Rating: 
Summary: Dark and beautiful
Review: This is Joanne Harris's best so far. It is the story of the seclusive Framboise whose memories and traumas from the war awaken when she returns to the French village she once lived in and inherits her mother's diary and cookbook.
The flashbacks here occupy whole and separate sections of the book, as does the present, a clever idea of Harris, since her last book "Blackberry Wine", was so tiring in that field (and others).
Harris describes the times and places in every detail, which is good when it creates a very real atmosphere and bad when it occupies whole pages with the description of trees.
There are some very original ideas here (Old Mother, the wish, Tomas Leibniz's relationship with Framboise's family, the revelations in the mother's diary), and some very surprising, and multi-aspected characters, my personal favorite being Mirabelle Dartigen.
War, love, relationships and a bit of good old French cuisine.
The first half of the book may be a bit tiring and occasionaly pointless, but it evolves to something truly magical and somewhat darker than her other novels.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow...
Review: Five Quarters of the Orange has left me speechless. Wow... what a wonderful novel. I just finished last night and I don't know how I slept eight hours without thinking of these characters. Joanne Harris, one of my favorite authors, has yet to disappoint me. This 3rd book I've read by her is now my new favorite.Five Quarters tells the story of Framboise Simon, a older woman who comes back to the town of her youth, Les Laveuses, a small village near the Loire. She has come home in secret ~ no one in town knows who she really is: the daughter of Mirabelle Dartigen, the woman whom the town had ridiculed, harassed, tortured and defamed nearly 50 years before. While making her home once again in Les Laveuses, Framboise recounts her childhood in startling detail, beautiful and powerful prose that will leave the reader speechless. Framboise, at the age of nine, was involved in something so innocent ~ wanting to be accepted and included in the lives of her older brother and sister, Cassis and Reine-Claude ~ but this innocence takes a harrowing and terrifying turn. Set during the German Occupation of World War II, the events that take place that year will forever change her, her family and the town of Les Laveuses. Joanne Harris is a true artist. Her masterpiece, Five Quarters of the Orange, is so breathtakingly beautiful. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what the big secret was, or at least that last final detail that changed everything. I did not see it coming, that's for sure! And it was truly stunning.
Rating: 
Summary: this book sucks locks. anyone who likes it is demented
Review: wow, how much does this book suck? more than a vacuum, yeah a hoover one. Who has a name that means raspberry, but has the dispoisition of a lemon? Obviously some jackhole. I'd rather read something about five quarters of a pie, or a flamethrower. what the hell is the french word for flamethrower anyway? that's what the main character should be named, cuz she's an idiot. yea, and anyone who likes this book is weak minded.
Rating:
Summary: A great mystery in a sophisticated novel
Review: Joanne Harris's Five Quarters of the Orange is a refreshing tale of suspense within a sophisticated novel. A woman named Framboise moves back to her home town to the same farm she grew up on. She reflects back upon her childhood and the scandalous events that forced her family to leave this town many years ago. The story switches back and forth between Framboise growing up with her siblings in occupied France during WWII and her life years later as a cafe owner with children and grandchildren of her own. The theme of food preparation and the smells of fresh ingredients vividly leap off the page. I especially enjoyed learning about Framboise's frigid mother who was tormented by headaches which were agrivated by the smell of an orange. Her mother's story is pieced together through a scrapbook of recipes and fragments which is given to Framboise upon her death. I couldn't put this book down and can't wait to read the rest of Harris's writings.
