I wonder if Juliet had ever really lived, what she would think of how she's remembered and portrayed? This book seeks to answer that in an interesting way.

This was not what I was expecting. I was left wanting a bit more and I did not care for some of the conclusions that the author arrived to. Juliet is such a well known character and many of the points just seemed to not do justice to such an incredible love story. Further, some of the points just didn't articulate well or even make sense to me. Some of it seemed so genuine and just when I was beginning to follow and agree with a substantial point; the next seemed outrageous and borderline reaching. I'm not sure what to think.

Duncan writes with clarity, and moves through tones quite well.

But there's something that just doesn't sit well with me.
The author's inability to see interracial (West Side Story) or international love affairs in conflict zones as versions of Juliet and her Romeo was strange. She mentions that these affairs emphasize hate, not love and thus miss the whole point of the story. This is strange because it is clear that Duncan did a lot of academic research, and yet she has walked away from Romeo and Juliet unaware of Shakespeare's obvious critique of how flighty love is, and that Romeo and Juliet are not actually in love. This weird assertion really changed my perspective of where the book was going.

If you love Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet you MUST read this book. Highly interesting and informative, I learned so much about the history of Romeo and Juliet and Juliet's influence on the world that I never knew before, and I have spent about half my life researching Shakespeare and his plays. A fantastic read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Basic Books, Seal Press for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This book gave me mixed feelings. I think it's incredibly clear that this is a labor of love and a lot of hard work and research. As I did a lot of Shakespeare research during my undergrad, I just knew I had to request this one. Throughout my academic career going back to my middle school, I've found that Juliet has always been a polarizing character so yeah, of course I was interested in a book that really looked at who Juliet Capulet is in the literary world as well as in the pop culture world.

All of that said, I struggled with some aspects of this. I think the parts of the book where Duncan really shines is her initial analysis of Juliet, the original portrayers of Juliet, and comparisons within the Shakespeare canon but in her pop culture research, I think Duncan has quite a few ideas and theories that she never really follows through with. And I absolutely get it as someone who constantly has more ideas than what I know what to do with, I was sympathetic. However, I'm a graduate student and I think as a graduate student, I'm still learning how to finetune my focus for research papers so that I can write a thesis and then a dissertation. With Duncan, I got the sense that this was a collection of graduate papers or incomplete theses that needed a lot of finetuning. I don't think it's necessarily a knock against Duncan though because I think what's in this book makes a great addition to Shakespeare scholarship especially for those who want to look at Shakespeare legacy in contemporary media. Duncan, you're a good writer! The "I think..." and similar phrasings throughout the book really takes away from Duncan's authority as an Oxford scholar and that made me sad because you don't become an Oxford scholar overnight.

I did give this a 3/5 because I did struggle with reading this and because there were some low points but do not let this detract you from reading it. Duncan does do a brilliant job.

