Reviews

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

amberlynoel's review against another edition

4.0

Heart breaking. This took me a while to finish even though it's short because it's so raw and real.

amlema's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

catmul83's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

squil's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Hmm interesting.

I appreciated that rather than an outside force “corrupting” Jeanette, her upbringing within the church was enough to lead her to question the church and her religion. She’s raised in an environment that fostered her own self confidence as she was expected to be a missionary and was always praised for unique talents, treated somewhat like a prophet. This same sense of self and intelligence leading to her conflict with the church felt authentic and reasonable. She was largely guided by her own gut feelings,  relationship with God, and understanding of her religion, which made the hypocrisy of her church’s teachings all the more obvious to her as she came to these conclusions on her own.

I feel like I need to do some bible reading to get all the references especially with the chapters being named after books of the bible because I suspect there are more connections than the ones I noticed. Still, I definitely got a few good chuckles from Jeanette’s blunt observations of Christianity, religion, and the church. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, and Outing

sexpest's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

charling's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

worm_food's review

3.75

I am actually more fond of the book than the rating might suggest, her turn of phrase n metaphor especially near the end were very good but in all and especially compared to "Why be happy" that I listened to a while back it felt a bit unfinished and disjointed. I enjoyed it though!

addielum's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

elfyn's review against another edition

would potentially return to this book

lavenderwavess's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

5.0