(a review)
There should be a genre of books called “Just Plain Fun”! Alexandra Mason’s Shakespeare’s Pipe would fit into this category. Once I started reading, I just wanted to keep on reading until I was finished—but I didn’t want to finish, either, because I was having so much fun keeping up with all the twists, turns, and surprises. Shakespeare’s Pipe is part English Romance, science fiction (and modern science), philosophical musings, and mystery thriller, a mélange of delight. Beautiful, original metaphor enhances the story, such as this: “My comment landed with a thud, and silence rose around it like a cloud of displaced dust.” The writer’s style is easy to read and the characters’ voices are very much English. This novel shows how our choices have consequences and not necessarily the ones we think will happen. I loved that the characters quoted Shakespeare at every turn and that every chapter ended with an appropriate Shakespearean quotation. I enjoyed trying to determine in what play each quotation originated. However, you don’t have to be a student or teacher of Shakespeare to enjoy this book. If you like science fiction, modern science, romances, conundrums, or mystery thrillers, you will like this book. I think it is a good candidate to be made into a movie. I highly recommend it.