Book Description
Winner of the Whitbread Prize for best first fiction, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a coming-out novel from Winterson, the acclaimed author of The Passion and Sexing the Cherry. The narrator, Jeanette, cuts her teeth on the knowledge that she is one of God’s elect, but as this budding evangelical comes of age, and comes to terms with her preference for her own sex, the peculiar balance of her God-fearing household crumbles.
Customer Reviews:
Coming Out.......2007-05-10
A girl faces the problem of coming out to her conservative family, along with their reactions to her less-than-traditional sexuality.
Great introduction to Winterson.......2007-03-16
This is not "Well of Loneliness" (Radcliffe Hall) and for that we can all be grateful.
An Unwritten Story.......2006-08-08
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit courageously tackles a topic not addressed often enough in real literature; the struggle between one's family and self as sexuality develops contrary to "normal" expectations. Jeanette Winterson deftly paints the story of a young girl's travails as she comes out to her devoutly evangelical mother with humor and pathos. The characters are all too real, especially to anyone with a background in deeply Christian communities.
Winterson is an adept enough storyteller, however, her narration leaves something to be desired. The fairytales interspersed with the main storyline are interesting and add a magical, childlike touch to the story, but aren't fully integrated into the novel. As a result, they distract from the book rather than further developing it. This novel is a good first effort and a worthwhile read, but not quite a literary marvel.
"History is a string full of knots".......2006-07-25
In her debut novel, first published in 1985, Jeanette Winterson managed to achieve two important goals: one, to impress the reader with her autobiographical story, and two, to create her own style and voice, which she developed in her later works.
At the level of the narrative, the reader is completely taken in by the life of an orphan girl raised in England of the 1960's by the strictly religious mother to be a preacher and a missionary. The world outside the church community, which, despite the presence of pastors, has a strong matriarchal feeling, and the men seems somehow obscure and dispensable, is for little Jeanette absolutely incomprehensible.
As a child, she does not have a reason not to believe her mother... but growing up as an intelligent child with inquisitive mind, she begins to ask questions. First quietly, only in her mind, then more openly, when she encounters other reality (at school and in her town), and finally, confronted with her own sexuality which is unacceptable by (although, as it appears, not unknown to) her church, she decides to step out of her life as she knows it, go beyond her very limited experience and start afresh (very brave; I could not help thinking though that her being lesbian seemed to be an obstacle but in a way was helpful because it was the real push to struggle for her own identity; for a girl who would marry it would be probably less difficult to settle down quietly and stop asking questions, like it was for Melanie, Jeanette's first love in the novel). The oranges from the title become the symbol of the forced limitations...
The book is full of general thoughts, and although there is no great philosophy, the discoveries of adolescence are put into great words. Winterson's voice sometimes sound incredibly bitter and she paints the characters with certain cruelty. Although the book if full of funny anecdotes, it is a sad kind of humor, I hope this was a catharsis to write it. The author admits that we create our own history and memories are what we remember and shape ourselves, therefore far from objective report of the past...
Formally, the novel is divided into chapters bearing the titles of the initial books of the Old Testament. There are also many religious metaphors and similes throughout. Winterson uses simple, short sentences which gives the book the clarity. Interchanging with the main plot are short tales, which remind me of things I imagined and put on paper when I was a child... They are a great insight into the mind, fears and fantasies of a sensitive girl and look very real, although are obviously conceived at the same time as the whole novel (although it would be nice to think that Winterson incorporated her real childhood creations) as they run in parallel with the plot and are inseparable from it.
I think that for anyone who wants to become familiar with Winterson's prose, this is the best place to start.
Her beginnings...........2006-05-18
You can see the author finding her voice in this one. It's jumpy with moments of sparking fire that characterize her later works. She dips a toe into the magic realism and fairy tale, and seeing these tentative steps should give all writers faith that they should pursue their weirdest ideas, mediated by the story.
I recommend reading this not first but after you've seen her at her best, as in The Passion.
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Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Jeanette Winterson
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Winterson, Jeanette
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General
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ASIN: B000NPM5W8 |
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The Life Writing of Otherness: Woolf, Baldwin, Kingston, and Winterson (Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory)
Lauren Rusk
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Literary Theory
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ASIN: 0815336551 |
Book Description
This book proposes a way to read autobiographical writing by those the dominant deem "other" than themselves. Focusing on innovative works by Woolf, Baldwin, Kingston, and Winterson, the author analyzes how they each represent the self as unique, collectively "other," and inclusively human, and how these conflicting aspects of selfhood interact.
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New Windmills: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (New Windmills)
Jeanette Winterson
Manufacturer: Heinemann Educational Books - Secondary Division
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Literature
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| Children's Literature Guides
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| Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths
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Winterson, Jeanette
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ASIN: 0435123807 |
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Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Jeanette Winterson
Manufacturer: Pandora P
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0044407106 |
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- A Harried Damsel, a Hunted Defender, and Hansen's Disease
- My introduction to the medievel whodunit
- Sound the clapper!
- deception, the meaning of identity, and questions...
