Scan barcode
A review by bluestarfish
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
5.0
If "they lived happily ever after" is not an ending and merely a coda then Jeanette Winterson posits there are three ways a story ends: revenge, tragedy, or forgiveness. She is interested in forgiveness. "Forgiveness is a word like tiger-there’s footage of it and verifiably it exists but few of us have seen it close and wild or known it for what it is."
This was the novel that launched the retelling of Shakespeare stories and it is a joy to hear Winterson's cover version. I have to say I am more familiar with Winterson than Shakespeare so I enjoyed this one a lot (and now need to look up the play). Using video gaming to represent the supernatural elements is pretty clever too. The image from the poet's dream of the angel stuck in the courtyard not able to leave without destroying everything around it, and not able to survive in the courtyard either, is a very striking one and no wonder it haunts the characters and echoes through the story.
This was the novel that launched the retelling of Shakespeare stories and it is a joy to hear Winterson's cover version. I have to say I am more familiar with Winterson than Shakespeare so I enjoyed this one a lot (and now need to look up the play). Using video gaming to represent the supernatural elements is pretty clever too. The image from the poet's dream of the angel stuck in the courtyard not able to leave without destroying everything around it, and not able to survive in the courtyard either, is a very striking one and no wonder it haunts the characters and echoes through the story.