Brainy Misfits…a review of Anne Tyler’s VINEGAR GIRL

Vinegar is quite tasty on a salad. It can tenderize tough meat and add flavorful zing. It’s absolutely essential for anything quick-pickled. But VINEGAR GIRL doesn’t sound the least bit like a compliment and seems a very odd title for a book!

I found this copy on a swap shelf at a hotel, leaving behind a pretty good paperback that had kept me en entertained on the plane ride. It was a good swap for me as I don’t remember the name of the other book. I’ve read a few of Anne Tyler’s books, but this one really spoke to me, as I remember how hard it was to be a brainy teenager who didn’t really fit in.

I did have a really good mom growing up, which Kate, the protagonist in this book, did not have. Similarly to Kate, I had some adult responsibilities while a child, because I had a sick father. Situations like this can make a kid a bit awkward, growing up fast in some ways, but slower in others.

As the book opens, Kate is running her father’s household, taking care of her much-younger sister Bunny, while working in a nursery school. She was expelled from college after verbally challenging a professor. Her father, a researching professor of the college, shrugged his shoulders and said she was correct, but then went right back to his research.

So, Kate is spinning her wheels, trying to raise her sister, who has turned into a flirty teenager, and Kate feels as if life is passing her by.

There were so many little details in this book that made me laugh: Kate’s dad’s “systems” (systems are why your food comes so fast at Waffle House, but they aren’t always the best in a household!), Pyodr’s love of American idioms and his inability to pronounce “th” and Bunny’s typical teenager reactions. Kate’s Aunt Thelma is a bit like Mrs. “Bouquet” of the British comedy “Keeping Up Appearances,” while her twin, Kate’s Uncle Theron, has some modest similarities to The Rev. Mr. Beebe, in “A Room With A View.” The fact that the book is a retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew, makes the book easy to put down if you need to, but you want to get right back into it, as it’s so enjoyable.

If you’re looking for something light and entertaining to read before you turn out the light in the evening, Vinegar Girl could be just the book for you.