Rating: 
Summary: Breathtaking -- surprisingly so.
Review: A professor friend of mine recommended this book to me. She had read a review in the Washington Post. Normally, I nod politely at such recommendations and go about reading whatever else it is that was already on my wish list. But, for some reason, I went out and bought this book.
I read it on the plane and, to my great embarrassment, found that I had to put the book down in my lap several times and take deep breaths, lest the other passengers see the tears welling in my eyes.
Bob Smith is a man I didn't know of before picking up the book. I didn't expect to care about his memoir. What I found is that I ended up caring very deeply and simply could not put it down until I'd finished it. To say that it is a moving book is an understatement. Somehow, Mr. Smith touches on all of life and love and loss and hope and well --- humanity. Perhaps it is because he weaves into his tale the timeless wisdom found in Shakespeare. And he does so masterfully.
By reading this memoir, you will learn about life, yourself, Shakespeare, and what it means to be human.
Rating:
Summary: The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Review: Art convincingly engages life in this coming-of-age autobiography. Viewed from a half century's distance, the author vividly describes a boyhood and youth spent largely in Stratford, Connecticut. As though for counterpoint, he occasionally interrupts his primary account to relate his adult experiences with senior citizen groups as a Shakespeare expert. Much as the Bard's words sustained him through a difficult and painful youth, so too do they provide pleasure and consolation to the aging. Throughout, Smith complements his own words with appropriate passages from the plays and sonnets.
Central to Smith's narrative is his relationship with Carolyn, his profoundly disabled sister. Virtually incapable of speech, resistant to every attempt at toilet training, and prone to obsessive-compulsive behavior, her presence in the household takes a heavy toll on the other family members. Her mother retreats to the bedroom, her father mysteriously disappears every Tuesday and Bob, despite his great affection and concern, seeks solace in the library, museums, and the theater. As a fifth grader, he first encounters Shakespeare, whose eloquent language displaces the tense silence of his home. As he remarks: "Poetry became a beautiful place to hide from my life and my parents, a place I knew they'd never follow me to." (p. ll2)
The book's apt title relects Smith's initial involvement with an actual production when, as a sixteen year old, he becomes a dresser for the American Shakespeare Festival's "Hamlet." His fascination with the theater does not translate into serious aspirations as an actor. Rather, he elects to develop the stage management skills essential to the support of a successful production. As he admits in a brief backstage encounter with Katherine Hepburn, "I'm a watcher." Yet, as the mature narrator remarks, "Too much watching can make you passive and afraid. Ask Hamlet." (137)
After eighteen years of watching (and caring for) his sister, Smith witnesses his parents' decision to place her in an institution. His anguish finds expression in an emotional performance as the crown bearer in "Richard the Second." Some forty years will pass before the "coward brother" can summon the courage to visit the woman whom he feels he has foresaken and to whom this compelling memoir is dedicated
Rating:
Summary: The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Review: Art convincingly engages life in this coming-of-age autobiography. Viewed from a half century's distance, the author vividly describes a boyhood and youth spent largely in Stratford, Connecticut. As though for counterpoint, he occasionally interrupts his primary account to relate his adult experiences with senior citizen groups as a Shakespeare expert. Much as the Bard's words sustained him through a difficult and painful youth, so too do they provide pleasure and consolation to the aging. Throughout, Smith complements his own words with appropriate passages from the plays and sonnets.
Central to Smith's narrative is his relationship with Carolyn, his profoundly disabled sister. Virtually incapable of speech, resistant to every attempt at toilet training, and prone to obsessive-compulsive behavior, her presence in the household takes a heavy toll on the other family members. Her mother retreats to the bedroom, her father mysteriously disappears every Tuesday and Bob, despite his great affection and concern, seeks solace in the library, museums, and the theater. As a fifth grader, he first encounters Shakespeare, whose eloquent language displaces the tense silence of his home. As he remarks: "Poetry became a beautiful place to hide from my life and my parents, a place I knew they'd never follow me to." (p. ll2)
The book's apt title relects Smith's initial involvement with an actual production when, as a sixteen year old, he becomes a dresser for the American Shakespeare Festival's "Hamlet." His fascination with the theater does not translate into serious aspirations as an actor. Rather, he elects to develop the stage management skills essential to the support of a successful production. As he admits in a brief backstage encounter with Katherine Hepburn, "I'm a watcher." Yet, as the mature narrator remarks, "Too much watching can make you passive and afraid. Ask Hamlet." (137)
After eighteen years of watching (and caring for) his sister, Smith witnesses his parents' decision to place her in an institution. His anguish finds expression in an emotional performance as the crown bearer in "Richard the Second." Some forty years will pass before the "coward brother" can summon the courage to visit the woman whom he feels he has foresaken and to whom this compelling memoir is dedicated
Rating:
Summary: 'It adds a precious seeing to the eye'
Review: BOB SMITH LOVES Shakespeare, loves words. He observes his mother in the chilly chiaroscuro of the front seat of the family Buick. In snow he stands waiting numb for number 23 cross-town. Bob traverses New York to deliver his own-styled classes on Shakespeare to groups of seniors, making the bard relevant for them, making his words live and breath as he mines the entire oeuvre with its frequent references to their own life experiences and problems. While seniors nod in recognition, he reads from Henry V, `A good leg will fall, a stringent back will stoop, a black beard will turn white, a fair face will wither.` While Smith tells of how he found his place in the sun, out of the sun, starting humbly as Hamlet`s dresser in Stratford, Connecticut, he uses quotes so proficiently, they never appear pretentious. He introduces us to his severely challenged younger sister, cleverly quoting the Queen`s speech from Hamlet concerning troubled Ophelia. Remarkable for a young person, Smith devotes endless hours to his sister`s comfort. Coping with her brings powerful emotions to the beginning third of the book. His mother`s mind wanders too, so he dives into Macbeth: Not so sick, my Lord, as she is troubled with thick-coming fancies. In this memorable mélange, Smith reveals unusual portraits of theatre greats for whom he worked, including Katharine Hepburn, Bert Lahr, John Houseman, Robert Ryan. However, he returns frequently to etch for us another memorable picture of the elderly sinking into the farrago of old age, looking for and finding safety, acceptance and recognition in Smith`s unique propagations.
