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Title: By Any Other Name
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Genre: Historical/Literary Fiction
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but my favorite books are the most difficult reviews for me to write. This was a favorite from last month, but I just haven’t been able to find the right words to articulate why; the words to give it the praise that it’s worthy of. But, I can say with certainty, though, that this one should absolutely be done on audio! It’s a full cast and simply brilliant. Thank you so much to @prhaudio for the listening copy!
I read a lot of historical and literary fiction, but I’m not sure I have ever read one with two timelines spanning so much time apart.
In the 1500s Shakespeare era we have Emilia Bossana who was a playwright, poet and possibly the ghostwriter for William Shakespeare. Then in present day the story is mirrored with Melina who is an ancestor. She decides to write a play about Emilia, but is struggling to see it come to fruition since the theatre world is still very much a man’s world. So, when her male best friend submits to a contest it under the name ‘Mel’ without her knowledge and the contest panel thinks she is a male and it wins, sure, she is mad at first, but then feels desperate for this story that gives a voice to women to be told.
“There once was a girl who became invisible, so that her words might not be.”
A few things to note, you don’t have to be a theatre lover, a Shakespeare guru or someone who believes in theories or possibilities to enjoy this. At it’s core it’s really about what it’s like to live as a women in different eras and venues. Why women continue to push back and fight to be heard. Another note is that the chapters are very long. I’m talking almost an hour long on audio!
“We know what we are, but not what we may be.”
“Even if you don’t feel the shade of the tree you planted, others will.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ All the stars, all the praise, highly, highly recommended! The perfect book to honker down with this fall or anytime.
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