different issues. She suffers a very public mental breakdown he with his sexuality and obsessive personality. Their journey takes them from New York to New Mexico and then home again to New York with affairs, tragedies and betrayals along the way. I found the plot very Shakespearian and at some points a bit confusing. I think this book will appeal to everyone looking for a different and interesting approach to a book of this genre.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Publishing Group for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book felt so real from the very first page — it didn’t feel like reading a fictional story so much as following real things happening to real people. All of the characters were incredibly well-rounded and the writing really helped to give the story a growing sense of tension. The first 30% or so set in NY felt like a different story than the rest but in a way that was really effective to highlight how changing and growingly uncontrollable Margaret’s life was getting as she stepped out of her element.

A fascinating look at what happened to Oscar Wilde's oft forgotten wife after he went to jail. The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf follows the aftermath of Margaret's life after she's left to pick up the pieces and has to figure out her own sexuality and who she is as a person. Her journey is fascinating and reminds me a little of the movie Colette. I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who loves literature and reading about literary figures.

I had a hard time reading this book. It didn't hold my interest, but you may like it. It tells about a married couple who are both an actress and actor.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My goodness, what a book!

I loved Arsén’s debut, but when I tell you this was still a step up, I mean it. The gorgeous prose is the same—juicy and poetic without being overly heavy or dense. And the setting is wonderful as well. For some reason, Arsén is really good at describing deserts and dingy rooms, and that’s incredibly evident here.

The standouts, though, are the characters. Margaret is wonderfully compelling as a protagonist, as she has the slightest little bit of insane-wife energy coupled with “dear god someone give this woman a hug” and it works so well. The other characters are excellent too, even the ones that are only on the page for a short while. I simply adored the strange nature of the romance—toxic for sure, but interesting nonetheless.

And the plot? I love how vaguely (and sometimes obviously) Shakespearean it is. It all feels very intentional and there’s never a dull moment. The momentum carries through to the end. It’s a quick read, but maybe that’s because I literally didn’t stop reading until I was done. Truly, a marvel.

Overall, this book shines. I’m so excited to be able to hold a finished copy in my hands. I’m going to be recommending it to as many people as I can. Thank you for the review copy!

This book was surprisingly a quick read despite it being over 350 pages. The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf was written in such a beautiful and poetic manner and welcomed the reader into the world of acting quickly. I enjoyed being in both New York and in the desert and believe the author did an excellent job setting the scene in both geographical locations. My only feedback is a tiny one- there were two supporting characters with 4 lettered E names, Edie and Ezra, and it took me far longer than I care to admit to be able to remember who Edie was to Margaret and who Ezra was to Margaret. I kept getting them confused. Otherwise, witnessing the downfall and rise of Margaret was phenomenal. I also appreciated the subtle queer tones depicted throughout the novel.