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bluestarfish's review against another edition
5.0
If "they lived happily ever after" is not an ending and merely a coda then Jeanette Winterson posits there are three ways a story ends: revenge, tragedy, or forgiveness. She is interested in forgiveness. "Forgiveness is a word like tiger-there’s footage of it and verifiably it exists but few of us have seen it close and wild or known it for what it is."
This was the novel that launched the retelling of Shakespeare stories and it is a joy to hear Winterson's cover version. I have to say I am more familiar with Winterson than Shakespeare so I enjoyed this one a lot (and now need to look up the play). Using video gaming to represent the supernatural elements is pretty clever too. The image from the poet's dream of the angel stuck in the courtyard not able to leave without destroying everything around it, and not able to survive in the courtyard either, is a very striking one and no wonder it haunts the characters and echoes through the story.
This was the novel that launched the retelling of Shakespeare stories and it is a joy to hear Winterson's cover version. I have to say I am more familiar with Winterson than Shakespeare so I enjoyed this one a lot (and now need to look up the play). Using video gaming to represent the supernatural elements is pretty clever too. The image from the poet's dream of the angel stuck in the courtyard not able to leave without destroying everything around it, and not able to survive in the courtyard either, is a very striking one and no wonder it haunts the characters and echoes through the story.
katymaryreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book took me a while to get into, but once I did, it was unputdownable. The author manages to make one of Shakespeare's implausible plots both modern and believable. (Having said which, I've never read or seen The Winter's Tale, and now it's on my list to do both.) With one exception, I found myself rooting for each character at some point in the novel, flawed as they were, and even though many of them made very questionable choices at times. The ending was satisfying without being too neat, and I enjoyed the author's breaking of the fourth wall now and again and addressing the reader directly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Child death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Alcoholism
Minor: Infidelity and Mental illness
essjay1's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book - I felt like I was watching a movie. A bit like the “Ten things I hate about you” movie. This is a version of Shakespeare sped up for our century. I love A Winters Tale, and I love a good cover version. I think Winterson is a terrific writer, and this story is a page turner.
The new story and the original show us that human behaviour has not evolved in over 400 years ... we still make the same mistakes, we love and hate with passion, and we do better in a community than on our own.
The new story and the original show us that human behaviour has not evolved in over 400 years ... we still make the same mistakes, we love and hate with passion, and we do better in a community than on our own.
alison_marie's review
3.0
An odd yet delightful retelling of one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays.
melohpa's review against another edition
2.0
See my review at
https://topplingbookpile.blogspot.com/2021/01/gap-of-time-by-jeanette-winterson.html
https://topplingbookpile.blogspot.com/2021/01/gap-of-time-by-jeanette-winterson.html
kpjt_books's review
4.0
The Gape of Time is a retelling of Shakepeare's A Winter's Tale and Winterson does a masterful job of bringing the story to the present while still keeping a grasp on the subtle nuances of this late work of the Bard's. She kept so many things the same while bringing the characters and their stories straight into our time and our world (Polixenes is now Xeno the game designer!) - so much so that while you can sense Shakespeare there under the surface, Winterson has the story firmly in her masterful grasp and you can't help but be carried away.
I enjoyed the almost banal feel at times to this - it gets at the grittiness that is sometimes concealed in Shakespeare's word choice and buried in footnotes - as well as the stream of consciousness that is the undercurrent through much of the story.
Definitely worth a read.
“And the world goes on regardless of joy or despair or one woman's fortune or one man's loss. And we can't know the lives of others. And we can't know our own lives beyond the details we can manage. And the things that change us forever happen without us knowing they would happen. And the moment that looks like the rest is the one where hearts are broken or healed. And time that runs so steady and sure runs wild outside the clocks. It takes so little time to change a lifetime and it takes a lifetime to understand the change.” - Jeanette Winterson "A Winter's Tale"
I enjoyed the almost banal feel at times to this - it gets at the grittiness that is sometimes concealed in Shakespeare's word choice and buried in footnotes - as well as the stream of consciousness that is the undercurrent through much of the story.
Definitely worth a read.
“And the world goes on regardless of joy or despair or one woman's fortune or one man's loss. And we can't know the lives of others. And we can't know our own lives beyond the details we can manage. And the things that change us forever happen without us knowing they would happen. And the moment that looks like the rest is the one where hearts are broken or healed. And time that runs so steady and sure runs wild outside the clocks. It takes so little time to change a lifetime and it takes a lifetime to understand the change.” - Jeanette Winterson "A Winter's Tale"
em_harring's review
4.0
Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time is the first book to be released in the new Hogarth Shakespeare series, and as the synopsis indicates it’s a retelling (or “cover version”) of the play The Winter’s Tale. I’m a huge Shakespeare fan and have read The Winter’s Tale, and throughly enjoyed the way that Winterson handled the play in her novel.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Blogging for Books and Edelweiss. You can see the rest of my review here: https://eadelinereads.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/review-the-gap-of-time-by-jeanette-winterson/
I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Blogging for Books and Edelweiss. You can see the rest of my review here: https://eadelinereads.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/review-the-gap-of-time-by-jeanette-winterson/
alannah_m's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
aimeesbookishlife's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. A very good take on the original, but there were a few sections that felt clunky and awkward; it seemed like certain events only happened because they were in A Winter's Tale and the author didn't want to leave them out, but they didn't really fit in this newer version. Overall though, I enjoyed it a lot and found it hard to put down.