Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914 EAN: 9780802135162 ISBN: 0802135161 Label: Grove Press Manufacturer: Grove Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 192 Publication Date: August 20, 1997 Publisher: Grove Press Sales Rank: 23700 Studio: Grove Press
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.
What Others Say
Coming of Age Story
I was introduced to this wonderful book through my Lit class at my University. Winterson does an excellent job with her coming of age novel. Not only is about the struggles of homosexuality, loss of religion, and trying to find out where one fits in the world, but it is also a novel about power struggle and relationships. Winterson weaves her semi-autobiographical novel with short fairy tales. A must read for all genertaions.
Very different but very interesting and quite good
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit was part of an extracurricular reading assignment for a college-related book club led by an English prof. Regardless of the opinions of the 20 participants when they entered the class, when the 90 minute class ended, the majority agreed they liked it and found it quirky but quite good. I would recommend it for the experienced reader and I DO plan to read other works by the same author.
Meaningful novel
I suppose one mistake that people make about Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is that it is meant to expose the evils of christianity. That may be true, but I don't think that it was the author intended. It seems to be more of a moral dilemma of humanity's inhumanity towards man. Or rather to ask the question of what happens when an unstoppable force meets the immovable object.
Jeanette, adopted and raised by a domineering christian woman, is brought up to believe that there are only the Godly and the Heathens. By the age of seven that she will become a missionary and is even rewarded by her mother for scaring other students with stories of hell and damnation.
By the age of fourteen, she is throughly misunderstood at school and micro-managed ... Read More
I don't get what is so great about this book
I read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit because everyone says it's a classic of lesbian literature. I don't see how it's a classic of anything. The story isn't very interesting and, except for near the end, it's hardly lesbian. Maybe it was all of the religious overtones, but I struggled through it. Some of it was hard to grasp for someone who isn't English, although I think I have better than a passing knowledge of life over there. It just didn't strike me as a very good book, but now I can say I read it.
Didn't really strike my fancy
Unfortunately, I think a lot of the references in the novel were lost upon me because the Ms. Winterson's use of language and locations that are unfamiliar to me as an American (the novel takes place in England). In addition, Ms. Winterson' tale of coming to grips with her sexual orientation while being brought up in a religious family seems like old hat to me. However, my guess is that that story was somewhat groundbreaking when it was first published in 1985.
