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A review by katykelly
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
5.0
Another modern take on Shakespeare - very appropriate setting, good playing with the misogyny of the original.
'Taming of the Shrew' is the one Shakespeare play I've come away from the theatre loathing. Some I've admittedly not understood fully, some I've found overblown or unrealistic (twins! hidden identities!) but the woman-hating in this just repulsed me. And yet '10 Things I Hate About You' is one of my favourite films. I was also willing to give Vinegar Girl a whirl, knowing how well Shakespeare translates to the modern world.
I was dubious as to how the misogyny would be re-written for the twenty-first century, but actually, I was very happy with the way it was included.
The story of a sour, sharp-tongued harridan becomes the story of a sarcastic, coasting woman, daughter to an oblivious, detached scientist. Kate lives with her researcher father, having stayed at home and unwittingly become a bit of a housewife to his needs and those of her teenage sister Bunny, a fairly vacuous high-school student. While Kate teeters on the verge of insulting one parent too many at the preschool daycare she works at, her father's Russian research assistant is about to get deported... unless Dr Battista can find a way to keep him in the country...
And so the set-up of shrew and potential marriage partner is arranged. Tyler very sweetly gives us scenes of battling wits and words, though not as brashly as Shakespeare's two. Kate for me was only ever a woman who knows she's not fulfilled her potential but still angry at the situation she finds herself in.
Dr Battista is given the sexist part to play, and because he's got his head in the clouds of Academia, he can get away with this. Pyotr is not Petruchio (thank goodness or I don't think I could have read the whole thing), he's not quite unwilling but he's certainly a gentleman and a good match for the unbending Kate.
It doesn't quite fit, having Kate bend to her father's wishes, doesn't quite suit the character Tyler builds up, but it has to happen for the plot to work.
Bunny is very much a secondary character but does manage to rise about pure stereotype.
It's a short novel, and I enjoyed it very much as a 'listen'. The narration worked well as an audiobook, with some great accents for Pyotr and the Battista family. The original structure is recognisable from this, but it brings a fresh and contemporary spin on the story, a very welcome one.
'Taming of the Shrew' is the one Shakespeare play I've come away from the theatre loathing. Some I've admittedly not understood fully, some I've found overblown or unrealistic (twins! hidden identities!) but the woman-hating in this just repulsed me. And yet '10 Things I Hate About You' is one of my favourite films. I was also willing to give Vinegar Girl a whirl, knowing how well Shakespeare translates to the modern world.
I was dubious as to how the misogyny would be re-written for the twenty-first century, but actually, I was very happy with the way it was included.
The story of a sour, sharp-tongued harridan becomes the story of a sarcastic, coasting woman, daughter to an oblivious, detached scientist. Kate lives with her researcher father, having stayed at home and unwittingly become a bit of a housewife to his needs and those of her teenage sister Bunny, a fairly vacuous high-school student. While Kate teeters on the verge of insulting one parent too many at the preschool daycare she works at, her father's Russian research assistant is about to get deported... unless Dr Battista can find a way to keep him in the country...
And so the set-up of shrew and potential marriage partner is arranged. Tyler very sweetly gives us scenes of battling wits and words, though not as brashly as Shakespeare's two. Kate for me was only ever a woman who knows she's not fulfilled her potential but still angry at the situation she finds herself in.
Dr Battista is given the sexist part to play, and because he's got his head in the clouds of Academia, he can get away with this. Pyotr is not Petruchio (thank goodness or I don't think I could have read the whole thing), he's not quite unwilling but he's certainly a gentleman and a good match for the unbending Kate.
It doesn't quite fit, having Kate bend to her father's wishes, doesn't quite suit the character Tyler builds up, but it has to happen for the plot to work.
Bunny is very much a secondary character but does manage to rise about pure stereotype.
It's a short novel, and I enjoyed it very much as a 'listen'. The narration worked well as an audiobook, with some great accents for Pyotr and the Battista family. The original structure is recognisable from this, but it brings a fresh and contemporary spin on the story, a very welcome one.