Help! My wish list #9

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One more title from my endless wish list.

** The cover image is for illustrative purposes only. If you are a publisher and would kindly like to offer me a copy of this book for review, I will change the cover so as to reflect the edition received. **

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
By Jeanette Winterson

Amazon's product description: Jeanette, the protagonist of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and the author's namesake, has issues --"unnatural" ones: her adopted Mam thinks she's the Chosen one from God; she's beginning to fancy girls; and an orange demon keeps popping into her psyche. Already Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiographical first novel is not your typical coming-of-age tale. Brought up in a working-class Pentecostal family, up North, Jeanette follows the path her Mam has set for her. This involves Bible quizzes, a stint as a tambourine-playing Sally Army officer and a future as a missionary in Africa, or some other "heathen state". When Jeanette starts going to school ("The Breeding Ground") and confides in her mother about her feelings for another girl ("Unnatural Passions"), she's swept up in a feverish frenzy for her tainted soul. Confused, angry and alone, Jeanette strikes out on her own path, that involves a funeral parlour and an ice-cream van. Mixed in with the so-called reality of Jeanette's existence growing up are unconventional fairy tales that transcend the everyday world, subverting the traditional preconceptions of the damsel in distress.

Why I want to read this book: I have a "difficult relationship" with Jeanette Winterson. Since reading Written On The Body - which is my favourite book of all times - her other works have failed to live up to my expectations. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is a classic and I'm curious to see why.

Comments

  1. Jeane27 January 2011 at 17:26

    Silvia, you are the reason I ever read one of ehr books. Don't think I read a second one but I know I did read one. You recommended it to, don't remembe the title. What I do remember is that I enjoyed the story but at the same time coudn't enjoy it completely because it felt a weird written story too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Silvia_reads27 January 2011 at 19:51

    That was Written on the Body - such an amazing book!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jeane29 January 2011 at 07:22

    ok. I often thought about reading others biut still haven't.

    ReplyDelete
  4. elkiedee31 January 2011 at 00:51

    I really liked Oranges are the Only Fruit, which seemed like a much more straightforwardly written story than the other 2 or 3 books by her I've read (I think they were all her earlier novels).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chloe31 January 2011 at 22:53

    Ha! I JUST finished reading Oranges and am attempting to put together a review. I have Written on the Body waiting to be read and hopefully I can renew it at the library. I wasn't going to read it because Oranges was frankly a little difficult to get into after all that Sarah Waters goodness, but now I'm definitely keen to give it a go.

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