Recent Reviews
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
Jodi Picoult’s By Any Other Name is a must-read for Shakespeare lovers. This novel is a thought-provoking story based on research about the real-life Emilia Bassano, who lived in the 16th century and might have authored some of William Shakespeare’s plays. A second thread follows Melina Green, a fictional playwright living in present-day NYC. Male producers steadily reject her work until a friend submits one of her plays using a man’s name. Compelling and engaging, this novel celebrates the talents of two women seeking to bring their words to life despite the prejudice they face.
Because the book details the customs of Elizabethan England, including facts about Bassano’s life, the notion of her authorship of Shakespeare’s plays seems plausible. Collaborating and selling plays were part of the theater milieu. Bassano received a robust private education as a young girl and then was forced to become a mistress to Lord Chamberlain who oversaw all theater productions in England. Like other writers, she could have sold her plays to Shakespeare. That she was a talented writer is not in question. After years of prohibition, in 1611, Bassano was the first woman whose poetry was published in England.
Shakespeare, the writer and actor, is also a character in the novel. However, the narrative offers many facts (sources are listed in the author’s notes) and questions whether Shakespeare wrote all the plays attributed to him. Among the facts that caught my attention: he wrote strong female characters and yet had two daughters who could not read or write, he never traveled to the locations where some of his plays took place, and there is no record that Shakespeare played a musical instrument. Yet, his plays collectively have more than two thousand musical references. When he died, he left no books or manuscripts. Nor is he buried in Westminster Abbey like other revered writers of England.
As I pondered Picoult’s hypothesis, I reminded myself that history is written by those in power. The men in charge of the theater would not consider women capable of such erudition. But even if the novel’s premise is not proved over time, By Any Other Name is an engrossing story that highlights two women writers, one real and one fictional, living centuries apart, yearning for their voices to be heard. The story is a reminder that despite progress, parity between men and women has yet to be achieved. I highly recommend this novel. 4/5
We Were The Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
There are really no words to describe the vicious cruelty inflicted by the Nazis and their collaborators on Jewish communities during WWII. Many groups experienced the brutality of the Nazis. But the systematic terror of the Jews was beyond horrific. This novel is a testament to one family’s luck, grit and love during one of the darkest chapters of human history.
Georgia Hunter’s fictionalized story We Were The Lucky Ones is based on the experiences of the Kurc Family: her grandfather, his four siblings and their parents who lived in Radom, Poland. When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, the author’s grandfather and his siblings were all in their twenties. As Jews, their safety became tenuous since the Nazis had no problem dragging people from their homes to send them to camps or simply shooting them on the spot. The plight of all these family members is gripping as they make different decisions about how best to stay alive.
Millions of Jews were shot, starved, tortured, and treated like animals. Georgia Hunter’s family was indeed lucky to have survived. Their physical and emotional endurance was strong, while their stories were terrifying and miraculous. They all suffered through six years of fear, uncertainty, starvation, violence and brutality. The melding of non-fiction and fiction makes the book more complicated, yet reading what happened to the Kurc family is to bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust and the triumph of the human spirit. 4/5
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
This is a nuanced and deeply felt novel about the burden and gifts of familial love. It is an impassioned story of love and betrayal within a Muslim Indian American family living in Northern California. Fatima Farheen Mirza beautifully depicts the simmering tension within this family dynamic. Her writing is filled with psychological insights about the struggle between respecting one’s family and forging one’s own path.
The novel opens with a wedding. Layla and Rafiq’s oldest daughter, Hadia, is marrying a man she loves rather than allowing her parents to select her husband. They have come to peace with her decision but feel trepidation about their prodigal son Amar. After three years of not speaking to his family, Amar has consented to attend Hadia’s wedding.
Layla and Rafiq poured their love, time and resources into their children. They are devout Muslims passionate that their three children should respect and follow their religious life. But their American born children have broader perspectives on what they want. The two sisters were able to work around their parents with finesse, but Amar was brash, bright, and persistently questioned his parents’ authority and the edicts of Islam.
The novel is filled with flashbacks to when the three siblings were young. Amar’s return provokes the five family members to reflect on the large and small events that caused his dramatic departure. His three-year absence has caused pain and shame within their family and within their community. Layla and Rafiq recall their interactions with Amar and realize that their religious rigidity shaped his belligerent behavior and the problems that ensued. Though real love and good intentions existed, Layla and Rafiq’s limitations and betrayals tore the family apart.
Though the novel’s beginning was confusing due to the shifting narration, Mirza’s dissection of this family’s dynamic is impressive. With depth and understanding she seeks to answer the question: Why did these characters behave the way they did individually and within their family? She was only 27 years old when this novel was published. A Place for Us is a notable achievement, 4/5.
