Book Review: Shylock is my Name

First of all, I love Shakespeare, so this title attracted my attention. It is based, loosely, on the Merchant of Venice. Jacobson uses this story to address antisemitism, as it is addressed a little in the original play. His wit and eye when addressing this is right up there with Shakespeare, even though the Bard's use of these traits was not touched upon quite as much.

In this story, the main character, Strulovitch is a well-to-do gentleman who is generous. He is also a Jew who tries to stay on the periphery of the goings on in the city. This does not mean that he has no feelings about the goings on around him. He feels the anger, but he deals with it with humor and wisdom.

I cannot say that I enjoyed it as much as I did the original but it was an interesting version of the Merchant of Venice. Readers should be aware of the subjects that are addressed in the book as they may begin to feel uncomfortable. However, this was a well-written book.

I was given this book by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.