Description
Book SynopsisA re-envisaging of Shakespeare''s The Merchant of Venice, from the Man Booker Prize-winner and our great chronicler of Jewish life.
Who is this guy, Dad? What is he doing here?'
With an absent wife and a daughter going off the rails, wealthy art collector and philanthropist Simon Strulovitch is in need of someone to talk to. So when he meets Shylock at a cemetery in Cheshire's Golden Triangle, he invites him back to his house. It's the beginning of a remarkable friendship ...
Jacobson is quite simply a master of comic precision. He writes like a dream' Evening Standard
''The funniest British novelist since Kingsley Amis or Tom Sharpe'' Mail on Sunday
Trade ReviewInspired...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 *
