Vinegar Girl Breathes New Life Into Shakespearian Classic

One of the reasons I love reading Anne Tyler is her penchant for strong character development and character driven narrative. Vinegar Girl does not disappoint!

Vinegar Girl is Tyler take on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew . This is one of my favorite Shakespearian plays since learning in the 6th grade my grandmother had once won a jingle contest for her entry for the movie Kiss Me Kate . (We were an odd family that spent Saturday nights watching black and white films on PBS.) Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, I appreciated the feminist slant and strong female protagonist. Tyler maintains this in Kate Battista, eldest daughter of Dr. Louis Battista, research fellow for Johns Hopkins. I will let you read below the story synopsis provided by the publisher if you happen to be unfamiliar with this classic work.

Just 237 pages long, the novel is compact and a delightful afternoon read. I enjoy reading a modernization of Shakespeare’s works as it is always interesting to see what settings authors will choose to place the characters into as well as how the writer might tweak the character/s to fit. If you aren’t familiar with the original play, you may not even recognize this is a make-over. (I mean that as a compliment, not a criticism!) I loved the dramatic climax in the final chapter where Kate speaks her mind to the guests present at her wedding feast. She makes such growth throughout the book, I almost stood up to cheer when the classic moment arose.

Fans of Tyler will, I believe, enjoy this latest offering. If you’ve never read Anne Tyler, this is a fun way to discover her writing and style. Your book club will enjoy this too, (especially if you have chance to read the original or see one of the films based on it) there is quite a bit of fodder for discussion!

My thanks to Blogging For Books for the free copy I received in exchange for this honest review.

From the Publisher . . .

Pulitzer Prize winner and American master Anne Tyler brings us an inspired, witty and irresistible contemporary take on one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies.

Kate Battista feels stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she’s always in trouble at work – her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don’t always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner.

Dr. Battista has other problems. After years out in the academic wilderness, he is on the verge of a breakthrough. His research could help millions. There’s only one problem: his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr, all would be lost.

When Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he’s relying – as usual – on Kate to help him. Kate is furious: this time he’s really asking too much. But will she be able to resist the two men’s touchingly ludicrous campaign to bring her around?

About the Author . . .

ANNE TYLER was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is her twentieth novel; her eleventh, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dinner At the Homesick Restaurant

I believe that every person alive carries with him or her the wounds inflicted by life.

For some people, those wounds are gaping, festering sores which never seem to heal. They are obvious to the bearer who either tries to hide the wounds or flagrantly displays them for all to see.

For other folks the wounds are now barely visible scars—rarely noticed by themselves or others unless the light shines on the exact spot in just the right way. Then, in that moment, it might be remembered as something which has helped to make that person who he or she is.

The Tulls, parents and children alike, are no different. Anne Tyler’s characters in Dinner At the Homesick Restaurant reminded me of my own extended family of origin in many ways. Like Pearl, my own grandmother raised her three children, two boys and a girl, as a single parent back in the day when that sort of thing still had a negative social stigma about it. I have seen the sorts of behaviors and attitudes that result when one parent abandons a family—the sorts of questions and longings that result.

Tyler writes each chapter from the perspective of a different family member. I enjoy this style of writing and the way it allows an author to develop characters. I find it allows readers a certain knowledge and intimacy with the family, their relationships, and what makes each person in the novel “tick.”

After my book club read Tyler’s novel, Digging to America, about two families whose lives become intertwined when they meet each other at the airport where their adoptive children arrive, I knew I wanted to read more of her work. Dinner At the Homesick Restaurant rose to the top of my list when the first hints of autumn floated across my senses last week. Autumn has always been my favorite season. For me, it carries with it a certain amount of homesick longing—the exact type of longing experienced most by Ezra Tull. He spends a lot of time throughout the novel preparing food and arranging for a family dinner that will likely never measure up to his expectations because he longs for the idea of a family gathering. My homesick longing is, the older I get, for that nostalgic idea of family as well—the type of family and belonging which I imagine more as a feeling than a real, physical entity could capture.

Bravo to Tyler for another outstanding and enjoyable novel which was so easy to identify with!