I closed this book with very mixed feelings, and if I were to put all of them in one single line, I'd say that this book didn't fulfill the potential it had, the potential it showed in the beginning. Essentially, I thought the beginning with the early story of the play was superb and would've merited a higher rating, but the rest of the book is very selective, falls into the confirmation bias trap, and lets personal ideological leanings tinge the interpretation of Juliet the character and depictions of her that are found out there without dwelling much if at all on the negative and more problematic aspects.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley.
Juliet is one of the most well-known Shakespeare characters, if not the best known. Duncan’s book is one of those biographies of a fictional character and the impact that the character has had on popular culture. At times, the book is illuminating but overall it falls short.
There is no doubt that Duncan loves the character of Juliet. Her analysis of the original play and character, as well as the comparison to Shakespeare’s source material is quite brilliant and encourages a new look at the character as something more than a simple girl in love or in the possession of lust/love. Her sections about who may have played the part first as well as the subsequent actresses who eventually found themselves playing the role, and the scandals, connected to the actress is engrossing, even though one can say that all that detail isn’t really necessary. She bring to the fore forgotten or lesser known criticism, such as a woman who claimed that Lady Capulet was the villain of the piece. Her section about West Side Story is fascinating as is her discussion about Zeffirelli’s film version. Her detail about how Verona uses the story is also well written.
Yet in many ways the book does fall short. Some sections while having good and interesting points are not as fully developed as they should be. Duncan has a whole chapter about the use of Juliet in terms of colonialization, in particular as a name that the enslavers used for slaves The chapter contends that Juliet was used as a name because of how the character was seen during the colonial period. While chapter is interesting, it doesn’t fully support or detail its thesis. In part this isn’t Duncan’s fault, she cannot prove why someone chose a name. Yet one is left with impression that less general history of slavery that felt like padding and more focus on the names might have helped. For instance, Duncan points out that it was obvious why Macbeth was not used as a slave name, yet she doesn’t explain why names of other character who rebelled or killed rulers, such as Hamlet, were allowed.
Part of the reason why the name chapter is weak is the constant use of “I think” or its variants that Duncan uses repeatedly in the book. It isn’t so much that she is inserting herself, - the book is designed to include her travels to Juliet as it were - but the phrase makes her sound unsure.
Duncan does address race as well when she talks about how modern adaptions factor in the young couple coming from different races. Her points about how it doesn’t fully address or even cheapens the talk about race is valid (though she doesn’t cite the toxic Holocaust R&J romances) , but she also doesn’t seem to consider why teachers might use some texts to introduce or deal with race. It’s like when she is correct in saying that using race takes away from the point of the play (the feuding families have no real reason to feud) but doesn’t seem to consider that adaption means change. The absence of a detailed look at the first minority actresses to play Juliet to a European audience also seems strange.
Additionally, while her section about movies and media in the modern age presents an excellent look at the big three films – West Side Story, Rome +Juliet, and the Zeffirelli film, it does short shift to some other media. She discusses both Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and the new Hulu movie Rosaline, but it is telling, and not in a good way, that here, discussing Juliets created by women, Duncan does not include quotes from those women creators. This stands out because of the numerous quotes from the male directors. It was also strange that Swift’s song was discussed in light of Romeo + Juliet which may have had an influence in how Swift saw the character. The fact that Rosaline is based on a book and is also not the first story based on the play to center Rosaline isn’t explored or even fully mentioned either.
In fact, while Duncan deals with film and one song, she largely ignored book retellings or inspirations of R&J, for the most part mentioning them in passing except for the one that was popular in Ireland and detailed a relationship between Protestant and Catholic, and the true stories of couples that have been marketed as Romeo and Juliet stories. It’s interesting because she ignores those works that feature a strong Juliet, her preferred Juliet. (Check out the kick ass Juliet in Kill Shakespeare for instance).
This might be okay if it was clear that Duncan was focusing on Juliet in terms of the British audience only. And in truth, this is something that she does indirectly, but she never directly says it. And when she does address fans of Juliet from other countries, she comes across as condescending or down right insulting. Her wording to describe Asian and American tourists for example. Her focus on Verona and Italy as simply capitalism Shakespeare is another example.
It is also disturbing that she takes the time to make fun of teen girls who show up in Verona with their notebooks but is disturbed by the men and boys who fondle the breast of a Juliet statue. While she condoms the men, as she should; the girl’s use of fandom is seen as silly. I’m so over that stereotype. Perhaps it is silly, but some of those silly girls might go on to love Shakespeare, so who cares?
The thing is before typing this review, I was all set to consider this book a 2.5 rounded up to a three, but now, it’s a straight two.

Sophie Duncan brings a lot of good points about a famous character in literary history. I really felt for Juliet going through this book. It was what I was hoping for from what the description happened. Sophie Duncan does a great job in telling what she needed to and I'm glad she gave Juliet a new voice.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I was completely drawn into the topic and could not stop reading it.