Vinegar Girl

Vinegar Girl is a part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project, and it's based on The Taming of the Shrew, which happens to be one of my favorite Shakespeare plays! So, when I downloaded this book via NetGalley, I was really excited to dig in. I haven't read any other Ann Tyler novels, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Unfortunately, it's not at all what I expected.

In Vinegar Girl, our main character, Kate, is pressured to marry her father's research assistant so that he'll be able to stay in the country and continue working on an important research project. In the play, the main character is smart, witty and strong-willed. She has a sharp tongue and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Kate, on the other hand, just fell completely flat for me. She resists the marriage at first, then becomes a total pushover.

In the play, there's so much wit, so many playful jokes and comments, and it's so fun to watch. Vinegar Girl had some wit and jokes, which I appreciated, but not nearly enough. The main character of the play, Katherina, does become “tamed” via reverse psychology by her fiancé/husband, but it takes a lot longer than it does in the book, and is just much more witty and funny. I really missed that sharp dynamic between the two characters – I couldn't find it much at all in the book.

Full review at http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2016/07/review-vinegar-girl-anne-tyler/