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Summary: AN INSPIRED FIRST NOVEL
Review: Jeanette Winterson's first novel is a comical, moving look at an adopted child growing up in the midst of religious fanatics. It is very well-written and the descriptions of people and places are so vivid as to just jump right off the page, taking you along for the ride, to experience the ups and downs of Ms. Winterson's life along with her. It's one woman's realization of her Unnatural Passsions (her mother's name for homosexuality) that are in no way acceptable in the Pentecostal church. The scenes based around this particular aspect of the novel add an ironic tone, which I love. Wit and wisdom can be found throughout the book, making "Oranges..." at times a very thoughtful read. The only flaw in this book, as others have stated, is the awkward fairy tale bits that just didn't seem to belong there at all. Other than that, it's a heartfelt semi-autubiographical novel of a gay woman (though this is by no means a "gay" book...I'm straight and it made not one bit of difference to my enjoyment of it) and also a great humourous look at religion and all of its contradictions and excesses.
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Summary: One of the most beautiful, poetic books in existence!
Review: Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiographical novel is one of the most beautifully written story of a middle-class girl struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, creativity, passion vs. her family/society's inflexible "formed opinions". The story of the persecution of a girl because of her sexual preference (in this case, lesbianism) is not new. It's how Ms. Winterson presents her story. Fresh. Alive. Witty. Funny. Heartbreaking at times. Imaginative. Almost like you were holding a piece of someone's soul in your hands rather than merely a book. I noticed that one reviewer mentioned that the book's sexual nature is vulgar. I do not find this so. Even if it is, so what? Life is vulgar. Only those fond of sweeping the dirt under the carpet so that it stays out of sight (or those who drive lesbian girls from their house/church and pretend they don't exist) will disagree with the innate vulgarity of all life. This book is the antidote for that kind of sanitized thinking. This book exposes that sanitized Christian middle-class thinking is weird, almost alien when observed sanely by a third party standing on the outside. This book celebrates life. Read it.
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Summary: Quite inspirational, but the overall subject distasteful
Review: Jeanette Wintersons book is a semi-autobiographical story which outlines how one girl had to face her homosexuality within the church. The book is well written with detailed descriptions of the girls feelings. However, I did find the homosexual side to this story quite vulgar.
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Summary: Brilliant if you understand the demon of evangelicalism
Review: Perhaps because I am recovering from Christianity, I found this book ripe with insight into the confusion and dichotomies that rip at the individual torn between the realities of life and the mythologies and strange insular world of evangelical Christianity. Jeanette Winterson demonstrates a brilliant understanding of this confusion and the tensions created before and after breaking free from that strange little world. Her portrayal of the dilemmas and the breaking free is superbly done. On the flip side, I can understand how those who have not been on the inside of fundamental/evangelical Christianity (and by this I mean your standard "religious right")and come out might have difficulty fully appreciating the portrayals in this book. Anyone coming out of a narrow, insular group and turning to a more "normal" society, especially as a lesbian, is likely to go through the kinds of turmoil so ably portrayed in this book.
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Summary: Evangelical Christianity meets its match
Review: Published in England in 1985, this first novel (autobiography?) is a story of a girl adopted as a baby into an evangelical Christian family in the Midlands, and raised with good humor and matter-of-fact, everyday, unquestioned love ("I cannot recall a time when I did not know that I was special"), strict religious teachings, a lot of structure, strong opinions coming from all corners. As a child, she's proud of her eccentric, high-achieving mom; she's her best student, too. The household and small community is a bubbling stew of English coziness, friends and neighbors, superstition, religious fervor and misinformation, vulgarity, harsh pronouncements and oddly good-natured fanatical beliefs. The girl soaks it up -- to a point. Things begin to come apart, inevitably, and later still, as a teen, there's the narrator's growing knowledge that she is passionately, yearningly, and quite happily in love with a girl her age named Katy -- and no amount of exorcism will change that. The affair proceeds. Winterson is smart enough to put it all together with grace and humor. Her bright and resourceful protagonist travels a great and difficult path, avoiding all the predictable plot formulas. No whining or self-pity, either. There is incisive wit, a smart and brave presentation of the (sometimes appalling) facts; very good use of myth, history and politics, fairy tales, Bible and church miscellany; amazing observation. This is a detailed and often funny picture of a truly strange household, a great girl, and there's a lot of love -- in this wonderful novel.
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Summary: To Be an Observer, To Be a Tripper
Review: Reading Jeanette Winterson is experiencing the state of mind to be an analytical observer and to be a dazzled tripper simultaneously. In Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Winterson's debut novel, the events are well-objectified and never get emotional while they could be; the author and the readers remain in the position to analyze them. At the same time, the arbitrary, not-clearly-outlined story penetrates into the audience's mind almost unconsciously, as if it was diminishing the line between the protagonist's life and the audience's one, between the book's world and the real world. The autobiographic coming-of-age ugly-duckling (sort of) story progresses back and forth, with flashbacks/flashforwards, dream sequences, and the-Middle-Ages-esque fairy tales which thematically parallel the protagonist's quest for life. Well-thought ideas regarding existence, history, and sexuality are inserted here and there.
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Summary: Unimpressive piece of writing
Review: There were some pieces of quality stuff here, but they were submerged amid too much drivel. The first half of the book mainly irritated. The second half was an improvement, but still too much second-rate material and irrelevant material wasting the reader's time, trying to be too clever by far rather than just telling a story well. The book is mainly a waste of time to read.
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Summary: starterling encarputaring spell binding!
Review: This book manages with adept precision to encoroperate unbiased philiosophical observations into a startling yet completely believable story line. This book never looses the readers fascination and imagination let alone full attention. The most thought provoking modern read I have experienced. The simplicity yet detailed description of the prose creates atmosphere, and emotion and an understanding of the characters. This book describes with complete understanding and accuracy religous extreme and the struggle of an amazingly intelligent adolscent to find an independant philosophy and an indevidual prespective of her world. This novel is completely unreserved and in effect extremely upfront in its use of metaphors, and explanation of human behaivour and philisophy. Read it and be inspired
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Summary: Fruits and Fruitcakes. Who Let the Kooks Loose?!?
Review: This is a book that many call "sensitive", "witty", and "insightful". How about calling it what it really is... Fruitcake City! The main character in this book went from being raised by fruits to being the general, president, king, and QUEEN of The Grand Duchy of Fruitland! Talk about wacko personalities! If you want a pile of unintended good laughs that were intended (I think) to hint at "deeper discoveries", then snap up this book! The Dipper was in hysterics howling away at the clueless antics of "Joan" Jeanette! Ah, the language! The poetics! The wonderful prose! Oh great! I won't be out of toilet paper for at least two more weeks now! Wise up out there! Curious George Goes to the Fruit Market had more substance than this misshapen bowl of stale jelly!
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Summary: The most refreshing book of modern times
Review: This is an absolutely outstanding book that shines vibrant and unique. Wintersons dry style gives the reader a journey through her rollercoaster of a life. There is something to be learned from every book, from others experiences. But this is a book that will genuinely stay with you for a long time indeed.
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