tiffyb 's review for:

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
DID NOT FINISH: 45%
Based on the premise, I was so excited to read By Any Other Name, but here I am DNFing at 45%. 😭 

By Any Other Name is the story of Emilia Bassano, a young woman rumored to have been the true author of Shakespeare’s plays. The book jumps back and forth between the stories of Emilia Badsano and her descendant, Mel. 

Pros-
The research on 1500’s England felt impeccable. Even tho I really don’t know what I’m talking about lol, you can just tell that Jodi READ UP on this time period! Emilia’s timeline is absolutely drenched in rich detail. The author also easily convinced me that Emilia is the true author of Shakespeare’s plays lol, but maybe i just wanted to be convinced 🤣

Cons, AKA why I gave up😭-
  1. Mel’s timeline only exists to send one message: misogyny is alive and well. IMO, didn’t succeed at making this point.  Mel’s problems sound *extremely* trite when they are slotted between Emilia’s chapters. Bumbling from one talking point to the next, Mel and her BFF make <i>actual speeches</i> about misogyny, racism, and homophobia in nearly every chapter.  It was so effortful and preachy, especially since Mel’s problems are contrasted to Emilia’s problems!
  2.   Mel’s character development and storyline also felt lacking in depth. She’s frustratingly whiny and gives up SO easily, plus incredibly ungrateful for her very nice BFF, who basically seems to be keeping her alive in spite of his own obstacles. 
  3. Speaking of the BFF, he was the most cliche Gay Best Friend that could possibly be written and clearly just there for talking points (the number of times the author points out that he is <i>gay and black</i> is EXHAUSTING). I love a story that makes you think, but plzzzz just let the story speak for itself.
  4. Emilia’s story was more interesting to me, but tbh the author just enjoyed torturing Emilia for the sake of torturing her (I read the rest of the plot - it only gets worse from here🤪). 
  5. An uncomfortable portion of the book is detailing Emilia’s sex life - first as a tween with an old man, then as an adult with a teenaged boy🫣
  6. Glossing over the unnecessary underaged sex, it is disturbing to find out that, Emilia was 18 - not 13 - when she historically got married?! That was the final straw for me. The author <i>decided to make her 13 years old</i> AND THEN <i>decided to write detailed sex scenes</i> between her and 55 year old man?  It just felt sosososo icky and I couldn’t go on.  


Anyways huge miss for me, and I’m surprised at the number of positive reviews on this one tbh. 🤪 I would have loved just Emilia’s story had it been historically accurate. 
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