Spanking Shakespeare

Spanking Shakespeare (2007), a young adult novel by Jake Wizner, concerns a boy with the unfortunate name Shakespeare Shapiro who struggles with social life in high school. Told from two alternating perspectives, a ruminating high school memoir and a first-person narration set in the immediate present, the novel’s constant juxtaposition of the two narratives creates a holistic view of Shapiro’s life that shows how one’s past and present worlds interact.

The novel begins by characterizing Shapiro as someone who has spent years being humiliated for different reasons often including his name. His younger brother, Gandhi, is perceived as “cool,” owing much to the public’s perception of the real historical figure’s legacy as exotic. Shakespeare, on the other hand, a name foisted ad infinitum upon students, is synonymous with the tedious educational system and literature classes’ inappropriate romanticizations of contemporary life. Many young students perceive Shakespeare as obsolete and irrelevant.



Indeed, Shapiro’s archetype seems to frustrate and precede him: he has never gone on a date with a girl or even had his first kiss. The novel’s present begins just as Shapiro anticipates starting his memoir assignment. He looks back on his unfulfilled crush on his classmate, Celeste Keller, as well as his best friends, who are now dating each other. His goal for senior year is to overcome the many social obstacles that have plagued him in the past, which means acquiring new friends and having a successful romantic relationship.

As the high school seniors write and begin to present their progressing memoirs, Shapiro’s stands out for its comedic value. His classmates start noticing him, especially Celeste. Shapiro summons the courage to ask Celeste to see a movie. To his surprise, she accepts. At the theater, Shapiro’s idealized notion of Celeste and the relationship they might have together is crushed when he realizes she is just using him to be included in his writing. After seemingly being interested in him, she suddenly ditches him; the next day, he sees her back with her previous boyfriend.

Back to square one, Shapiro continues to try to create new relationships. In the background, he is aware of Charlotte, a classmate who tends to be quiet and has an air of mystery about her. He recalls never hearing her say anything other than basic conversational pleasantries. Shapiro resolves to talk to Charlotte more, and they gradually warm up to each other. He extends a helping hand to help her work on her memoir. Still feeling rebuffed by Charlotte, Shapiro asks Charlotte to the prom, and she accepts.



Charlotte and Shapiro ride to the prom in a limo with their friends Neil and Katie. They have too much to drink, and drunkenly hook up in the vehicle. Shapiro is elated but also has the bittersweet realization that he has been his own worst enemy in getting to this point, perpetuating a distorted and overly negative idea of how his peers perceive him. Shapiro and Charlotte become boyfriend and girlfriend, closing out the year together.

At the novel’s conclusion, the graduation ceremony comes and goes, and the newly graduated seniors sign each other’s yearbooks. Shapiro looks through some of them, seeing that the comments are only constructive and kind. He reflects that he is now satisfied and ready for the world of college. Wizner’s novel thus frames the problem of the bildungsroman, or coming of age narrative, as a matter of learning to engage with and manage one’s relationships with others, thereby also enriching one’s conception of self. Shapiro does so primarily by using his literary voice, making him an unlikely but powerful protagonist.