Shylock is My Name

Reviews / Votes

Inspired...It does what any good literary subversion should do: deepens and enhances one's appreciation of the original. -- James Lasdun * Guardian * Jacobson's writing is virtuoso. He is the master of shifting tones, from the satirical to the serious. His prose has the sort of elastic precision you only get from a writer who is truly in command ... There's also deep and sincere soul-searching going on here -- Lucasta Miller * Independent * A brilliant conceit... A powerful reimagining and reinvention of Shakespeare's character. -- Adam Lively * The Sunday Times * Howard Jacobson's reworking of The Merchant of Venice is a sly success... Irascible, eloquent Shylock is a man transplanted from the play to today. -- Tim Martin * Daily Telegraph * Shylock is My Name has much to tell us about loss, identity and modern antisemitism ... Simon's debates with Shylock, snapshots of a man haranguing his literary Creator, are the heart of this book, knowing and humane -- Kate Maltby * The Times * Jacobson is clearly enjoying himself, savouring the play's puzzles like a connoisseur with a complex wine, luxuriating in its themes of love, vengeance, forgiveness and justice, exploring what it means to be Jewish, then and now... Provocative, caustic and bold. -- Rebecca Adams * Financial Times * An unusually engaged form of literary criticism ... Jacobson treats Shylock less as a product of Shakespeare's culture and imagination than as a real historical figure emblematic of Jewish experience -- Anthony Cummins * Prospect * Supremely stylish, probing and unsettling... Jacobson's writing is virtuoso. He is a master of shifting tones, from the satirical to the serious. His prose has the sort of elastic precision you only get from a writer who is truly in command. * Irish Independent * A shrewd and powerful examination of what is means to be a father, a Jew and a merciful human being, this is another witty and thought-provoking tale from Jacobson. -- Sebastian Shakespeare * Tatler * Howard Jacobson, the undisputed British master of black comedies featuring Jewish characters... [Shylock is My Name] is a provocative interrogation of Shakespeare's play... [Written] with empathy and affection. Sharp-edged and bitterly funny verbal fencing matches between the two men, the modern and eternal versions of each other, are the engine of the novel, as they pursue the questions of what it means to call oneself a Jew, or to be called one by others. -- Stephanie Merritt * Observer *