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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
This is a strange and wonderful book. The only way to describe it is to quote from it:
and
In the Crown of Thorns that night Tradescant made plans to take ship and leave us. I saw the look on Jordans's face and my heart became a captive in a locked room. I couldn't reach him now. I knew he would go.
I went outside and walked until the lights of the inn were specks in the distance and I was alone with the river flowing out to sea.
and
I've kept the log book for the ship. Meticulously. And I've kept a book of my own, and for every journey we have made together I've written down my own journey and drawn my own map. I can't show this to the others, but I believe it to be a faithful account of what happened, at least, of what happened to me.
andThe philosopher of the village warned me that love is better ignored than explored, for it is easier to track a barnacle goose than to follow the trajectories of the heart.
andAre we all living like this? Two lives, the ideal outer life and the inner imaginative life where we keep our secrets?
and, from the publisher's description:This is a story which ebulliently rejects any single reading of history or life and revels in the multiplicity of truth and time.
Simple yet effective prose. At times I really didn't understand the plot or the timeline, but that didn't feel important. What was important was the words, and they got through. If that makes sense? Probably not. But the language reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle, except that this obviously doesn't have the same target audience. Really enjoyable read and I'll probably (hopefully) read it again.
Winterson is one of my favourite authors, and Sexing the Cherry was a long-outstanding book for me within her oeuvre. The novel is a slim but very well reviewed piece which I was eager to read. Telling the story of Jordan, who was abandoned beside a river in that age-old Bible parody style, Sexing the Cherry is immediately captivating. Winterson's language is both playful and creative, and the dual perspectives of Jordan and his adoptive mother are incredibly effective. The historical setting has been rendered exquisitely, making this a beautiful and rather dramatic read from the very beginning. There is a darkly comic edge to it, and one becomes spellbound by the world which Winterson creates. The magical realism which can be found throughout is exquisite, and the whole is great and inventive. My only qualm is that the final section was a little odd, and I didn't feel as though the added perspective of Nicholas added much to the whole, but the rest of the novel is so fantastic that I could give it nothing lower than a five star rating.
I wasn't sure I was going to like this one, given the comments above and my vague memories of [b:Oranges are Not the Only Fruit|15055|Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit|Jeanette Winterson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267717580s/15055.jpg|1411520] being a bit of a rant. However I enjoyed the interweaving of the journeys, the fantastic and historical. It was easy and stimulating to read, with lots of ideas as well as lots of stories. My favourite ideas were those of the city that has to be cleansed of words on pages 11-13 and an internal rate of conductivity determining how we experience time (100-101), but maybe the latter is just the physicist in me.
This is a strange little book. Don't think about it too much. Read it. Enjoy it. The piece reads like a mellow LSD trip. The discourse concerning time is cliche. A weird allegory that I am unsure what the meaning behind the story is. Above all else, a book that demonstrates the limitless possibilities of what writing can do and can be as long as we as readers come at it with an open and willing mind
Definitely not your normal kind of linear narrative. Filled with magical realism, though Winterson claims it isn't, it is a novel about time and place and identity that ranges from plague-ridden London in the 1600's to modern day with stops in fantastical and fairy tale realms along the way.
I picked this book up at a yard sale because I thought it looked interesting. It was. It's a hard book to describe - it
explores ideas about time and space brilliantly but it was hard to follow at first because the story jumps around (in time and space of course) before you know the characters. I had to go back and read the beginning when I was halfway through the book to get things straight. It's not a long book. Beautifully written, quite dreamlike and ephemeral. The musings on time and space are thrilling, somewhere between science and spirituality. I would give it 5 stars if it hadn't been so confusing at first.
explores ideas about time and space brilliantly but it was hard to follow at first because the story jumps around (in time and space of course) before you know the characters. I had to go back and read the beginning when I was halfway through the book to get things straight. It's not a long book. Beautifully written, quite dreamlike and ephemeral. The musings on time and space are thrilling, somewhere between science and spirituality. I would give it 5 stars if it hadn't been so confusing at first.
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was weird, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, but I think I liked it.
4.5 stars !!! v much enjoyed this and will revisit it probs but it is also a bit of a tricky read for me to follow but still great ! give it a read if u can !