diff --git a/src/MAT.jl b/src/MAT.jl
index 5b55d2a..5baac22 100644
--- a/src/MAT.jl
+++ b/src/MAT.jl
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ VERSION >= v"0.4.0-dev+6521" && __precompile__()
 module MAT
 
 using HDF5, Compat
+using Compat.SparseArrays
 
 include("MAT_HDF5.jl")
 include("MAT_v5.jl")
diff --git a/src/MAT_HDF5.jl b/src/MAT_HDF5.jl
index d9707eb..952152c 100644
--- a/src/MAT_HDF5.jl
+++ b/src/MAT_HDF5.jl
@@ -130,19 +130,9 @@ function read_complex(dtype::HDF5Datatype, dset::HDF5Dataset, ::Type{Array{T}})
     end
     memtype = build_datatype_complex(T)
     sz = size(dset)
-    dbuf = Array{T}(2, sz...)
-    st = sizeof(T)
-    buf = reinterpret(UInt8, dbuf, (2 * st, sz...))
-    HDF5.h5d_read(dset.id, memtype.id, HDF5.H5S_ALL, HDF5.H5S_ALL, HDF5.H5P_DEFAULT, buf)
-
-    if T == Float32
-        d = reinterpret(ComplexF32, dbuf, sz)
-    elseif T == Float64
-        d = reinterpret(ComplexF64, dbuf, sz)
-    else
-        d = slicedim(dbuf, 1, 1) + im * slicedim(dbuf, 1, 2)
-    end
-    length(d) == 1 ? d[1] : d
+    dbuf = Array{Complex{T}}(undef, sz...)
+    HDF5.h5d_read(dset.id, memtype.id, HDF5.H5S_ALL, HDF5.H5S_ALL, HDF5.H5P_DEFAULT, vec(dbuf))
+    length(dbuf) == 1 ? dbuf[1] : dbuf
 end
 
 function m_read(dset::HDF5Dataset)
@@ -606,9 +596,9 @@ function read(obj::HDF5Object, ::Type{MatlabString})
         data = reshape(data, sz[2:end])
     end
     if ndims(data) == 1
-        return convert(String, convert(Vector{Char}, data))
+        return String(convert(Vector{Char}, data))
     elseif ndims(data) == 2
-        return datap = String[rstrip(convert(String, convert(Vector{Char}, vec(data[i, :])))) for i = 1:size(data, 1)]
+        return datap = String[rstrip(String(convert(Vector{Char}, vec(data[i, :])))) for i = 1:size(data, 1)]
     else
         return data
     end
@@ -618,8 +608,13 @@ function read(obj::HDF5Object, ::Type{Bool})
     tf > 0
 end
 function read(obj::HDF5Object, ::Type{Array{Bool}})
-    tf = read(obj, Array{UInt8})
-    reinterpret(Bool, tf)
+    if HDF5.isnull(obj)
+        return Bool[]
+    end
+    # Use the low-level HDF5 API to put the data directly into a Bool array
+    tf = Array{Bool}(undef, size(obj))
+    HDF5.h5d_read(obj.id, HDF5.hdf5_type_id(UInt8), tf, obj.xfer)
+    tf
 end
 
 ## Utilities for handling complex numbers
diff --git a/src/MAT_v5.jl b/src/MAT_v5.jl
index 92b4ceb..a449146 100644
--- a/src/MAT_v5.jl
+++ b/src/MAT_v5.jl
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 module MAT_v5
 using Libz, BufferedStreams, HDF5, Compat
+using Compat.SparseArrays
 import Base: read, write, close
 import HDF5: names, exists
 
@@ -136,6 +137,9 @@ end
 function read_data(f::IO, swap_bytes::Bool, ::Type{T}, dimensions::Vector{Int32}) where {T}
     (dtype, nbytes, hbytes) = read_header(f, swap_bytes)
     read_type = READ_TYPES[dtype]
+    if (read_type === UInt8) && (T === Bool)
+        read_type = Bool
+    end
 
     read_array = any(dimensions .!= 1)
     if sizeof(read_type)*prod(dimensions) != nbytes
@@ -328,12 +332,14 @@ function read_matrix(f::IO, swap_bytes::Bool)
     elseif class == mxCHAR_CLASS && length(dimensions) <= 2
         data = read_string(f, swap_bytes, dimensions)
     else
-        convert_type = CONVERT_TYPES[class]
-        data = read_data(f, swap_bytes, convert_type, dimensions)
-        if (flags[1] & (1 << 11)) != 0 # complex
-            data = complex_array(data, read_data(f, swap_bytes, convert_type, dimensions))
-        elseif (flags[1] & (1 << 9)) != 0 # logical
-            data = reinterpret(Bool, round_uint8(data))
+        if (flags[1] & (1 << 9)) != 0 # logical
+            data = read_data(f, swap_bytes, Bool, dimensions)
+        else
+            convert_type = CONVERT_TYPES[class]
+            data = read_data(f, swap_bytes, convert_type, dimensions)
+            if (flags[1] & (1 << 11)) != 0 # complex
+                data = complex_array(data, read_data(f, swap_bytes, convert_type, dimensions))
+            end
         end
     end
 
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 9ddf796..3cf30b4 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 using Compat
+using Compat.SparseArrays
+using Compat.LinearAlgebra
 
 include("read.jl")
 include("write.jl")