Reviews - By Any Other Name

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

4.31k reviews for:

By Any Other Name

Jodi Picoult

4.17 AVERAGE

juliee181's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ppmarkgraf's review against another edition

0.25

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Seriously….I’ve hated Jodi’s books for years, but I did this 2025 book challenge with friends who suggested reads they loved, so I thought, “ok. I’ll try her again.” The premise was good, but then she got nauseatingly woke, preachy and apparently has some white guilt because she’s definitely projecting her own thoughts onto others. I started reading this against my own good judgment, and couldn’t take it any longer about halfway in. This is 100%, utter shit.

shannonphillips's review against another edition

3.0

emotional mysterious

bookishpsychologist's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

5 stars! At over 500 pages, I can see why this one got mixed reviews and many complained about the length. While I am usually one to criticize a book for being too long and needing to be pared down, I did not feel that way about By Any Other Name.

Picoult manages to weave a complicated and compelling tale of two women, one who is a struggling playwright living in present day Manhattan (Melina), and the other, a courtesan (read: an escort to the nobles) and poet in seventeenth century England (Emilia). The novel poses the long-fraught question of whether Shakespeare is really world's most accomplished author we think he is, or whether he had help from another.

In By Any Other Name, Picoult uses the real history of Emilia Bassano to craft a well-researched and moving tale of the struggles of women living under the patriarchy over the past 400+ years. It completely changed the way I view the works of Shakespeare and left me a believer in the notion that a woman actually penned some of his most famous plays!

lanielou's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

libraryjenn2002's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional informative tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This gave me a lot to think about. I have never been a huge Shakespeare fan, but have always admired his work. It’s just a lot to slog though. Looking at the details included by Piccoult makes me want to try one of the plays again.