You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
funny
reflective
sad
I HATE RELATING TO BOOKS THIS MUCH UGHHHH after a while it gets really painful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I consider myself an atheist though I have some religious background in my family which was both funny to think back on but also disheartening to find the common misconceptions christianity has.
“Oranges are not the only fruit” is an autobiographical novel by Jeanette Winterson who describes growing up as a lesbian girl who got adopted into a deeply christian family. But it's definitely much more than just Winterson's unusual and gut-wrenching coming-of-age story. It's a new perspective on religion, it's a questioning of binaries, it's a reinterpretation of religion, and a clever story full of biblical symbols and references that I didn't manage to catch all of.
What I especially appreciated about this book was how it did not blindly demonise the whole existence of religion but instead did so about the people who misunderstand and use religion as an excuse for their own misbeliefs and wrongdoings. Jeanette did not hate religion by the end of the book, she simply redefined it – instead of becoming the missionary who’d fix the world like her mother had hoped, she became someone who changes the world for the better by spreading acceptance and sharing her story of sexuality and religion. I suppose that’s one of the things this story is about: oranges are not the only fruit and living a religious life full of rules, guilt and unacceptance is not the only way to have a relationship with god as well as being a straight and “obedient” wife is not the only way to be in a relationship. In the end Jeanette was a much better person than anyone else in her religious community which should be the entire goal of even having a religion – to inspire people to be better. But again, even the little of experiences I’ve had with any kinds of religious people or communities can be narrowed down to that time I was sent to a bible camp as a kid in which I survived for 3,5 days out of 7, before calling my sister to pick me up, and I still remember this as a very negative memory. I understand that some people need and enjoy that kind of faith or discipline in their life but it certainly shouldn't be forced on anyone and the entire construction of specifically christianity shouldnt revolve around rules, shame and tradition which do more harm than good.
Another touching part of this book for me was Jeanette’s relationship with her mother. I suppose her mother was less of a character and more of a symbol in this novel, representing the cruelty and hypocrisy of a deeply religious and abusive parent. But to think of her as a real person in Winterson’s life is all the more heartbreaking. It is a complex and deep-rooted journey to recover from years of misconceptions, manipulations and mental abuse. One that touches the soul, that’s for sure. I think one of the things that helped Jeanette survive all those years was her creativity – retelling her stories as fairytales and myths was incredibly interesting to follow and it’s also an unbelievably clever way to sneak in bible references and question its rightfulness. Speaking of writing style, I enjoyed the witty and humorous approaches she had to her rather morbid life. I also find that the scenes she decided to write down from her life, all the little details, the small moments combined, made this into a wonderful story with great precision and details to illustrate her everyday difficulties and peculiarities.
Generally I really enjoyed the book and the fact that it made me THINK like a lot. I often caught myself just staring at the broken corner of the book, deep in thought and rummaging through my memories and ideas. Zoning out during reading can either result in the book being boring or the book being thought provoking, and despite the myriad of confusing bible references I couldn't understand, this book can still be considered the latter. I recommend it for sure, Winterson is a great author with a lot of wisdom to share.
“Oranges are not the only fruit” is an autobiographical novel by Jeanette Winterson who describes growing up as a lesbian girl who got adopted into a deeply christian family. But it's definitely much more than just Winterson's unusual and gut-wrenching coming-of-age story. It's a new perspective on religion, it's a questioning of binaries, it's a reinterpretation of religion, and a clever story full of biblical symbols and references that I didn't manage to catch all of.
What I especially appreciated about this book was how it did not blindly demonise the whole existence of religion but instead did so about the people who misunderstand and use religion as an excuse for their own misbeliefs and wrongdoings. Jeanette did not hate religion by the end of the book, she simply redefined it – instead of becoming the missionary who’d fix the world like her mother had hoped, she became someone who changes the world for the better by spreading acceptance and sharing her story of sexuality and religion. I suppose that’s one of the things this story is about: oranges are not the only fruit and living a religious life full of rules, guilt and unacceptance is not the only way to have a relationship with god as well as being a straight and “obedient” wife is not the only way to be in a relationship. In the end Jeanette was a much better person than anyone else in her religious community which should be the entire goal of even having a religion – to inspire people to be better. But again, even the little of experiences I’ve had with any kinds of religious people or communities can be narrowed down to that time I was sent to a bible camp as a kid in which I survived for 3,5 days out of 7, before calling my sister to pick me up, and I still remember this as a very negative memory. I understand that some people need and enjoy that kind of faith or discipline in their life but it certainly shouldn't be forced on anyone and the entire construction of specifically christianity shouldnt revolve around rules, shame and tradition which do more harm than good.
