My Name Is Will: A Novel Of Sex, Drugs, And Shakespeare

My Name is Will is Jess Winfield's debut novel.

In the 1980s a struggling thesis writer, UC Santa Cruz grad student, Willie Shakespeare Greenberg decides to deliver some drugs to make some money after being cut off by his father for laziness. Willie soon finds himself a target in the Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. In the 1580s, William Shakespeare is presented before becoming a great playwright and as an oppressed Catholic. William is an 18-year-old womanizing youth, only just discovering his talents and the Catholic underground in England.

The two seemly separate lives parallel through women, drugs, and politics. Willie must balance a long distance relationship with a long time girlfriend and the many women he meets along the way. Willie is stuck trying to deliver drugs without getting caught and thrown into jail do to the new laws against drug carrying. While, William finds out about the pregnancy of Anne Hathaway, forced into a shotgun wedding and is faced with being a Catholic in a Protestant Elizabethan England.

Winfield flips effortlessly between the two stories and time periods. This book shows Winfield's knowledge of Shakespeare without making it a scholarly read. If you are a reader familiar with Shakespeare you will be able to find all of the references to Shakespearean work. If not the story is still enjoyable. The references are well incorporated into the reading and the story. A great example and well as my favorite line in the book was on page 242, 'Given the choice, to be or not to be