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Hamlet is one of the most tragic figures in literature: His father's ghost haunts him; his
mother marries his uncle before the grave is cold; his childhood friends betray him; the
love of his life kills herself; and he is poisoned by his best friend's sword. Add to
these unfortunate turns of events his tendency towards self-doubt, and it is difficult to
imagine a more tragic or action-less hero.
Enter Shea Hickson, the first-person narrator of IT'S WHAT HE WOULD'VE WANTED. Shea is
having a bad time: The love of his life left him for his younger, more successful,
brother; a one-night stand makes him a father; he's neck-deep in an organization that
terrorizes the media and celebrities; and, his father has just committed suicide. Add to
this Shea's lack of ambition, and the shadowy figure of a modern-day Hamlet emerges.
Shea's twisted Hamlet-like tale begins with the unexpected death of his father, a BBC
weatherman. The suicide startles Shea into a single-minded pursuit to finally, if
belatedly, understand the man who gave him life. The ghost, in Shea's case, haunts him in
the form of his father's diaries. Deciphering the diaries becomes Shea's purpose in life;
he, like Hamlet, is bent on avenging his father's death.
Pursuit of the people and events memorialized in the diaries takes Shea across the water
to Australia. There he meets Robert Townsend, a beneficiary of his father's will. It seems
that, like father like son, Robert is the result of a disastrous one-night stand.
Absurdly, the illegitimate brother bears a striking resemblance to Shea and shares his
birthday. As Shea remarks, "he was what I would have looked like if I'd taken better
care of myself." Ironically, this half-Doppelgänger is to Shea what Fortinbras is to
Hamlet: a man of action and success.
Absurdity is heavy in IT'S WHAT HE WOULD'VE WANTED. Sean Hughes is a well-known Irish
comic in England, which should warn readers that the humor is dark, subtle and ironic.
Hughes even mocks his own creation's paralyzing overanalyzing by introducing Gabrielle, a
prostitute ("Get thee to a nunnery," Hamlet whispers). She doesn't wait for Shea
to finish thinking --- by the time he has made up his mind to act, she's beaten him to the
punch. In a moment of comic inspiration, Hughes has Gabrielle send Shea back to his bleak
London existence with two pocket statues of an owl. This gift from a lady of the night
infuses Shea with the desire to lay his shadows to rest, and he returns to London ready to
join the mundane world of the working class.
As his quest to illuminate his father's past fizzles, Shea's life continues its barrage of
unfortunate incidents. His brother disappears, his mother gains a fiancé, and his
terrorist organization won't let him quit. The unrelenting twists of events connect in a
rather abrupt denouement, which may be Hughes's way of attracting a movie deal.
Unlike Hamlet, however, Shea Hickson would not translate well to the cinematic world. The
character's memoir-like narration doesn't have the same dramatic effect as, say, a
Shakespearean soliloquy. Instead, Shea's self-deprecating and wandering thoughts invoke a
stereotypical aging Generation X-er, which should appeal nicely to all us aging,
stereotypical Generation X-ers. Hopefully turning 30, again or for the first time, won't
prompt life to cast us in an Elizabethan play as told by an Irish comic. I don't think
anyone could survive what Hughes puts Shea Hickson through. Not even Hamlet.
--- Reviewed by Amee Vyas
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