Another touching part of this book for me was Jeanette’s relationship with her mother. I suppose her mother was less of a character and more of a symbol in this novel, representing the cruelty and hypocrisy of a deeply religious and abusive parent. But to think of her as a real person in Winterson’s life is all the more heartbreaking. It is a complex and deep-rooted journey to recover from years of misconceptions, manipulations and mental abuse. One that touches the soul, that’s for sure. I think one of the things that helped Jeanette survive all those years was her creativity – retelling her stories as fairytales and myths was incredibly interesting to follow and it’s also an unbelievably clever way to sneak in bible references and question its rightfulness. Speaking of writing style, I enjoyed the witty and humorous approaches she had to her rather morbid life. I also find that the scenes she decided to write down from her life, all the little details, the small moments combined, made this into a wonderful story with great precision and details to illustrate her everyday difficulties and peculiarities.
Generally I really enjoyed the book and the fact that it made me THINK like a lot. I often caught myself just staring at the broken corner of the book, deep in thought and rummaging through my memories and ideas. Zoning out during reading can either result in the book being boring or the book being thought provoking, and despite the myriad of confusing bible references I couldn't understand, this book can still be considered the latter. I recommend it for sure, Winterson is a great author with a lot of wisdom to share.
Initially, the book was hard to get into. Honestly even that’s a lie, it took me to read 70-72% of the book to be genuinely interested in the story - the author’s introduction to the novel somehow being my favourite part over the novel itself.
This could just be a simple matter of me not being it’s target audience, not having key experiences a reader would need to be able to super impose oneself onto the protagonist or maybe I’m just kind of stupid and didn’t get whatever deep meaning it was trying to convey… either way it took a worryingly long time for me to get even slightly invested.
Although I do have my qualms with its’ narration (author came off pretentious at times under the guise of individuality and thematic exploration in her prose), the one thing that really put me off was the novels structuring.
The pacing of events was one of the few things I enjoyed, although I found it hard to distinguish at what points the main protagonist had aged due to the lack of change in…? maturity of her perspective? Not sure how to word it, but I didn’t feel as though I saw the character come into her identity and that caused her characterisation to fall flat to me.
But, what especially bugged me, were the random parable interludes in the story - I don’t feel like they held any distinct, special tie to the novel: the narrator would convey one theme particularly well through real-time events and internal dialogue then break into a fairy tale which conveyed the exact same thing but with fancier writing. I suspect this again may just be me not getting key points of the book which would’ve helped this make sense buuuut even then, I wasn’t invested enough in the story, character or narrator to try and figure it out.
The ending however, I really enjoyed… essentially the last chapter/ last 20-30 pages. The way Jeanette ruminates on so many previously mentioned themes, parables and key parts of internal dialogue from earlier on in the book gave the book a very cyclical feel, all her thoughts and ideas whilst growing up culminating into an especially beautiful piece of prose (it was in these 5-10 pages where I found my favourite quotes of the entire book).
I would’ve put this as a solid 1/10 but it’s ending put it up a whole star. I may not be being entirely fair to the book, so I’ll probably go and search for some in-depth explorative essays to help me understand and then come edit this review...
This could just be a simple matter of me not being it’s target audience, not having key experiences a reader would need to be able to super impose oneself onto the protagonist or maybe I’m just kind of stupid and didn’t get whatever deep meaning it was trying to convey… either way it took a worryingly long time for me to get even slightly invested.
Although I do have my qualms with its’ narration (author came off pretentious at times under the guise of individuality and thematic exploration in her prose), the one thing that really put me off was the novels structuring.
The pacing of events was one of the few things I enjoyed, although I found it hard to distinguish at what points the main protagonist had aged due to the lack of change in…? maturity of her perspective? Not sure how to word it, but I didn’t feel as though I saw the character come into her identity and that caused her characterisation to fall flat to me.
But, what especially bugged me, were the random parable interludes in the story - I don’t feel like they held any distinct, special tie to the novel: the narrator would convey one theme particularly well through real-time events and internal dialogue then break into a fairy tale which conveyed the exact same thing but with fancier writing. I suspect this again may just be me not getting key points of the book which would’ve helped this make sense buuuut even then, I wasn’t invested enough in the story, character or narrator to try and figure it out.
The ending however, I really enjoyed… essentially the last chapter/ last 20-30 pages. The way Jeanette ruminates on so many previously mentioned themes, parables and key parts of internal dialogue from earlier on in the book gave the book a very cyclical feel, all her thoughts and ideas whilst growing up culminating into an especially beautiful piece of prose (it was in these 5-10 pages where I found my favourite quotes of the entire book).
I would’ve put this as a solid 1/10 but it’s ending put it up a whole star. I may not be being entirely fair to the book, so I’ll probably go and search for some in-depth explorative essays to help me understand and then come edit this review...
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated