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psellars11 's review for:
By Any Other Name
by Jodi Picoult
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
“there once was a girl a beginning and an end… there was a story whether or not others chose to listen…”
After finishing this book, I feel almost empty after the series of rapid emotions I drifted through in the space of a few hours. Firstly, Jodi Picoult is a fantastic historical fiction author. Her keen attention to research and detail made this book come alive as I felt immersed in the world of women during Elizabethan times. Nothing could have prepared me for the historical accuracy and sensitive rendering which she provided Emilia Bassano.
Overall rating: 4.5 stars.
Emilia’s story line: 5/5
Melina’s story: 3/5.
Emilia’s story line had me absolutely hooked. I love the idea of questioning the patriarchal realms of art and literature, and reframing them to place women back into the narrative. I know this was just historical fiction but it felt so deeply convincing as if it had to be true. Essentially the premise of the book is Picoult questioning the authority of Shakespeare’s works. How could someone who worked full time write 37 plays when there was no tangible proof. To answer this, she crafts a narrative following the life of a real woman, a published author, Emilia Bassano, to uncover a possible storyline that has been overlooked.
Emilia’s story begins as a young girl. She is seen playing and learning, being educated by a genteel woman. She quickly learns that women have very little say in their lives, they are moved and bartered as pawns. She is sent to live with a baron, who totes her around the Danish court. It becomes clear that she has no maternal anchor in her life as she experiences her first period and is alone, convinced she is bleeding out and must be mentored by ladies of the court. The early parts of her childhood felt a bit superfluous until they become relevant again towards the end of the plot and in the author’s notes.
Also important to note: Emilia being Italian and Jewish also becomes a significant focus. This is because of her olive toned skin making people view her as an “exotic” beauty among the white, pale Europeans at court, and her Jewish identity is kept personal. I loved that the author wove this into the story periodically with moments of practicing her religion in secret.
In the next phase of life, Emilia is then she is given to a courtesan, Isabella who would become a mentor and friend. Isabella taught Emilia how to please men so that she may be matched with someone noble. Her cousins essentially give her to a man, Lord Chamberlain of Queen Elizabeth I, also known as Hundson. He is in charge of many of the plays and theater productions. Initially distraught, she learns to accept her new role and enjoy its advantages. Her lord is honestly, one of the better men she could’ve had. He cared and appreciated her for 10 years until… she became pregnant. It is unclear if she fell pregnant because of Hundson or her affair she with Lord of Southampton. This will become the man she fixated on and loves the rest of her life.
The affair scenes were my favorites. And her relationship with her son, Henry. The moments southampton shared with her colored the bleak tapestry of Emilia’s life with vibrant moments filled with happiness and pure joy. He cared for her even when she was married off to a man named Alfonso, one of her distant cousins. Their marriage was painted to be extremely unhappy and abusive, unfortunately an uncommon reality for many women. Southampton periodically reappeared to bolster her mood and support her, but Emilia was trapped and legally owned by her husband, so there was only so much she could do. Alfonso’s relationship with her was a bit triggering so if you are sensitive to that, beware.
These experiences mirror some of the literature that Emilia allegedly writes. Because of her relationship with Hundson, she meets a man named Kit who becomes her best friend. He introduces her to writing and they work together, and he even supports her brokering a deal to ghost write for Shakespeare. This would provide her with anonymity to publish while also providing funds for her family. The themes of writing grow after her relationship with Southampton, inspiring her first play, Venus and Adonis. Her crappy relationship with Alfonso helped inspire Taming of the Shrew and other violent tragedies to help her vent out her anger. I found these correlations to be extremely relatable as writers often cloak themselves to an extent by secretly incorporating self inserted pieces of feelings, memories, people, places, or attributes into their writing.
