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A review by flappermyrtle
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
4.0
Well. After the first 50 pages or so I was positively shocked. In a good way. The start of this novel is like watching a car crash take place, right in front of you. It is intense, bold, and grabs you by the throat.
Having said that, time for a little background information. The Gap of Time is a rewriting of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, which is not one of his major plays and barely ever brought on stage. Winterson explains that she picked this for its resonance with her own life, as it deals with a lost baby, and she herself was adopted as a baby.It is the first in a series of rewritings, which features a list of well-known writers and more well-known plays (really excited for Atwood's redo of The Tempest!).
Onto the book, then. The characters still felt Shakespearean to me, modernised of course, but they still had a certain Renaissance elegance to them. Winterson's lyrical language is perhaps less present than in novels like Written on the Body and The Power Book, a necessity when one must obey a plot. Still, there are plenty of moments when it surfaces, and the reader can get lost in its simple beauty.
I loved The Gap of Time for its acuteness, its language, its clever updating of Shakespeare. The one criticism I have is not so much on Winterson's head, but on Shakespeare's - the ending does not seem to flow very organically from the rest of the story. It is wonderful, magical even, to reunite the early generation and the later one, to show a promise for the future, but it just felt a little too good. With a novel this visceral, a happy ending seems somewhat out of place. But, alas, Shakespeare made it a comedy, and thus a comedy it must be, even 500 years later.
I'd very highly recommend this novel to those unfamiliar with Winterson's work, as well as returning fans. I feel it is perhaps easier to access than some of her earlier novels, yet still clearly bears her mark on it. Can't wait for the next one.
Having said that, time for a little background information. The Gap of Time is a rewriting of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, which is not one of his major plays and barely ever brought on stage. Winterson explains that she picked this for its resonance with her own life, as it deals with a lost baby, and she herself was adopted as a baby.It is the first in a series of rewritings, which features a list of well-known writers and more well-known plays (really excited for Atwood's redo of The Tempest!).
Onto the book, then. The characters still felt Shakespearean to me, modernised of course, but they still had a certain Renaissance elegance to them. Winterson's lyrical language is perhaps less present than in novels like Written on the Body and The Power Book, a necessity when one must obey a plot. Still, there are plenty of moments when it surfaces, and the reader can get lost in its simple beauty.
I loved The Gap of Time for its acuteness, its language, its clever updating of Shakespeare. The one criticism I have is not so much on Winterson's head, but on Shakespeare's - the ending does not seem to flow very organically from the rest of the story. It is wonderful, magical even, to reunite the early generation and the later one, to show a promise for the future, but it just felt a little too good. With a novel this visceral, a happy ending seems somewhat out of place. But, alas, Shakespeare made it a comedy, and thus a comedy it must be, even 500 years later.
I'd very highly recommend this novel to those unfamiliar with Winterson's work, as well as returning fans. I feel it is perhaps easier to access than some of her earlier novels, yet still clearly bears her mark on it. Can't wait for the next one.