By Any Other Name: A Novel

I have read almost all of Jodi Picoult's books so I got this one and read it right away! It does have an interesting premise and like Crooked Branch interweaves the story of two female relatives from different times very well. However, I'm not sure if I was just in a bad mood while reading it but something about the book kind of depressed me...I think the past was pretty bleak and not sure how much I actually like reading about it, so I'm reading Harry Potter now to cheer me up haha :)

“By Any Other Name is truth born from doubt…A hoax can look like history…if you mistake mythology for truth…She considered the mythology that had sprung up around Shakespeare – his reputation for never having to revise his plays; his ability to write one commercial success after another despite also being a full-time actor; his unorthodox method of working alone instead of collaborating like other playwrights – and she shrugged. There were just some people who were meant to go through the world with a patina of invincibility glimmering on them, and he was one of them. And then, Emilia, reasoned there were people like her.” “Shakespeare had created some of the most clever, fierce, profeminist characters in all literature–Portia, Beatrice, Rosalind, Viola, Lady Macbeth, Juliet, Katherine, Cleopatra…They were feminists long before there was ever a woman’s movement…Every gap in Shakespeare’s life or knowledge that has had to be explained away by scholars, she somehow fills…Emilia Bassano deserved to be more than a footnote in someone else’s history.” “Being named was important. It gave you credit for the work you put into the world, but it also held you responsible for your words and deeds when you hurt the people you loved, even inadvertently…She believed words written by a woman about women might allow audiences to see them more fully, to realize that they had thoughts and dreams and worth…The fact that stories of women told by women are still rare onstage is insupportable. When women’s stories aren’t told, it suggests that women’s lives don’t matter…You know what does matter? Women lifting up other women.” “I used to like Shakespeare…Now I’m second-guessing everything. I know the authorship question has been around for centuries, but somehow it didn’t matter until By Any Other Name made it not about whether Shakespeare deserved the accolades, but about whether someone like Emilia deserved to be deprived of them.” I had not heard of Emilia before reading Jodi Picoult’s novel; now I will never forget her. I hope she’d be posthumously pleased.

I really like the premise behind this book and while I did enjoy parts, it was a long slow burn which is not really my style. Ultimately it was just okay. 6/10