Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare)

This audiobook was SUPER helpful. I've always struggled with Shakespeare, and I've always came back to No Fear Shakespeare for help comprehending the original text, but I have a short concentration and audiobooks are much more accessible for my learning style. I'm so glad audiobooks of No Fear Shakespeare are being made, and I have to say this really helped me out because I have my AP English Lit test next week and I needed to review Hamlet.

The actors for this book were amazing, their voice acting was super immersive and the audiobook itself wa sof a very high quality. Thank you very much for the opportunity to listen to it!

This audio recording ticks so many boxes! I always tell my students that Shakespeare wrote his place to be spoken, and performed, not to be read like a book necessarily. This is why I always try to make sure that we are listening to the play, rather than having them simply read. Not only is this an amazing audio version, with stellar voice actors, but immediately following the Shakespearean language performance, there is a second performance that imagines the play in modern English.
I do not like using the “No Fear “versions of the printed play because I do think that learning the language and interpreting for yourself is an important skill, and I have found that if the modern English is right next to the Shakespearean English, students can be lazy and just look on the “left side” of the page. Here, they must listen to one, THEN the other! By doing that, in either order, students are forced to make the connections between the words and meanings without relying on the more easily accessible version. I consider it like using training wheels when learning to ride a bike... slowly you wean yourself from the stabilization and soon you can ride alone.
I’m really excited to have heard this audiobook - now I know which play to choose for next year’s class!

I’m one of those people who always needs more Shakespeare in their life. This was a fun, enjoyable way to get more familiar with Shakespeare’s works!

The cast, the way it was performed and explained, it was all magical.

Audiobooks are a great way to keep up with your reading and also get on with boring chores around the house that you unfortunately can’t avoid by the time weekend comes around. For those of us who work all week, and then have busy weekends, this is the perfect audiobook.

Full cast performance which to me makes a HUGE difference. A great audiobook that had many narrators because it was literally a play for my ears! It reminded me of mystery theater when I was young.
I just watched Macbeth with my husband and had to pay very close attention because of the old English. This however was different because it had both versions and I really enjoyed it. I’m a huge fan of Shakespeare and highly recommend this as an audiobook. It’s a game changer. I hope this was helpful.
Thanks Hachette Audio via Netgalley.

I've never read or listened to one of the No Fear Shakespeares before, and I was impressed. the full cast audio gave life to the play and the "translation" into contemporary speech was done well. I was worried it was going to be cringey or miss a lot of the fun and jokiness of Shakespeare's language, but a lot of it was captured.

The preformance in this audiobook was breathtaking! I've always loved Hamlet, and I was so happy to reread this. I was curious to hear how they could possibly make "No Fear Shakespeare" into an audiobook and I was surprised with how much I liked it. I would definitely listen to more of these!

This was my first time reading/listening to Hamlet and I listened to the SparkNotes version with the full theater production. This was probably one of the best ways to read/listen to Shakespeare. I enjoyed the fact that it was read first in the original Shakespeare format, then read again the current translation with a few side notes added. I do wish it was performed the other way around.

The cast was pretty much perfect, but there were a couple characters that read the Shakespeare version very monotoned. The guy who performed Hamlet was spot on and very funny.

I will definitely be listening to more Shakespeare this way!

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!