Truth Be Told

Carmen by Walter Dean Myers

Posted: 10 May 2011 10:31 PM PDT

Carmen

Written by: Walter Dean Myers

Published in: April 2011

Published by: Egmont USA

160 Pages

Format: ARC

Source: Publisher

Synopsis
Into the summer heat of New York's Spanish Harlem strides Carmen, a chica who is as hot as the sizzling city streets. When she first meets José, she falls for him hard. He's not like the gansta types she knows—tipo duros who are tough, who think they are players. But José has a quick temper, and he likes to get his own way. And nobody gets in Carmen's way.

When Escamillo rolls into town, everyone takes notice of the Latino Jay-Z—a quadruple-threat singer/rapper/producer/businessman. But he only notices one person—Carmen. And Carmen has given up on José—he's not going to get her out of her tough neighborhood, el barrio, and into the action. Escamillo will.

But José won't let that happen.

Passion, love, and betrayal explode into tragedy in this modern retelling of an enduring love story.

My Review
Carmen was a rollercoaster ride of emotions. This story moved quickly and drew me in story from the very first scene. If you enjoy reading plays, you will definitely want to pick this one up.

The characters in this play have very imaginable personalities. Each one has their own unique way of speaking and/or singing. By the end of the play you can even figure out who is speaking without looking at the name.

I enjoyed that this story was so passionate, much like the original opera Carmen. This play also stuck to the Latin routes and basic opera plot.

The setting and scene descriptions were very detailed. There was a decent amount of information given without overwhelming the reader. The first opening scene was a great example of Myer's writing abilities. The factory was so easy to picture, not only in my mind but on a stage. I would love to see someone actually preform this play live.

There were a few points when I wished I could have had a little more in the story. I would have loved to read more about the credit card fraud operation. Other than that, this book is great. I love reading plays, so reading in this script format wasn't frustrating at all for me.