A Modern Shrew for a Modern World
As part of Vintage’s Hogarth Shakespeare project — a series inviting acclaimed contemporary writers to reimagine Shakespeare’s plays — Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl brings The Taming of the Shrew into the twenty-first century. It’s short, warm, and light-hearted; the kind of book best enjoyed with a cup of coffee on a sunny afternoon.
Tyler trades Renaissance Italy for suburban Baltimore, grand drama for domestic comedy, and patriarchal taming for the more awkward dance of modern companionship. The result is… well, as you put it: “okay.” Enjoyable, undemanding, and a curious exercise in what happens when Shakespearean sharpness meets gentle modern irony.
Cover © Vintage / Penguin Random House (via Goodreads)
The Setup
Meet Kate Battista, the modern shrew: blunt, bright, underappreciated, and spectacularly bad at small talk. She lives with her scatterbrained scientist father and teenage sister, enduring a life of interrupted dinners and polite exasperation.
Enter Pyotr, Dr. Battista’s loyal research assistant, whose visa is about to expire. The solution? A marriage of convenience. Cue chaos, bureaucracy, and the slow unfurling of something resembling affection.
Tyler’s Reimagining of Taming
Unlike Shakespeare’s more controversial taming, Tyler’s version leans toward mutual recognition rather than submission. Pyotr is endearing — sweetly literal, sometimes baffled, never cruel — and Kate’s rough edges are less “shrewish” than simply human.
In Tyler’s world, it isn’t that Kate must be tamed, but that society must learn to accept women who don’t smile on command. The result is a comedy of misunderstandings rather than moral struggle.
Still, some of the original tension is lost. Vinegar Girl has charm but little bite; its conflict is situational, not philosophical. The sparks that once ignited between Shakespeare’s Kate and Petruchio flicker here as polite chemistry, occasionally funny, occasionally flat.
When Language Softens
Where If We Were Villains revels in Shakespearean rhythm, Tyler’s language intentionally strips it away. Her prose is clean, domestic, and brisk. Gone are the fireworks of verse; in their place, we find simple exchanges and long silences.
That restraint works in her favour — it reflects the story’s modest scale — but it also explains why the adaptation can feel slight. As tension rises, Tyler’s writing remains conversational, even cosy. The more complicated emotions—rage, pride, defiance—are replaced with the gentle unease of a sitcom misunderstanding.
Shakespeare’s Shrew ends in a controversial speech about obedience. Tyler’s ends with a shrug and a smile — a world where small kindnesses count more than ideological victories.
Verdict
Vinegar Girl is a modern Taming told with warmth and irony. It understands the spirit of the original without wrestling with its discomforts. For readers who want Shakespeare softened, this is a charming diversion; for those craving bite and brilliance, it may feel too mild.
⭐️⭐️⭐️½ / 5
Best enjoyed as a quick, companionable holiday read.
☕ Coffee Campfires Reflection
“Perhaps the point isn’t whether Kate is tamed — but whether we’ve all been softened a little by time, humour, and the need to find peace in a world that still misunderstands bold women.”
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