- Medieval mystery and romance
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Leper of Saint Giles
Ellis Peters
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0688010970 |
Customer Reviews:
A Harried Damsel, a Hunted Defender, and Hansen's Disease.......2006-03-10
A beautiful orphan heiress (Iveta) with a large dowry and mercenary guardians is about to be forced into a marriage of convenience with a rich but loathsome toad (Huon de Domville). When Huon's young, handsome retainer (Joscelyn Lucy) expresses his love for Iveta and his opposition to the marriage, he is fired, Huon is murdered, and the hunt is on for Joss. He could easily escape, but he will not leave until he can rescue Iveta from her guardians.
Joss takes refuge in a leper colony and is aided by an ancient, eight-fingered leper called Lazarus and a young boy whose mother is dying of leprosy. Can Joss escape the hangman's noose? Can the Iveta escape her guardians? Can the two star-crossed lovers be reunited? Who is this mysterious Lazarus?
Only one man in the whole of England can unravel this mystery, and he happens to be living in the nearby Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul. He is, of course, the Abbey's herbalist, Brother Cadfael, a former Crusader and pirate.
My introduction to the medievel whodunit.......2006-01-15
This was my first foray into the Brother Cadfael series, having recently retrieved several of them from the neighbors giveaway bin. I think I am already hooked! It's too bad this series is not more widely available in the US (or perhaps I don't inhabit the right bookselling establishments).
This is standard mystery fare for the most part, but with several unique twists. First and foremost is the 12th century England setting. This is quite educational in and of itself, especially for Yanks ill-versed in English history or for anyone who thinks that nothing happened durring the Middle Ages. The details certainly give you a sense of historical accuracy, although I am not not a qualified judge of such things. I was also interested to find out that one can explore the remains of the locale in present day Shrewsbury.
Brother Cadfael himself is a unique character. Although I believe the clergyman-cum-detective has been done before (actually he is a monk but not a priest), his work is complicated by the fact that he is never officially authorized (in this book anyway) by the sheriff to investigate the crime, nor is he paid for his work. Most of his investigations are surreptitious and voluntary, performed to satisfy his curiousity and desire for justice.
This particular book, in addition to the mystery, gives us a striking love story, involving an arranged marriage and forbidden love. While the outcome of the love story is never really in doubt, it does give you a rooting interest while you observe the investigative evidence unfold. There is also a fascinating look at the world of leprosy, one which has probably not changed much in many countries and which has only changed in the developed world in the last 100 years. To top things off there is a surprise twist involving Muslim-Christian relations, which is remarkably apropos for today's world despite having been written 20 years ago about something that took place a milleniumn ago.
One word of caution: as a consequence of the attempt at historical accuracy, there are many vocabulary words and turns-of-phrase that are obscure in modern English (especially American English), which tends to slow the reading down some. For those who want to broaden their vocabulary a dictionary would be useful, although the general gist of the story is usually evident from the context. In any case, don't be put off, it's worth the effort!
Sound the clapper!.......2006-01-09
In this fifth chronicle of Brother Cadfael of the abbey of St.Peter and St.Paul of Shrewsbury, a young, reluctant heiress is brought to the abbey for a marriage, forced on her by her greedy guardians, to a much older, gross mannered man, Huon de Domville. The prospective bride loves a young squire of her own age, but all of her protests are swept away in the name of joining together, two considerable estates. On the eve of the wedding, de Domville dismisses his servants and rides out alone for one last visit to his mistress, before the marriage takes place, but is found murdered in the woods, with clues firmly pointing to the young squire, Joscelin Lucy. Lucy had been overheard in the local inn by many people the evening before, making threatening remarks about de Domville while getting fall down drunk. Joscelin is arrested but manages to elude his captors, hiding in the nearby leper colony, which is supervised by Cadfael's protege, Brother Mark. The abbot enlists the aid of Cadfael in sorting out the mess, but when the murdered body of the girl's guardian is also discoverd, only Cadfael looks in the right direction to clear up the mysteries. As ever, in these fascinating books, Cadfael emerges as a man ahead of his time, as a clear thinking problem solver who cuts through prejudice and superstition, to bring everything to a satisfactory conclusion.
deception, the meaning of identity, and questions..........2002-01-16
Ellis Peters' "The Leper of St. Giles" starts off as, and continues to be, more of a pure love story than any of its predecessors. Since it is a Cadfael story, murder and mystery do indeed rear their ugly heads. Once more, Cadfael is called (with the support of his nifty new abbot) to do more than mix herbs.
Cadfael's former apprentice Brother Mark has left the nest as the story begins. One of the great joys in this book is to see the continued growth of Mark as a minister. In fact it is Mark, more so than Cadfael, who finds himself in the center of the action in "The Leper of Saint Giles."
This is a story that has a lot to do with the meaning of identity and the impact of deception. The basic plot revolves around a lowly squire who loves a wealthy heiress. The problem is, the heiress' wretched relations are intent on marrying her off for financial gain. From this rather nasty situation springs murder and false accusation. It is the job of Cadfael and Mark to make things right.
