A great retelling of one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. I read this in one sitting and I will definitely be reading more in the Hogarth Shakespeare series.

I found this book to be quite awful. Perhaps I do not get on with Anne Tyler's style of writing. I understand that many call The Taming of the Shrew most problematic of Shakespeare's plays - that is not my issue - my issue is that Anne Tyler, who many say has managed to update it in a more feminist, modern fashion has failed to do anything of the sort. She has created wimpish characters who have no thought for themselves and I worry for any young people who'd read this and think that Kate's father's actions were acceptable. I understand it is supposed to be humorous but it was a very poor book in my opinion.

I'm no longer interested in reading this book and so won't be posting a review.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me and I didn't continue reading for any significant time therefore, do not feel justified to comment.
It may have been just bad timing. Although I did not finish the book and don't feel justified to give feedback or a review I will still be able to recommend it to customers visiting our bookstore.
Thankyou for approving my request to read it as I have definitely been able to take something from it for referral purposes to customers.

Delightful retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in a funny modern coat is telling the story about how to realize of what you are really looking for in the respective other one and in yourself.

Kate Battista is both fiercely independent and stuck in life. She is always telling what is on her mind - and she is silently (and also unknowingly to her) suffering from having no real relationships in her life. Her father is lost in his scientific research, her sister is 10 years younger and skin-deep to that and when she is with other people, she too often feels too much - too honest, too tall, too different. But even that couldn't prepare her for the ridiculous idea of her father to marry his Russian assistant Pyotr to help him renew his visa. But Kate is also tender-hearted. So she finds herself saying yes to this marriage of convenience. But strangely, as foreign and different Pyotr is, he is also challenging her somehow, inviting her into his world.

Lovely read! While the book is funny and pleasant to read, it also offers a well-observed microcosmos of strange, but relatable characters. I can imagine them behaving and being the way they have been written. On the quite small space the authoress draws a quite understandable story of being un-stuck in life - and not just because the other ones are challenging you, but because you yourself are trying to understand them - because they might (and often are) more than they seem to be.
I like Kate's vulnerability. So called "strong women" are so often caricatures, but she is just real that way. And Pyotr is the hero in disguise - with the real, beating heart under his foreign manners and bluntness.

On the other hand - yes, this is no heavy, serious literature.
But it is exactly what I was after this Saturday - a lovely, witty read with some nicely wrapped food for thought.
Go read.