Rating: 
Summary: Discovering the World of Shakespeare
Review: Hamlet's Dresser is Bob Smith's memoir about his life going up with a severely retarded sister, a detached father, and overwrought mother. He tells of his escape of this environment and lonely childhood when he discovers the language and world of William Shakespeare. It is not a book about Bob Smith's devotion to his sister, but his endeavor to escape the confines of his sister even though he loved her very much. The main aspect of the book was his intertwining of Shakespearian passages in describing his past life and his present life when he teaches the elderly the wonders of the Bard. This in itself really opens up so many facets of how he felt. He is the Hamlet of his life and his mother is Lady MacBeth with his sister being Ophelia. Though his writing is rather florid at times, this is an amazing first book by Mr. Smith. Without the Shakespearian prose interspersed throughout the passages, it might have been just another memoir, but Mr. Smith has turned it into a book that flows. The reader can even start comparing aspects of their own life with Shakespeare just as the elderly do in his classes. Read it and compare it with your own life.
Rating:
Summary: A Christmas suggestion
Review: I am sending this extraordinary book to all my friends for Christmas. You will want to, too
Rating:
Summary: A Christmas suggestion
Review: I am sending this extraordinary book to all my friends for Christmas. You will want to, too
Rating:
Summary: Well-written and moving memoir
Review: I first learned about Hamlet's Dresser in a mini-review in the Weekend section of the Wall Street Journal. As a lover of Shakespeare, I was intrigued and bought the book. What I soon learned a few chapters in was that the book was much more than just about Shakespeare and the author's love for the Bard. It was a deeply moving story of a man who had to overcome difficult personal obstacles to lead a productive life that included the teaching of Shakespeare to diverse audiences. My 14 year old daughter also read the book and was as enthusiastic as I am about it. Hamlet's Dresser deserves to be widely reviewed and read.
Rating:
Summary: A different perspective...
Review: I haven't finished the book yet, but it is indeed hard to put down once started. There are times that it doesn't flow smoothly, and times that it sweeps you away. But I wanted to explain that what I find captivating are the parts about the wisdom of age. Bob Smith has found himself at home among the elderly of our population. They connect with Shakespeare through Bob... and you will connect with them all. I won't say that as yet I am finding Shakespeare any easier to read, but I am understanding it better... if that makes sense.
Rating: 
Summary: Needed more Shakespeare
Review: I picked up this memoir based on a blurb that mentioned the author's connection to the Stratford, Connecticut Shakespeare festival. Having had a single opportunity to attend this (Christopher Walken's Hamlet!) event, I was hoping for some insight and history of the event. Instead, I found out far too much about Smith's problems; of his difficulties coping with a family that was overwhelmed by having a severely disabled child in the home (Smith's sister), and very little about Stratford's festival. Well, shame on me for buying into a blurb, but I still found the book very disappointing. Focusing basically on his youth, and his later contributions to the community by running Shakespeare reading groups at senior centers in NYC, HAMLET'S DRESSER, needs far more Shakespeare. When Shakespeare does appear, the book comes to life. The joy senior citizens get from the reading groups, Smith's fascination with Shakespeare that led to a life immersed in his works, and especially in the sections where Smith discusses the actors he had an opportunity to work with is where this book truly becomes interesting. Katherine Hepburn, June Havoc, and Bert Lahr all make memorable appearances. The chapter where Smith discusses going on tour with Lahr gives the reader a wonderful glimpse into what it is like to work with a talented yet irascible actor on the road with all of its joys and pitfalls. Sadly, there are not enough of these journeys in this book. I feel some empathy for Smith's trials and tribulations, yet they didn't make for interesting reading. The troubled tales of his youth seem better suited to a therapist's office as opposed to a memoir. They truly pale in comparison to his tales of the theater, which when shared with the reader make for some fine storytelling. If the focus had stayed with Shakespeare and the theater I feel this could have been a wonderful book, as it stands it is a flawed a bit boring overall.
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