The more I read of Ellis Peters, the more I admire her work. She had a unique literary voice. So much wisdom is imparted in each story. This is doubly true in "The Leper of St. Giles." The reader is left questioning the actions of Cadfael and pondering the meaning of Justice.
While I am left with many questions and I missed Cadfael's old buddy Hugh, I found this book to be one of the more satisfying Cadfael stories. I highly recommend "The Leper of St. Giles."
Medieval mystery and romance.......2001-12-31
The Leper of Saint Giles the fifth book in Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series, exemplifies everything which is laudable in her series. Peters' shines in creating characters who we love, and excels in the ability to set the stage in the medieval world. Balancing mystery with romance is never an easy matter and Ellis Peters has created an entire series where this is her forte. In addition this series does not cling to the traditional sense of justice found in many other mysteries.
Brother Cadfael is at his best. He is both a spiritual being and a worldly one. He is as comfortable in the church as he is talking with a knights mistress. Cadfael has an innate ability to sense what is good in true in a person and works actively to support those with just causes. In the instance of this novel it is a young squire, Joss and a wealthy heiress Iveta. Iveta is a pawn of her aunt and uncle who plan to marry her to an aging knight and divide her land between them. Joss loves Iveta and plans on finding away to protect her. when a murder halts the marriage, Joss is the first suspect.
The setting is once again the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury, but this time it also includes the leper colony of Saint Giles. the reader is introduced to some of the horrors and indignities which the lepers lived through. Brother Mark works among them and recognizes the dignity of the human spirit.
I suggest this book as reading for those who love medieval mysteries.
Product Description
Book 5 of The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. The nearing December-May marriage between a wealthy merchant and a resigned bride has one of the lepers at Saint Giles nursing bitter plans for revenge.
Product Description
Brother Cadfael, a twelfth-century Benedictine monk living in an abbey in Shrewsbury, England is not only a devout man of the cowl, but also a slueth of deadly accuracy. In addition to his official duties as the monastery's herbalist, Cadfael finds much unofficial business to occupy his time -- like solving some of Shropshire's most perplexing murder cases. From The Leper of Saint Giles, in which he must unmask the killer responsible for two dead bodies and a marriage that is never to be, to Monk's Hood, which revolves around an unexplained poisoning, Cadfael -- with the aid of Sheriff Hugh Beringar and in spite of the abbey's meddling Prior -- repeatedly proves a most resourceful detective. In The Sanctuary Sparrow and One Corpse Too Many, Cadfael is again called upon to expose cold-blooded killers and save lives -- all while trying to honor his monastic vows. Filled with suspensful plotting and rich in period detail, these medieval whodunnits are truly crime classics. This special QPB edition features all four Brother Cadfael books adapted for television and shown on PBS in 1995 as part of it's "Mystery" series.
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The Incredible Hulk: Ghost of the Past
Peter David
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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David, Peter
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Peter, David
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General
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ASIN: 0785102612 |
Product Description
400th Issue Special. Includes Ghost of the Past part 4 of 4. Includes Deus Ex Machina part 1 & 2. Special Holo-Foil cover. Also includes special pin-ups.
Book Description
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy is a chronic nerve condition characterized by severe burning pain, excessive sweating, changes in the bones and skin, and extreme sensitivity to touch. It usually occurs at the site of an injury, but the cause of the disorder is unknown. This book provides holistic day-to-day strategies for managing the painful and often frustrating condition, as well as positive patient testimonies and the latest information on traditional and experimental interventions.
Customer Reviews:
I have Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy..........2006-03-10
I was diagnosed with have Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy almost 10 years ago, when there wasn't much information anywhere about this condition. This book has up to date information and is a great reference tool for those with RSD and their families.
everyone with RSD should read!.......2006-02-10
What a wonderful book! I felt so great after reading this book- there is hope and it is in this book! I am not alone and not only that- I can get better! Please read with an open mind- relax- and stop stressing- we can beat this thing!
ELENA JURIS STIKES A NERVE WITH POSITIVE OPTONS FOR RSD.......2005-01-19
ELENA'S BOOK IS A TRUE GUIDANCE THRU THE UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY WE ALL FACE WITH RSD!!! WHAT AN ACCURATE TESTIMONIAL TO WHAT HAVING RSD CAN AND WILL DO TO OUR LIVES. SHE EXPLAINS HOW WE CAN ADAPT DURING THE COURSE OF THIS ILLNESS WITH A COMBINATION OF TREATMENTS! PROVIDED WE BECOME OUR OWN ADVOCATES EARLY ON AND PERSIST AND NEVER GIVE UP HOPE WITH ENDLESS DEDICATION TO HEALING AND WELLNESS.................................AWARENESS LEADS YOU TO ADVOCATE TOWARDS HEALING
A MUST READ FOR EVERONE!!!!
WISHING YOU WELLNESS,
TRACY ZUCKERMAN
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- Rain Fall (John Rain Thrillers)
- Rules for Old Men Waiting: A Novel
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