Scheherazade
08-21-2007, 08:48 PM
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-5317452-9496863)
Story of Jeanette, who is adopted by a very religious family and brought up with strict Christian rules and teachings. She embraces the Church and the Bible and is dedicated to the point of wanting to become a missionary. However, things go pear shaped when, as a teenager, she discovers that she has 'unpure' thoughts and desires towards other women. She has been prepared for such feelings towards men but both herself and her mother, who is a very dominant figure, get caught unprepared for this turn of events. Jeanette has to come to terms with her new self, along with her mother's and the Church's reactions.
This is the second book by Winterson I have read and I like this much better than The PowerBook. She seems more relaxed and her style is effortlessly beautiful. There are many references to the Bible in the book, which made it a little hard for me to follow.
Like The PowerBook, it has many autobiographical references (I am not sure if it is entirely), which made me wondering whether all her books are similar in this aspect, which, if so, might get a little monotonous and repetetive after a while. Already I feel like I know her mother and her childhood pretty well.
Overall, a different and enjoyable read: 8/10 KitKats!
Here is a passage I like from the book:
[My mother] had never heard of mixed feelings. There were friends and there were enemies:
Enemies were: The Devil (in many forms)
Next Door
Sex (in its many forms)
Slugs
Friends were: God
Our dog
Auntie Madge
The novels of Charlotte Bronte
Slug pellets
and me, at first. I had been brought in to join her in a tag match against the Rest of the World. She had a mysterious attitude towards the begetting of children; it wasn't that she couldn't do it, more that she didn't want to do it. She was very bitter about the Virgin Mary getting there first. So she did the next best thing and arranged for a foundling. That was me.
Story of Jeanette, who is adopted by a very religious family and brought up with strict Christian rules and teachings. She embraces the Church and the Bible and is dedicated to the point of wanting to become a missionary. However, things go pear shaped when, as a teenager, she discovers that she has 'unpure' thoughts and desires towards other women. She has been prepared for such feelings towards men but both herself and her mother, who is a very dominant figure, get caught unprepared for this turn of events. Jeanette has to come to terms with her new self, along with her mother's and the Church's reactions.
This is the second book by Winterson I have read and I like this much better than The PowerBook. She seems more relaxed and her style is effortlessly beautiful. There are many references to the Bible in the book, which made it a little hard for me to follow.
Like The PowerBook, it has many autobiographical references (I am not sure if it is entirely), which made me wondering whether all her books are similar in this aspect, which, if so, might get a little monotonous and repetetive after a while. Already I feel like I know her mother and her childhood pretty well.
Overall, a different and enjoyable read: 8/10 KitKats!
Here is a passage I like from the book:
[My mother] had never heard of mixed feelings. There were friends and there were enemies:
Enemies were: The Devil (in many forms)
Next Door
Sex (in its many forms)
Slugs
Friends were: God
Our dog
Auntie Madge
The novels of Charlotte Bronte
Slug pellets
and me, at first. I had been brought in to join her in a tag match against the Rest of the World. She had a mysterious attitude towards the begetting of children; it wasn't that she couldn't do it, more that she didn't want to do it. She was very bitter about the Virgin Mary getting there first. So she did the next best thing and arranged for a foundling. That was me.