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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t enjoy most of it but the last 20 pages struck me a bit, they were very unexpected but weirdly comforting even though it wasn’t necessarily a good conclusion on paper — in a way it was a realistic good for Jeanette.
The words that really stuck with me were “I still don’t think of God as my betrayer. The servants of God yes, but servants by their very nature betray. I miss God who was my friend.”
I feel like this perfectly describes that relationship with God and religion that many of us have.
The words that really stuck with me were “I still don’t think of God as my betrayer. The servants of God yes, but servants by their very nature betray. I miss God who was my friend.”
I feel like this perfectly describes that relationship with God and religion that many of us have.
Hated, hated, hated this book. Too preachy and pretentious. Did I say I hated it?
To be perfectly honest, I never would have picked this book up to read if it hadn't been assigned for a class in Women's Studies. However, now that I've had the opportunity to read one of Winterson's works, I'm hooked.
This is an autobiographical, coming-of-age story with England as the backdrop. Winterson knows how to blend quirky humor with the deeper human emotions of sadness, grief, and love - and she does it perfectly. The narration is first-person, and the story bounces back and forth between reality and fairy tale. The fairy tales presented coincide with what is happening in the narrator's life, and their purpose seems to be to extend the story. The story is full of struggles - personal & emotional, and where religion & beliefs are concerned. There is so much that can be derived from this book...if you just give it a chance.
A few quotes that stuck with me:
"Perhaps it was the snow, or the food, or the impossibility of my life that made me hope to go to bed and wake up with the past intact. I seemed to have run in a great circle, and met myself again on the starting line."
"Time is a great deadener: people forget, get bored, grow old, go away.
"There are threads that help you find your way back, and there are threads that intend to bring you back. Mind turns to the pull, it's hard to pull away."
"...to change something you do not understand is the true nature of evil."
"She must find a boat and sail in it. No guarantee of shore. Only a conviction that what she wanted could exist, if she dared to find it."
"Round and round he walked, and so learned a very valuable thing: that no emotion is the final one."
This is an autobiographical, coming-of-age story with England as the backdrop. Winterson knows how to blend quirky humor with the deeper human emotions of sadness, grief, and love - and she does it perfectly. The narration is first-person, and the story bounces back and forth between reality and fairy tale. The fairy tales presented coincide with what is happening in the narrator's life, and their purpose seems to be to extend the story. The story is full of struggles - personal & emotional, and where religion & beliefs are concerned. There is so much that can be derived from this book...if you just give it a chance.
A few quotes that stuck with me:
"Perhaps it was the snow, or the food, or the impossibility of my life that made me hope to go to bed and wake up with the past intact. I seemed to have run in a great circle, and met myself again on the starting line."
"Time is a great deadener: people forget, get bored, grow old, go away.
"There are threads that help you find your way back, and there are threads that intend to bring you back. Mind turns to the pull, it's hard to pull away."
"...to change something you do not understand is the true nature of evil."
"She must find a boat and sail in it. No guarantee of shore. Only a conviction that what she wanted could exist, if she dared to find it."
"Round and round he walked, and so learned a very valuable thing: that no emotion is the final one."
HOLY CRAP was this awesome! I was worried it would be sorrowful and a bit of a downer, but it was written with so much humor that it was a joy to read. The main character (and the author's personal life story) is that she was adopted by insanely zealous, religious lunatics. As she grows up she realizes she is gay. She experiences rejection and religious ceremonies to expel the demon (of gaiety I guess?) from her. But she has so much humor in the story that even when you should feel devastated for her, you just carry on and wait to see what she does. How she stayed true to herself and strong as she did is a mystery. I know the book is considered fiction but the author's life is so similar to the story that I can only assume she based it on her experiences growing up and having such as family as she did. I adored the people who stood by her and helped her accept herself. It's not the back woods religious "ideals" and "values" that provide faith, but those people who helped her stay true to herself and stood up with her who are the true inspirations for faith in each other and goodness in the world. Hear hear, Ms. Winterson!
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
really honestly so wonderful, lots a humor and fondness for one’s upbringing, no matter how difficult or painful it was there is always some love for childhood. great little queer read, want to get through more of her books now!