In this retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, Kate Battista is 29, single and keeping house for her father, an eccentric scientist, and her little sister, Bunny. Kate has a reputation for speaking her mind and seems incapable of keeping her opinions to herself, which doesn't always endear her to her work colleagues, although the kids in the preschool love it! So when, totally out of the blue, her father asks her to marry his Russian lab assistant, Pyotr, in order to prevent his impending deportation (the book is set in the USA), it comes as no surprise that Kate refuses to oblige. However, as the date of deportation becomes closer, and her father becomes more desperate (he thinks his life's work will be ruined if he cannot keep Pyotr working with him), Kate's resolve starts to crumble, and she reluctantly agrees. But the path to the "fake" wedding isn't exactly a smooth one, with Bunny trying to put a spanner in the works on numerous occasions. This is a light and not altogether taxing tale that I raced through in super quick time. There is humour, and you do end up rooting for Kate and Pyotr, even though every modern sensibility within you is screaming ... you have got to be kidding me! However, I was a little disappointed at Kate's lack of overall strength and there certainly wasn't enough sparky dialogue between her and Pyotr - I would have expected much more of that from a retelling of Shakespeare's cracking play. And I found some of the scenes and dialogue unconvincing, with people not being true to their characters. Overall, Vinegar Girl, by Anne Tyler would make a good holiday read where you don't have to concentrate too much, and you are pretty much guaranteed a happy ending. I wanted to like this so much more than I actually did, but it won't put me off reading more work by this author.
My STAR rating: THREE.
Length: 263 print pages.
Price I paid: FREE, borrowed from my Mum.
Reading formats available: print; unabridged audio download; audio CD; ebook.
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