REVIEW: Much Ado About Mean Girls 💭 Mean Girls Meets Shakespeare – and yes, it goes exactly as you think it will

Title: William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Mean Girls
Author: Ian Doescher
Pages: 176

Release Date: April 23rd 2019
Publisher: Quirk Books
Format: Paperback

Genre: Retelling, Humor
Goodreads Rating: 3.90 (of 30 ratings)

  
Book Princess Reviews receives a percentage of commission from purchases you make after following Book Depository links on our site.

Power struggles. Bitter rivalries. Jealousy. Betrayals. Star-crossed lovers. When you consider all these plot points, it’s pretty surprising William Shakespeare didn’t write Mean Girls. But now fans can treat themselves to the epic drama–and heroic hilarity–of the classic teen comedy rendered with the wit, flair, and iambic pentameter of the Bard. Our heroine Cady disguises herself to infiltrate the conniving Plastics, falls for off-limits Aaron, struggles with her allegiance to newfound friends Damian and Janis, and stirs up age-old vendettas among the factions of her high school. Best-selling author Ian Doescher brings his signature Shakespearean wordsmithing to this cult classic beloved by generations of teen girls and other fans. Now, on the 15th anniversary of its release, Mean Girls is a recognized cultural phenomenon, and it’s more than ready for an Elizabethan makeover.

Disclaimer: I received a finished copy courtesy of a Quirk Books. I am grateful for the opportunity to review a book for my readers, but this will not influence my final rating. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and based solely on the book.

Omigosh, this was so much fun. I want to go binge watch this movie again and bask in its iconicness again. This totally is exactly how you thought it would go with Shakespeare and Mean Girls fun.

This story is honestly if Mean Girls takes place in a Shakespearean world. It is the same story of Mean Girls with a few slight differences (I didn’t pick them up), but it Shakespeare classic writing style. It’s full of cute illustrations, iambic pentameter, and more. A good knowledge of Mean Girls is quite helpful, but I have to say that even though it’s been some time since I’ve seen it, it came back instantly and the story told it well.

I wasn’t entirely sure how well Mean Girls would translate into Shakespeare, but honestly, it worked so well. The writing and the formats of the asides/coming in and out of the balconies were amazing. It totally worked well with the drama and the classic, iconic quotes in Shakespeare’s language was so amazing.

Shakespeare has never been a huge for thing for me since I haven’t always been able to figure out what he was saying. However, Doescher did such a great job for making Shakespeare accessible and interesting for those that aren’t the biggest Shakespeare fan. It’s also such a quick read that still allows you for investment in the story and characters.

While this was funny, I never fully got laugh out loud funny for me. I think I was so focused on trying to read the Shakespeare type writing. That was the only thing that kept me from being fully into it for a five crown read. But it was still wildly entertaining and totally brought the happy, fun feels.

Ariel and Cady are definitely rocking the redhead life.

rating: 4 crowns
representation: n/a
content warnings: homophobic slur (same ones that come with Mean Girls the movie)

What do you think? Do you love Mean Girls? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

| add me as a friend on Goodreads! |