Ms. Hen reviews The Gap of Time

 

The Gap of Time

Jeanette Winterson

Hogarth

2015

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she wanted to read another British book when she went to England. She's read several books by this author, and was intrigued by the premise of this one - it's a cover version of Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE. This is a series of different rewritten Shakespearean plays by various authors. Ms. Hen is not familiar with this play; it's one of Shakespeare's lesser known works. The press is the same one started by Leonard and Virginia Woolf.

The novel opens up with a car chase, and the forming of a family. Shep finds a baby who he names Perdita, because that is the title of the song on the sheet music that he finds with her. He is mourning his wife, but he finds Perdita and some money, and moves away, opens his own bar, and a new life.

Leo and Mimi, Perdita's parents, fight because Leo thinks that his friend Xeno is the baby's father. Leo is rich, and he wants to get rid of the baby. He sends his gardener to America with the child. Seventeen years later, Xeno finds himself in New Bohemia, and chaos ensues.

Ms. Hen thinks the plot of the novel is very complicated and Shakespearean. It's a beautiful story with complex twists and turns. The reader does not know the truth until the end. It's absurdist and funny at times, and tragic in others. Ms. Hen likes that Leo is such a jerk; she thinks it's comical. 

There are some inconsistencies with language when the characters are supposed to be in the United States. The word "curb" is spelled "kerb" which is the British. Also Shep says "going to hospital," where in America people would say, "going to the hospital."

Ms. Hen read this book partly when she was in England, and she enjoyed reading it there. It made the characters seem more real, because she could imagine their voices. She thinks this book is a fun romp, because Shakespeare is always a good idea. She wants to try to read other books in this series.