Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

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 Rating:
Summary: Coming of Age Story
Comment: 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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Very different but very interesting and quite good
Comment: This book 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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Meaningful novel
Comment: I suppose one mistake that people make about this book 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 at home. She soon finds solice in a young women who she brings to the church.

However, once her mother catches on to the romance, they are called to repent. Jeanette refuses to deny her love and is subjected to threats, starvation and imprisonment. Delirious, she agrees to reform but is soon drawn back into homosexuality by another young convert.

Fearing further mistreatment, Jeanette leaves home, forcing herself to accept that she will never fit within the high standards and expectations of her learnings.

Highly recommended for any gay teenager or young adult who is struggling to come out from a religious background, although you don't need to fit into that catergory in order to get some value out of this story.

An equally successful mini-series was aired in Britian in 1990 by the same name and follows the book very closely. Also recommended.

Customer Rating:
Summary: I don't get what is so great about this book
Comment: I read this book 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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Didn't really strike my fancy
Comment: 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.