Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Good for a beginner

Having only general knowledge of William Shakespeare this book helped give me a better understanding of the man and his writings. While others may debate the finer details of this book I can only talk about the easiness of the read. Parts of the book read as a novel and the book in general was a quite easy read. Mr. Greenblatt goes into the stories of those around William and how they and the political realm of the day could help shape Shakespeare into the person he became. While there are occasions where the author goes into realms he is unsure of and makes his own suggestions to what happened he is clear in noting that they are his suggestions and not facts. For this beginner it was a good start to learn more about Shakespeare and gave me an increased desire to read more of his works.