Something Wicked
If young adult literature is the new Rock 鈥檔鈥� Roll, as some suggest, then author Alan Gratz is Frank Zappa, and his smart, droll remakes of Shakespeare鈥檚 tragic hits 鈥� Hamlet and Macbeth 鈥� should win new converts to the old bard鈥檚 gems.
Gratz鈥檚 new novel intended for older teens, Something Wicked, based on Macbeth, comes on the heels of his first remake, 鈥淪omething Rotten,鈥� based on Hamlet.
In that first book, teen sleuth Horatio Wilkes finds something rotten in Denmark, Tennessee: His best friend鈥檚 father has just been murdered.
Though the tale follows most of Shakespeare鈥檚 original 鈥� with a dash of evil environmental pollution thrown in 鈥� Gratz succeeds in remaking Horatio into one funny, fresh dude.
Horatio is even better in 鈥淪omething Wicked.鈥�
He鈥檚 a witty, snarky, self-deprecating king of one-liners and inside jokes who never met a metaphor he couldn鈥檛 make amusing:
鈥淸A]s awkward as Michael Vick at a PETA rally,鈥� 鈥渁s white as a suburb,鈥� 鈥渁s black as a telemarketer鈥檚 soul,鈥� 鈥渄eader than the Confederacy,鈥� a nerdy father and son are 鈥渢wo peas in a pocket protector.鈥�
It鈥檚 impossible not to laugh 鈥� or at least smile 鈥� your way through Horatio鈥檚 take on the world. Author Gratz challenges readers, keeps them turning pages, and makes every word count.
鈥淪omething Wicked鈥� opens in a strip-mall town at the foot of Tennessee鈥檚 Great Smoky Mountains.
鈥�Pigeon Forge sits like a scar in the earth, a gaping, brightly colored wound festering in the Smoky Mountain sun. It鈥檚 not a town; it鈥檚 an eight-lane abomination of go-cart tracks, mini-golf courses 鈥� and neon orange fiberglass gorillas.鈥�
Horatio is on his way to the annual Scottish Highland Games with his friends: handsome, wealthy Mac; Mac鈥檚 pushy girlfriend, Beth; and Mac鈥檚 cousin, Banks.
Horatio is the only one not wearing a clan kilt (and, as a character from Hamlet, the only true interloper).
They stop by a tarot- and palm-reader鈥檚 shop.
鈥淭he fortune-teller was round like a crystal ball.... [I]n the strange light I could see she had whiskers on her chin. It wasn鈥檛 so much disgusting as embarrassing: Madame Hecate could grow a beard better than I could.鈥�
When Hecate predicts Mac will 鈥渨in the games鈥� but cousin Banks will 鈥渙wn the mountain,鈥� the teens laugh it off. Hours later Mac鈥檚 grandfather 鈥� Duncan MacRae, owner of the mountain and host of the games 鈥� is found murdered in his tent.
Quickly a suspect is arrested; the Highland Games roll on, and Mac starts winning events like stone throwing and log tossing, as Madame Hecate predicted.
Horatio falls in love, and readers should be advised that the book includes sexual references (though, as my children say, nothing they don鈥檛 hear on the school bus).
He defeats the spiky-haired punk-rock bagpipers who threaten his new heartthrob, Megan Macduff, and in the process comes to learn he, too, is a Macduff.
But 鈥渇air turns fowl鈥� as Horatio stumbles upon blueprints that threaten to engulf the pristine mountain in golf greens and condos.
Can Horatio figure out who鈥檚 trying to make the mountain into an 18-hole hill? Can he outwit and entrap the guilty party? Or will he overclub and lose it all?
Alan Gratz won the 2007 ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults for his original coming-of-age novel 鈥淪amurai Shortstop.鈥� His superb spin on Shakespeare leaves this reader with just two words: More please!
Elizabeth A. Brown is a freelance writer living near Hillsborough, N.C.
