Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin

Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Release Date: February 18, 2020

BLOW ME AWAY, MY GOD! And now I need to give Macbeth a re-read. Holy hell. I will 100% be using this with students, there are so many interesting ways to do it!!!

Recommended: YES
For those who are not faint of heart, for an incredible parallel to Shakespeare’s Macbeth that still retains it’s own integrity, for darkness and viciousness in many forms, for complexities of vengeance and fate and evil

Summary:
Elle Khanjara loses her untouchable power status as an LA girl the night the golden boys of St. Andrews choose Elle as their next target. She crashed the wrong party, trusted the wrong boy, drank the wrong drink, but they picked the wrong girl. Sworn to vengeance, Elle transfers to St. Andrew’s. She plots to destroy each boy, one by one. She’ll take their power, their lives, and their control of the prep school’s hierarchy. And she and her coven have the perfect way in: a boy named Mack, whose ambition could turn deadly.

Thoughts:
I’d been avoiding this book. Frankly, I was judging it by the cover, because tbh the bight bold colors and Chiller-esque font made it seem really unimpressive and childish to me. Then I finally read the description, which included a trigger warning that it dealt with rape and the emotional consequences. I didn’t realize it had such a dark side, and that’s actually what drew me in. I also didn’t realize it would actually be such a parallel to Macbeth until I was a chapter in and meeting our wide crew of characters.

The language: vague yet beautiful. It’s almost poetic, which is a nice match to the story (play) it’s inspired by. Sometimes you’re not sure what’s real and what’s figurative, and that uncertainty works so well with the story to make it hard to trust your narrator. It’s a very powerful technique, and draws the story down so deep.

The inspiration: I can very clearly see the parallels to Macbeth, and for me it added so much to the story. It was such fun to see how events were similar, but interpreted in the modern context and with the situation that started it all. With that said, though, it wasn’t so much the same that it became a foil to the original. This book stands all on its own, and someone with no knowledge of Macbeth will get a lot out of it as well as someone who’s become a Macbeth Master.

The witchiness: I did not anticipate this, and a lot of the time characters who are not literal witches and refer to each other as their ‘coven’ can really turn me off for feeling childish. But this, this worked. Partly because these girls are fate, reflecting their other sides found in Macbeth.

The ending: I wasn’t sure how that would play out, and oh my god. Just…. oh my god. ♥

I’m DEFINITELY going to be using this in classes in the future. It’s quite dark though, so it would have to be with older students. There were times while reading where I had to take a break and read something lighter (I Love You So Mochi served me well) to detox a bit from the brutality. Might be a good idea to have one on reserve to break it up when you need to come up for air.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.



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