Rating: 
Summary: STELLAR BOOK, MEDIOCRE READING
Review: How disappointing to listen to a voice performance that doesn't capture the essence of the main character. What follows is my impression of the hardcover book, but the audio left me uninterested. Suggestion? Read rather than listen. While her debut novel, Chocolat (1999), was delicious and followed by the ripely seductive Blackberry Wine (2000), Joanne Harris's third offering, "Five Quarters Of The Orange," is bittersweet and tangy. When 65-year-old Framboise Simon returns to the small French village of her birth she is unrecognized by the townspeople who a half century earlier, during the German occupation, had branded her family as ignoble traitors. With a menu composed largely of her mother's old recipes, Framboise open a small café. These recipes have been kept in an album, the repository of many memories and thoughts. When the café becomes popular and is discovered by a food writer, Framboise's brother, Cassis, appears on the scene with his son and daughter-in-law in tow. They want the album the mother, Mirabelle, kept so they can produce a cookbook, and profit by making public secrets long hidden in the family's past. As a child Framboise had been befriended by a young Nazi, Tomas Leibniz. The confused girl had been swayed by his attention, and lavish gifts. Was it so easy to almost unknowingly become an informer? The album will eventually reveal a trove of untruths and deceptions. Ms. Harris once again dots her narrative with lyric descriptions of the French countryside.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book for all 5 senses!
Review: This is the first book I've read by Joanne Harris, and it won't be my last! Harris writes with such poetry that involves you fully in the story, you can't put the book down. You're IN the story, it's so vivid, you can see the town market, taste the oranges, smell the fresh air, hear the laughter and touch the river... The story is about a family that was torn apart by the war and it's cruel ways. A mother and her three children are struggling to get by; in a constant battle for control, freedom and happiness. Deeply embedded in the story is a secret, one so volitle, it's been hidden for 50 years. But now it's time to confront the past. It starts with the main character, Boise, going home, only due to her past, no one knows who she really is. I really enjoyed this story. It's not a long book, but as you reach the end, you'll be wishing it were a bit longer. And I have to say, being a very avid reader, Joanne Harris is quite a unique writer!
Rating:
Summary: This berry is a little sour
Review: What to say about a well written, interesting novel, full of compelling subject matter, evocative passages, genuine emotion and thoroughly dislikeable characters? The themes of wartime occupation, collaboration, and resistance as seen through the eyes of children is unique and moving. My problem lies with the characters themselves, it was difficult to sympathize with any of them even through their times of hardship and tragedy. Mirabelle the cruel, migraine prone mother was a bitter shell of a woman. Framboise, far too calculating and spiteful even in light of the harsh treatment meted out to her by her mother. The siblings never held my interest and were left rather underdeveloped. I did think the plot twist near the end was well done, although again it did nothing but reinforce my lack of affection for the siblings. As a small aside, another reviewer commented on the silly names of the characters and I would have to agree. As someone who lives in a English and French speaking country I have never heard of Francophone's with these type of bizarre names. It also seemed odd that someone with the strange name of Framboise would then name her own children with goofy food names (after nuts no less), when she was so desperate to remain anonymous. Not a bad book, but for me it's hard to love a book and not care about the characters. 3.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: This book will delight anyone who has visited Brittany in France. Joanne Harris develops all her characters with ease, enticing you into their lives until they become real people. Her writing is fluid and rich, and the plot, although a little slow to start picks up momentum. She lays numerous clues along the way, but still manages to keep you guessing right to the end. Have read all her novels to date, and so far still think this is the best. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A good mix of love, hate, history, mystery, and food
Review: As with Harris's other books, I was captivated. The themes of food and secrets and old stories that run through her books were all again present here, but this time the evils of Nazism (both near and far) lent a darker tone to the story.
Harris's transitions from past to present were less successful than in Chocolat and Blackberry Wine, and I found it difficult to keep the characters straight at times.
But once again, the author manages to surprise, entrance, puzzle, and inform us through our senses as well as through her words.
Rating:
Summary: Sensual and Emotional Tale
Review: I became quite engrossed in this story. It weaves such beautiful elements of provincial life; the book is very sensual. The foods described can almost be smelled and tasted by the reader, and the beauty of the forest and the Loire river can be clearly visualized. As an old woman with many secrets, Framboise moves back to the village of her youth. She renovated her family's farm and cleans up the orchards on the land. She opens her restaraunt and become the talk of the town with her wonderful recipes. Yet, the secrets that she hides constantly stay on her mind... she recalls the summer when she was nine years old, the summer when her life changed forever. I felt the story line was quite complex, yet very readable and well-executed by Harris. This was my first book by her, and I was very impressed with the style and tone of her writing. A great pleasure to read.
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