PanThe GuardianLike Othello, New Boy is very much the story of the betrayer; Ian’s playground machinations as he plots to use Rod’s desire for Dee to break up the friendship between her and the new boy are a basic transplanting of Iago’s deceptions in the original. Granted, there are some interesting innovations...But in the end, I found it difficult to believe that I was reading the true lives of 11-year-olds. Setting the action over a single day telescopes the drama in a way that is perhaps too concentrated for a novel; too often the language, in dialogue and in the rendering of the children’s internal thoughts, takes on the distinct intonations of adult conversation ... My wish, as I read Chevalier’s ambitious novel, was for a more radical interpretation of Shakespeare’s play. I wanted to believe absolutely in these characters without necessary reference to their originals. New Boy’s direct transfer of the play from stage to page does not allow for a full development of the characters who are summoned into being.
