Review: By Any Other Name

Author: Jodi Picoult

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Rating: 4 / 5

Features:

• An Elizabethan era historical fiction mirrored by a contemporary story line 

• An exploration of women’s struggle to have their voices heard in the arts

• Dramatization of the theory that some or all of Shakespeare’s plays were written by a woman

Summary:

After a reading of Melina’s latest play ends in disaster, it seems that her promising career as a playwright might end before it could even begin. But a play inspired by her ancestor, Emilia Bassano, might be her last chance to break into the spotlight. Melina’s story threatens to make waves as it presents Emilia as the true author of Shakespeare’s works. However, when the fear of bias against her as a female playwright makes Melina hesitate to submit what she knows is her best play yet, her roommate submits it for her under a pseudonym. Both Melina and Emilia’s stories unfold in parallel as both try to have their voices heard in a world dominated by men.

Thoughts:

I was so excited to pick up By Any Other Name after reading the description. Jodi Picoult always explores interesting and difficult topics in her storytelling, so that made me even more excited to see how this one would unfold. However, even though all of the ingredients are there and this is a very enjoyable read, it didn’t quite hit it out of the ballpark for me. Though the book starts by following Melina, the majority of it focuses on Emilia which I found extremely compelling. Though Emilia criticizes and pushes against societal norms, she does so by learning how to navigate the political minefield and is a great example of a woman showing strength and resistance without being a social bulldozer. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Melina with her story feeling more like a spot to dump exposition and state the themes being explored. It has a little bit of charm and a like how it unfolds in parallel to Emilia’s, but it ultimately took this book from a potential 5 star read to a 3.5 - 4 star experience.

I love a good historical fiction and this one was clearly well researched. There are many theories out there surrounding William Shakespeare’s works and I found the exploration of this one very interesting. Melina’s parallel story set in the present is a clever way to show how women are still struggling to have their voices heard and rely on similar tactics to break into male-dominated spaces even all of these years later. However, there are multiple times where I think Melina as a character almost undermines the message. Not only does she spend a significant amount of time stating and explaining the themes, these opinions also feel unearned by this character. All of the issues Melina brings up are absolutely true, but she doesn’t experience them in an authentic way in the story that gives her statements impact. This is more true at the beginning of the book than the end, but it has the unfortunate effect of making Melina seem overly dramatic and not entirely trustworthy in her assessment of the situation. The stagnation of her storyline as the book progresses also negatively impacted the pace of the book for me and made it feel unnecessarily long. However, the strength of the book as a whole helped me push through some of these less compelling sections.

Get this book!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!