The rest of the book honed jn on the harsh world that women lived in, from struggling to feed their families, to being beaten, the fears of childbirth, and depression as result of feeling unfulfilled. I appreciated the discussion of Emilia’s relationships with other women, her court cases representing herself, and ways she tried to make money. I felt that these complex narratives did a fantastic job of not only illustrating why feminism helped women, but also, how the patriarchal societies of the past really left women downtrodden. They had to actively seek other means of finding agency via friendships, work, and lives outside their families. Sometimes they leveraged the only currency they had - their bodies.
This was all mirrored in what was happening in the 21st century with Melina. Melina, a struggling playwright, is burned publicly by a critic named Jasper Toll. She spends years plotting revenge. She is toooo embarrassed to submit her play “By any other name” after being shamed by Jasper, so her friend Andre drunkenly submits it for her under the name Mel. It’s accepted since they think a man does it.
The timeline with Melina got kind of confusing with constant back and forth, but the structure was to sandwich her current reality, with the play she wrote about Emilia, and then to shift to the story of Emilia. I felt like her storyline was fine but it veered on the point of being overly preachy about feminism and being politically aware, which, I think most of us that are reading this kind of literature are aware of. I didn’t particularly feel a need to keep getting this message driven home by the plot, but I hope the right audience received it.
I liked that Picoult used current events such as Covid, quarantining, and real nyc struggles like taking the subway to add miscommunications in a typical Shakespearean fashion, to also mirroring Jasper and Melina’s relationship with that of Emilia and her various men that she met. I didn’t feel as the contemporary portions were as strongly written, and I felt that Mel could be sometimes on the verge of annoying as a main character. The ending really got me choked up and crying. Emilia was so brave and so strong. She deserved the world ; I wish I could send her endless hugs and love and happiness.
The AUTHORS NOTE: please please read this. Everything came full circle after the last Emilia chapter. Which spoiler: I SOBBED when she made the journey to see Southampton’s crypt and her death scene. But the author’s note was amazing. I knew this was incredibly detailed and researched and Picoult went above and beyond detailing real receipts like diary entries and actual primary sources with traces of Emilia behind. It explains why she crafted the story the way she did. The mention of the miniatures at the V&A broke me. As a museum worker that really got me in my feels and I cried again. This was such a poetic way to have the story end.🩷🩷🩷
After finishing this book, I feel almost empty after the series of rapid emotions I drifted through in the space of a few hours. Firstly, Jodi Picoult is a fantastic historical fiction author. Her keen attention to research and detail made this book come alive as I felt immersed in the world of women during Elizabethan times. Nothing could have prepared me for the historical accuracy and sensitive rendering which she provided Emilia Bassano.
Overall rating: 4.5 stars.
Emilia’s story line: 5/5
Melina’s story: 3/5.
Emilia’s story line had me absolutely hooked. I love the idea of questioning the patriarchal realms of art and literature, and reframing them to place women back into the narrative. I know this was just historical fiction but it felt so deeply convincing as if it had to be true. Essentially the premise of the book is Picoult questioning the authority of Shakespeare’s works. How could someone who worked full time write 37 plays when there was no tangible proof. To answer this, she crafts a narrative following the life of a real woman, a published author, Emilia Bassano, to uncover a possible storyline that has been overlooked.
Emilia’s story begins as a young girl. She is seen playing and learning, being educated by a genteel woman. She quickly learns that women have very little say in their lives, they are moved and bartered as pawns. She is sent to live with a baron, who totes her around the Danish court. It becomes clear that she has no maternal anchor in her life as she experiences her first period and is alone, convinced she is bleeding out and must be mentored by ladies of the court. The early parts of her childhood felt a bit superfluous until they become relevant again towards the end of the plot and in the author’s notes.
Also important to note: Emilia being Italian and Jewish also becomes a significant focus. This is because of her olive toned skin making people view her as an “exotic” beauty among the white, pale Europeans at court, and her Jewish identity is kept personal. I loved that the author wove this into the story periodically with moments of practicing her religion in secret.
