Romeo and Juliet: A Novel

I'm always a little skeptical of actors narrating a book. But, Mr. Armitage does an EXCELLENT job in his narration. Really liked the book, as well. It's a retelling of Romeo & Juliet, more in depth giving backgrounds on other characters. Written w/ a 3rd party voice, which I really enjoyed. It's also written in "simple" English, not old English (The's and Thow's). Much easier to listen to. Thank you David Hewson for the rewrite and Richard Armitage for fantastic narration.

A masterful retelling of a classic tale, this adaptation astounds. The fleshing out of a character such as Juliet results in a story which is relatable to this modern generation. The struggles of girls the world over - for autonomy, individuality and freedom - is captured in this one intelligent, headstrong girl.

The pacing of the story ensures that ones imagination is free to soar. Descriptives are kept to a minimum, while being sufficient to act as a spring board.

Narration...well, what can one say?...the rich chocolate voice of Richard Armitage, and the vocal characterizations he presents are a joy to the ear.

Congratulations Mr. Hewson, this is indeed a triumph!

David Hewson takes a popular story most widely known through Shakespeare, and creates a stand alone masterpiece full of refreshing and exquisite details that ensnares imagination and gives new perspective to a classic tale. The extremely gifted voice of Richard Armitage brings each character to life with unique and delightful intonation...ambrosia for the ears. A perfect gift for anyone.

One more fantastic joint work of David Hewson and Richard Armitage. Love every minute of the audiobook. So sad my jorney to Verona is finished but I'm so glad I can return there whenever I wish. And I definitely will! Thank you, David Hewson, Richard Armitage and Audible for the great Christmas gift.

This is so very, very good.

A million years ago, when I was a young teenager, I was captivated by the 1968 Zeffirelli film/interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, and very seldom does any production come close to that initial charm. This does. A different forum, I agree, but the combination of Mr. Hewson's interpretation of Shakespeare [he does not follow of the play completely] and Mr. Armitage's superb, wonderful, wonderful narration makes this a five star rating for me.

I've been an Audible customer for almost a decade now, many many books, and more and more I choose the narrator first, the subject second; British narrators first, everybody else second. Add in Shakespearean acting experience for the narrator, and everything comes together.

Highly recommended.

I really loved this book, its new interpretation, its narrating voice. Thanks Hewson and Armitage

If you love Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, avoid this re-telling of the story. All the romance has been stripped away, Romeo seems to be an awkward, moony an immature tonnages, while Juliet is a budding feminist. Yikes ! As noted in other reviews, the beauty of Shakespeare's prose is lost in an attempt to update the language, although at random moments a character will revert to a Shakespearean phrase. Even Richard Armitage can't redeem this. Only his beautiful and dramatic narration made it worth listening to.

Don't miss this incredible version! Enjoyed every second- the narration is impeccable and a joy to listen to. Just do it!!

While I considered Hewson’s previous Shakespearean adaptations homeruns, I did not find this one to be as satisfying. He left Macbeth and Hamlet essentially the same, just filling in details for context and offering some somewhat subtle adjustments to the psyche of some key characters. He has taken Romeo and Juliet down a more radically altered road, and for my taste it was a little too much fictional license both with characterization and with the narrative trajectory. (Yes, I know R & J are fictional in the first place, but you know what I mean). I also found the writing somewhat uneven, shifting from Shakespeare’s poetry in one conversation to 21st century slang in another, causing a jarring impact. There were indulgent passages filled with Renaissance name-dropping and overly descriptive details of various Italian cities’ art and architecture. The atmosphere he creates is filled with muddy, muck filled streets, gory violence and ugly people – physically and spiritually. It has taken what has been for me a tragic (and yes, violent) but passionate tragedy, and made it just dreary and ugly.

I think my biggest gripe is the reinvention of Juliet, where again the writing is inconsistent, as if unable to decide if she is a child of the 15th century or a woman of the 21st. I can appreciate the effort to give her a complexity beyond a naïve teen, but it made it hard to see why she would then fall hopelessly in love with Romeo, who I think kind of gets lost with much less dimension given to him. I suspect that each listener’s enjoyment will depend on their ability to adjust to the alterations of the story. I guess I wanted it to be closer to the traditional.

Armitage gives a very theatrical reading, mostly right on point, but occasionally overly dramatic, as with Juliet’s father, who becomes a snarling villain, and Nurse who becomes a broad caricature. Still a very worthy effort with the vast numbers of characters to be dealt with.

Perhaps if Shakespeare were not so important to me I might have enjoyed this more. The deviations from the story were jarring. Armitage made the most of the material but you can only do so much with mostly one-dimensional characters. The elaboration of the historical setting was interesting but to change SO much of the story and still call it Romeo and Juliet is false advertising.