Saving Juliet

It is my hope that we have all heard of Shakespeare's epic tragedy of two "star-crossed lovers" Romeo and Juliet. It has been regarded as one of the greatest stories of all time. Over and over it has been re-played, filmed, musical-ized, parodied, and generally overkilled. Well I am here to tell you once and for all, that the actual, original Romeo and Juliet isn't really that great. The characters are immensely stupid, and they have very little reason for what they do. This actually makes the whole thing quite funny. But I digress. For this post is not about Shakespeare's hilarious tragedy, but Suzanne Selfors much better version Saving Juliet.
Seventeen-year-old Mimi Wallingford is living every drama queens dream. Her mother is the owner of the Wallingford Theater in New York and ever since she was three Mimi had always received the main role in all the productions. Unfortunately, acting isn't Mimi's dream at all. In reality, it's her mother's. What Mimi really wants is to move out to California to become a doctor, but there's no way she's going to tell that to her mom. Finally, after fourteen years of acting, Mimi is finally getting a shot at the play of all plays, Romeo and Juliet. Of course she is Juliet. And on top of that, the Wallingford is bringing in pop sensation Troy Summers to play Romeo. Every girls dream right? Not for Mimi. For the first time in her entire acting career, Mimi starts feeling extreme stage fright and on the last performance Mimi cracks. She rushes out of the theater, Troy hot in pursuit. In her rush to escape, Mimi breaks open her vial of ashes from Shakespeare's quill. That's where the good stuff starts.
Mimi lands in the streets of Verona decked out in her Juliet costume, right at the beginning of the very play she was trying to escape. Mimi soon stumbles into Juliet and her eerie mother, and through an accidental course of events, prevents young Juliet from ever meeting Romeo. This throws the entire plot for a loop and Mimi must save herself from Juliet's mother, who has grown to hate her, Troy from the fiery Tybalt, Romeo from banishment, Juliet from her arranged marriage and ultimately, Romeo and Juliet from death. Oh, and getting back to New York might be nice too.
I loved this book. Suzanne Selfors brought new life to all of Shakespeare's classic characters. I really could connect to them. Romeo wasn't a stupid whiny brat. He was a depressed kid who just wanted to be loved. Juliet wasn't a dumb tramp. She was an energetic little girl. Tybalt's not just fiery. He's a downright a-hole. The entire plot I think was much more fun and exciting than the original, although I would suggest it more strongly to people who have read Romeo and Juliet. So I give Suzanne Selfors' Saving Juliet a wonderful 8 out of 9 kinds of fawesome!

Laughing at Shakespeare, hating Tybalt, dreaming of Verona, and Yours,