THE DARK, CAPTIVATING AND SUBVERSIVE UNTELLING OF SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JULIET

When her mother dies, young Rosaline Capulet is told that she must enter a convent. She negotiates a respite, determined to live a little and so gatecrashes a party held by the family's enemies, the Montagues. There Rosaline meets the handsome, older Rmoeo Montague and falls crazily in love. Romeo promises marriage but Rosaline hears rumours and is unsure so breaks it off. Then Romeo turns his eye on her younger cousin, Juliet.
I really loved this book! Solomons has taken a minor character from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and woven a whole story around her. Rosaline has no presence in the original play but here she is pivotal to a complete retelling of the story. Romeo comes across as a predator and Juliet a victim but the voices that are loudest are those of the women of Verona, powerless to the whiles of the men. ( )

A re-imagining of the Romeo and Juliet story from the stand-point of bit character Rosaline. To be fair, the story zipped along, but even as a page-turner, the narrative quickly became increasingly unbelievable. The characters were caricatures, the language veering unconvincingly between the Shakespearean and the comic book. If you want a reasonably involving beach read, this is your book. ( )

In Shakespeare's play, 'fair Rosaline', Juliet's cousin and Romeo's infatuation, does not appear in person or speak for herself. She is a plot device, created to bring the 'star cross'd lovers' together (Romeo sneaks into the Capulet house to meet Rosaline but falls for Juliet instead.) Natasha Solomons therefore had a pretty blank slate to create a backstory for Rosaline, but chose to base her personality on two other Shakespeare characters with the same name and turn her into a victim of a grooming ring involving Romeo and Friar Laurence.

Now, I'm all for holding men accountable for their crimes, even 400 year old fictional fuckboys, but I found this take on Shakespeare's play a bit of a stretch. Yes, Romeo dropped Rosaline for her thirteen year old cousin, which even the playwright had issues with, but turning him into some kind of pretty boy bait who ruins a string of girls in order for Friar Laurence to pimp them out to the rich men of Verona is - a lot. Rosaline turning amateur detective with the aid of the nuns, tracing biblical calling cards and sniffing out poison, also threw my suspension of disbelief into overdrive, although I admired her initiative and agency. Before the proverbial hits the fan, however, we have to plough through pages of teenage moping from the fair Rosaline, which, much like Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, reduced any sympathy I might have had for her.

A good idea carried too far. ( )

An interesting retelling of Shakespeare’s famous star-crossed lovers, Romeo & Juliet. I’m not much of a Shakespeare fan and only know the basic outline of the story of Romeo & Juliet. So, from where I’m standing, this one is a compelling and different take on it. It’s well written and reimagined. Romeo is shown in quite a disturbing light, definitely not a romantic hero or a pleasant person. He’s depicted as a predatory older man intent on getting his own way. I did get somewhat irritated with both Rosaline and Juliet at times. It takes a long time for the penny to drop for them to realise just what a rotter Romeo really is. Love is blind as Shakespeare suggests. However, I like the alternative ending, not quite as tragic as the original. All in all an enjoyable and engaging read. ( )