---
product_id: 54192968
title: "Hag-Seed: the tempest retold Hardcover – 6 Oct. 2016"
brand: "margaret atwood"
price: "AR$151132"
currency: ARS
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 18
url: https://www.desertcart.com.ar/products/54192968-hag-seed-the-tempest-retold-hardcover-6-oct-2016
store_origin: AR
region: Argentina
---

# Hag-Seed: the tempest retold Hardcover – 6 Oct. 2016

**Brand:** margaret atwood
**Price:** AR$151132
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Hag-Seed: the tempest retold Hardcover – 6 Oct. 2016 by margaret atwood
- **How much does it cost?** AR$151132 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.ar](https://www.desertcart.com.ar/products/54192968-hag-seed-the-tempest-retold-hardcover-6-oct-2016)

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A magical storm of retribution from the pen of a great storyteller
  

*by S***N on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 May 2018*

As befits a prose treatment of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Margaret Atwood’s Hag-Seed plots the story of a deposed arts festival director, Felix Philips (Atwood’s Prospero), and his exile to the backwoods. The notions of exile and prisons is explored through him, and other characters in the book. Do we make our own prisons, can we escape them, what part can retribution play in settling old scores and forging ahead with something better and more just?  The magic, is of course, the magic of theatre and the arts. Spirits, again, may or may not be real and Felix very much has his own ghost to deal with.Atwood toys with time in this story so that the actual Tempest is literally a play within the story. She makes it work by tying that play in thematically with Felix’s story.  There is only one indulgence expected of the reader, which is to accept the notion of love at first site, which is managed, naturally, by Ariel.As you would expect, the main female character is strong and independent, though her working relationship with Felix as a father figure is to their mutual benefit. Felix also has a female helper in power. She believes in what he is doing with theatre in prison, whereas the conniving politico males do not. The other female is a sort of ghost, Felix’s female side perhaps? I did wonder if the author was tempted to site the action in a women’s prison, though this might have caused problems with the Miranda-Ferdinand conclusion; besides Margaret Atwood has portrayed imprisoned women before, not least in The Handmaid’s Tale.The culture of sexuality in male prisons is sidestepped, though I suspect the author had to do some deep thinking here. There are issues that Felix needs to overcome in terms of casting a “fairy” with all its implications. It must have crossed Margaret Atwood’s mind to delve into that area, but it really is very much a culture of its own and probably something of a minefield for any writer. What’s more, an exploration of male-male prison sexuality would have needed more attention and most probably increased the length of a superbly compact and well-crafted story.The book also explores the themes of death and grief and the role of the arts in prison reform. It will appeal to those who love Shakespeare, however, it works purely as a great story in its own right.  Every word counts in this finely tuned novel and it’s a total breeze to read. Margaret Atwood surely is a magical writer.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Imgainative and enjoyable retelling of the Tempest
  

*by B***M on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 August 2018*

It's often when an author writes something outside their usual style that you realise just how good they really are.  This is true of Margaret Atwood.  She's already got a good range of works under her belt, but this is a bit different again and is really skilfully executed.  As the subtitle suggests, it's a retelling of Shakespeare's classic play, the Tempest.  A plot summary of the Tempest is at the end of the novel - but may have been more helpful at the beginning.  If you aren't familiar with the play, I think it would be worth reading the summary first.Atwood moves the Shakespearian setting to a Canadian jail in 2013.  Felix, a previously successful theatre director, has fallen on hard times after the death of his wife and daughter and having been ousted from his job running a play festival.  He finds a job teaching Shakespeare to prisoners and staging plays, and several years after his downfall, this role provides him an unexpected opportunity for a complicated revenge on those who usurped him.Felix is a sympathetic enough protagonist, and he is surrounded by strong supporting characters in the form of the prisoners and guards he works with.  It's really well written, as you'd expect from Atwood.  The pacing is good, it's gripping, it's easy to read and engaging from the start.  It's true that elements of the plot are extremely far fetched, but Atwood can be excused to some extent as she did not create the source material.  There were some places where I thought she could have subverted Shakespeare's original with better overall effect, whilst not undermining the spirit of the source material.  The main example of this would spoil it for readers though so I won't expand.All the same, I can forgive a higher level of coincidence and implausibility because of the remit to retell what was a fantastical tale in the first place.  Overall, her ideas work well and it's an book that can be thoroughly enjoyed.  As someone who knows the Tempest very well, I found it easy to follow and pick up the parallels.  As mentioned, I suspect readers who are not so familiar with the play will enjoy the book more if they read a synopsis of it first.  This is a novel you can suspend your scepticism and simply enjoy.  It reminds me that Atwood is really skilful writer and it's great to see authors trying different things.

### ⭐ 







  
  
    Wasted reading time I'll never get back...
  

*by S***M on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 January 2018*

I was very disappointed. The plot was flimsy and I found it almost entirely unbelievable. I love The Tempest but felt this was a poor representation of it. The part where the play is finally produced really is wasted reading time, the book just seemed to stumble along getting repetitive, yet most of the characters were never really developed so it left a something and nothing, unsatisfying feeling. I was extremely surprised at this from Margaret Atwood as I have loved a lot of her work

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*Product available on Desertcart Argentina*
*Store origin: AR*
*Last updated: 2026-03-08*