Shylock's Daughter [Hardcover]

Mirjam Pressler (Author), Richard M. Jones (Author), Brian Murdoch (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

As the beautiful daughter of a wealthy moneylender, Jessica leads a relatively privileged life in the Jewish Ghetto. But during her rare walks through the main streets of Venice, she has caught glimpses of the colorful, exciting world outside. Then, by chance she meets a handsome aristocrat named Lorenzo who has, it seems, everything that Jessica longs for, and who promises to make her his wife. There is one painful condition, however: She must convert to Christianity. Will Jessica follow her desires, even if it means leaving behind everyone she loves, and abandoning her religion? Will her father, Shylock, survive this betrayal?

Mirjam Pressler cleverly expands upon Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice, offering a richly complex portrait of life in sixteenth-century Venice. This fascinating historical novel has been beautifully translated by Brian Murdoch, whose afterword gives readers a meaningful perspective on the difficult relations between Christians and Jews during that period.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

ressler (Anne Frank: A Hidden Life; Halinka) wrestles with one of Shakespeare's more problematic plays in a slow-moving novel more impressive for its ambition than for what it achieves. In restaging many of the events in The Merchant of Venice, the author adds characters, invents back stories and posits new denouements, changes that explore the individual protagonists' conflicted motives and, less successfully, place into context Shylock's infamous desire for a pound of Antonio's flesh. Pressler thoroughly investigates the anti-Semitism of 16th-century Venice and its effects on Shylock and his family. Shylock has almost no other way to make a living except by lending money, given the restrictions on Jews' occupations; his spoiled daughter, Jessica, confined to the Ghetto, envies the Christian girls their rights to wear jewels and fine clothing; and Antonio himself has forced Shylock to participate in a humiliating "Jew Race" (the hapless participants, usually overweight men, had to run half-naked before jeering Christians). Here it is Bassanio who, referring to common practices among Christians, suggests the strange terms of the loan and Antonio who insists on them. But despite the detailed historical background and the fresh examination of the characters, the story doesn't surmount the obstacles set by Shakespeare Jessica's wholesale betrayal of her father and Shylock's murderous insistence on Antonio's flesh represent such extremes as to rupture Pressler's attempt at a sympathetic narrative. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Pressler attempts to answer questions that have plagued Shakespeare scholars for a long time: what were the motivations of Shylock and his daughter Jessica, 16, in The Merchant of Venice? Why, above all, did Shylock insist upon his "pound of flesh" when he could have had double the money he'd lent? And why did Jessica forsake her father and her upbringing with nary a backward glance? This novel gives an excruciatingly detailed look at life in the Jewish ghettos of Venice in 1594. Shylock's story and Jessica's are told by an omniscient narrator, and don't completely answer the questions posed by the play, though they offer a few more ideas for discussion. Jessica's motivation remains entirely selfish and superficial-she loves Lorenzo, and elopes with him-and Shylock's pain and humiliation, while more clearly understood here, remain remote and complex. Some of the chapters are narrated by Dalilah, an orphan servant girl who was raised in Shylock's household. These chapters are the best in the book, infusing some life into the story, though Dalilah has a tendency to repeat herself. Shylock's history and one-sided conversations with his dead wife are unlikely to interest teens. This is a complex novel with little or no YA appeal.

Amy A. Healy, Loyola Academy Resource Center, Wilmette, IL

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dial (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803726678
• ISBN-13: 978-0803726673
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,218,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars And the moral of the story is..., August 23, 2001

By 

Kira Sharp (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shylock's Daughter (Hardcover)

...Never ever abandon your faith to run off with a goy!

_Shylock's Daughter_ provides a fascinating response to Shakespeare's _The Merchant of Venice_, as author Pressler strived to humanize the play's more one-dimensional characters. Providing a rich and complex view of Jewish life in sixteenth-century Venice, Pressler does her best to provide a variety of different viewpoints as she tells her story. Unfortunately, Pressler's array of narrators are as defensively pro-Jewish as Shylock's character was virulently anti-Jewish.

The title leads us to expect Shylock's daughter Jessica to be the martyred heroine of Pressler's book, but the plot systematically paints her as the most unlikeable character in it. Contrasted with her ugly but righteous foster sister Dalilah, who does most of the early narration, "free-thinking" Jessica is depicted as spoiled, selfish, and capricious. Jessica's desire for "freedom," which might be understandable to a modern teenager if it were coached in more meaningful terms, seems shallow and sinful when contrasted with Dalilah's pious obedience. "Freedom," as far as the early narrators are concerned, is nothing more than a catch-word for "extravagance," and is respected (or not) as such.

"Love" also takes a back seat. Jessica's seduction by Lorenzo is complete by the time the story begins, and we never see what caused her to fall in love with him in the first place. (We do of course hear the theory that he is only interested in her for her money.) When Jessica does assert herself as a narrator, it is after their elopement, when Lorenzo's love has failed to meet her expectations, when she finds the Christian feasts filled with sin and mockery, when every thought of her robbed and broken-hearted father fills her with shame. The contrast between Jessica's quick treatment of her love and her elaborate telling and re-telling of her everlasting regret is so stark that it diminishes Jessica from a character to a moral vehicle.

Jessica's unhappiness after giving up her faith for her freedom is so enormous, so complete, that one cannot help but wonder (as sweet Dalilah does) what on earth she was thinking at the time. Pressler leaves no room for doubt that Shylock's daughter was woefully duped, that Shakespeare's Christian characters are all vicious villains, and that only a quiet life as a pious Jewish daughter is worthwhile in such time of trouble. And in such terms, this story is not likely to be very interesting to anyone who wonders *how* Jessica came to discard her faith and *why* she did what she did.

Though the antithesis of the Shakespearian "happily-ever-after" is quite refreshing, Pressler's exclusive focus of the consequences of Jessica's action makes her story read like an Aesop fable. "And the moral of the story is..."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shylocks Daughter Review, August 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Shylock's Daughter (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book taking out aspects of the play by Shakespeare; the Merchant of Venice. But don't let this put you off as it is very up to date and has issues that we deal with in every day life such as religous racism and prejudice, loyalty and friendship, greed and pride, and family tentions.

Jessica is the daughter of a traditional jew and they live in a Jewish ghetto. There are many historical facts in this book such as: the gates of the ghetto are locked so she and many other Jews are imprisoned in this part of the city. She longs to be free of the rules of the Jewish tradition.

When she falls in love with a young christian she leaves and robs her father and runs away to marry Lorenzo. But this new world is not so welcoming to this Jewish girl.

We are left wondering if Jessica is ever truly happy. Did she really know Lorenzo when she married him or was she just as much in love with all the riches of a Christian life that her religion forbids?

This is a great read and I reccomend that you read it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I've Read Better, February 20, 2002

By 

Katie (Annapolis, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shylock's Daughter (Hardcover)

First of all, the title and cover explanation of the book don't exactly describe the book all that well. After you read them, you think that the story will be about Shylock's daughter, Jessica. Instead, a lot of the book is told by the point of view of Dalilah, Jessica's sort of servant/friend/sister.
The main reason I'm giving it three stars is because I don't think that many people would enjoy it - probably only history and Shakespeare buffs. So if you're not into either, it's not the book for you. Also, I was a little disappointed after I read it: it wasn't what I was expecting. It is definately a Young Adult/Adult book, though. The description of the setting, events and characters is wonderful, and the plot is okay. The characters all show some development. It is a good book, I guess, but it will never be one of my favorites.