Based on ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ ‘Vinegar Girl’ is the story of Kate Battista. After leaving university early Kate’s life ended up revolving around caring for her Father and sister, and a job she didn’t really like. She was stuck, then her father introduced her to his assistant Pyotr and seems strangely eager for them to have a relationship.
Review
I’ve never read or seen the original Shakespeare of ‘Taming of the Shrew‘, my main knowledge of it comes from the film ‘10 Things I Hate About You‘, so I knew somewhat what to expect, but knew the film wasn’t the same as the original play.
I’ve never read any Anne Tyler before, although I had heard of her and know she’s popular. I probably wouldn’t have read this one if I didn’t know it was a re-working of Shakespeare. It just sounded too chick-litty. I am not completely anti-chick-lit but I don’t tend to read it as it can be sort of formulaic, and that makes it predictable.
I probably would categorise it as chick-lit, if pushed, although the romance side is not as exaggerated as it would be in most chick-lit, and there was more of an emphasis on Kate as a person. I liked the emphasis on Kate, and I liked her as a character, but I would have liked more romance too, even if it made the book more stereotypically chick-lit. The romance element just seemed very sudden, especially if I compare it to ’10 Things I Hate About You’.
I enjoyed the book overall. It was an easy read, and engaging. I had been feeling that I didn’t really know what to read, it was a good gap filler. I’d like to read some of the others in the Hogarth Shakespeare series.
3/5
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(That trailer is so 90s!)
