January 25, 2016
It’s a theater geek’s dream come true: playing Kate in The Taming of the Shrew in a summer stock theater production. Cass loves Shakespeare, she’s perfectly cast as the ornery and stubborn Kate, and disliking her Petruchio is no problem: Drew is arrogant and pedantic, and their first meeting involves a car crash. Anyone who knows the play or has read a hate-at-first-sight romance knows where this is going. Cass—18, and fully in touch with her inner brat—enlists her roommates (cute-as-pie Amy and hippyish Heidi) in a campaign to do to Drew what Petruchio does to Kate. Strohm (Confederates Don’t Wear Couture) can be funny, but her supporting characters are one-note and often seem to be eccentric for eccentricity’s sake—not just the theater directors, but also an unlikely band of hunky skateboarders who work at a nearby skate camp and speak in semi-incomprehensible slang. Although predictable, the happy ending is satisfying, as are the moments when Cass and Drew start to see beneath their prickly exteriors. Ages 12–up. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency.
February 1, 2016
What do Shakespeare, Clueless, and Punk'd have in common? This novel. Cass, a Springsteen-loving white actress from New Jersey, just landed her pre-college dream job playing the lead in Taming of the Shrew at Vermont's premier outdoor Shakespeare theater, which comes with the added bonus of escaping the aftermath of her parents' tumultuous divorce. Much as 10 Things I Hate About You does on film, Strohm's latest novel (Confederates Don't Wear Couture, 2013, etc.) deftly fuses Shakespeare's play about the battle of the sexes with pop culture and romantic comedy. Since the aforementioned play is actually performed onstage here rather than merely referenced, readers become audience members, drawn into the beauty of the Bard's language and the zaniness of backstage drama. A car accident becomes a meet-cute with a sarcastic and infuriating New Yorker, who turns out to be Drew, her leading man in the upcoming production. To teach him a lesson, Cass decides to "tame" Drew by playing pranks on him, much as his character does to hers. While the plot outcome is to be expected, a novel of this sort is more about the journey than the destination, and Cass and Drew's repartee makes the journey well worth taking. What this breezy novel captures particularly well is the joy of theater, which lets you "lose yourself in someone else's life." While the cast is not notably diverse, it does include many recognizable theater types. Lighthearted and fluffy, this is both a wonderful immersion in Shakespeare and a great beach book. (Fiction. 14-18)
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March 1, 2016
Gr 10 Up-Following her parents' contentious divorce, recent high school graduate Cass doesn't believe in relationships. She does, however, believe in the theater and is eager to begin an internship playing Kate in a summer production of The Taming of the Shrew in Vermont. Unfortunately, she and her leading man, Drew, take an instant dislike to each other. In the spirit of the play, Cass sets out to torment Drew, as much for her own amusement as to help mold him into the perfect new boyfriend for her lovelorn friend and castmate, Amy. Over the next two weeks, revulsion blooms predictably into romance as Cass and Drew get to know each other, both onstage and offstage. Befitting her character, Cass's narrative voice has a flair for the dramatic, and the story is steeped in Shakespearean quotes and references. At times, however, the plot seems a bit contrived, and a subplot involving a nearby group of pro skateboarders-and a rival love interest for Cass-feels unnecessary. The characters are largely one-dimensional, and the tidy resolution wraps up the central conflicts almost hastily. VERDICT This is a breezy, if predictable, summer rom-com that will especially please burgeoning actors and theater aficionados.-Lauren Strohecker, McKinley Elementary School, Abington School District, PA
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