In the next phase of life, Emilia is then she is given to a courtesan, Isabella who would become a mentor and friend. Isabella taught Emilia how to please men so that she may be matched with someone noble. Her cousins essentially give her to a man, Lord Chamberlain of Queen Elizabeth I, also known as Hundson. He is in charge of many of the plays and theater productions. Initially distraught, she learns to accept her new role and enjoy its advantages. Her lord is honestly, one of the better men she could’ve had. He cared and appreciated her for 10 years until… she became pregnant. It is unclear if she fell pregnant because of Hundson or her affair she with Lord of Southampton. This will become the man she fixated on and loves the rest of her life.
The affair scenes were my favorites. And her relationship with her son, Henry. The moments southampton shared with her colored the bleak tapestry of Emilia’s life with vibrant moments filled with happiness and pure joy. He cared for her even when she was married off to a man named Alfonso, one of her distant cousins. Their marriage was painted to be extremely unhappy and abusive, unfortunately an uncommon reality for many women. Southampton periodically reappeared to bolster her mood and support her, but Emilia was trapped and legally owned by her husband, so there was only so much she could do. Alfonso’s relationship with her was a bit triggering so if you are sensitive to that, beware.
These experiences mirror some of the literature that Emilia allegedly writes. Because of her relationship with Hundson, she meets a man named Kit who becomes her best friend. He introduces her to writing and they work together, and he even supports her brokering a deal to ghost write for Shakespeare. This would provide her with anonymity to publish while also providing funds for her family. The themes of writing grow after her relationship with Southampton, inspiring her first play, Venus and Adonis. Her crappy relationship with Alfonso helped inspire Taming of the Shrew and other violent tragedies to help her vent out her anger. I found these correlations to be extremely relatable as writers often cloak themselves to an extent by secretly incorporating self inserted pieces of feelings, memories, people, places, or attributes into their writing.
The rest of the book honed jn on the harsh world that women lived in, from struggling to feed their families, to being beaten, the fears of childbirth, and depression as result of feeling unfulfilled. I appreciated the discussion of Emilia’s relationships with other women, her court cases representing herself, and ways she tried to make money. I felt that these complex narratives did a fantastic job of not only illustrating why feminism helped women, but also, how the patriarchal societies of the past really left women downtrodden. They had to actively seek other means of finding agency via friendships, work, and lives outside their families. Sometimes they leveraged the only currency they had - their bodies.
This was all mirrored in what was happening in the 21st century with Melina. Melina, a struggling playwright, is burned publicly by a critic named Jasper Toll. She spends years plotting revenge. She is toooo embarrassed to submit her play “By any other name” after being shamed by Jasper, so her friend Andre drunkenly submits it for her under the name Mel. It’s accepted since they think a man does it.
The timeline with Melina got kind of confusing with constant back and forth, but the structure was to sandwich her current reality, with the play she wrote about Emilia, and then to shift to the story of Emilia. I felt like her storyline was fine but it veered on the point of being overly preachy about feminism and being politically aware, which, I think most of us that are reading this kind of literature are aware of. I didn’t particularly feel a need to keep getting this message driven home by the plot, but I hope the right audience received it.
I liked that Picoult used current events such as Covid, quarantining, and real nyc struggles like taking the subway to add miscommunications in a typical Shakespearean fashion, to also mirroring Jasper and Melina’s relationship with that of Emilia and her various men that she met. I didn’t feel as the contemporary portions were as strongly written, and I felt that Mel could be sometimes on the verge of annoying as a main character. The ending really got me choked up and crying. Emilia was so brave and so strong. She deserved the world ; I wish I could send her endless hugs and love and happiness.
The AUTHORS NOTE: please please read this. Everything came full circle after the last Emilia chapter. Which spoiler: I SOBBED when she made the journey to see Southampton’s crypt and her death scene. But the author’s note was amazing. I knew this was incredibly detailed and researched and Picoult went above and beyond detailing real receipts like diary entries and actual primary sources with traces of Emilia behind. It explains why she crafted the story the way she did. The mention of the miniatures at the V&A broke me. As a museum worker that really got me in my feels and I cried again. This was such a poetic way to have the story end.🩷🩷🩷
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic