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A review by poppysmic
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
5.0
This is a really warm, laugh-out-loud, but also heartbreaking semi autobiographical story of Jeanette, adopted into an intensely evangelical home. Under the zealous, righteous hand of her mother, Jeanette is at first homeschooled and harbours ambitions of becoming a missionary, but as she grows and discovers more about herself and her sexuality, she begins to free herself from her intense Pentecostal community and finds her own path.
The narrative jumps between Jeanette's anecdotes and linked fables/allusions. There is a lot of pain throughout, such as her feeling so ostracised when joining the local school due to her religious upbringing, her birth mother's very brief reappearance in her life, and the devastating consequences when her relationship with a friend is realised, but it's also incredibly funny and hopeful, and the prose lowkey but consistently poignant.
"As it is, I can't settle, I want someone who is fierce and will love me until death and know that love is as strong as death... But on the wild nights who can you call home? Only the one who knows your name.”
The narrative jumps between Jeanette's anecdotes and linked fables/allusions. There is a lot of pain throughout, such as her feeling so ostracised when joining the local school due to her religious upbringing, her birth mother's very brief reappearance in her life, and the devastating consequences when her relationship with a friend is realised, but it's also incredibly funny and hopeful, and the prose lowkey but consistently poignant.
"As it is, I can't settle, I want someone who is fierce and will love me until death and know that love is as strong as death... But on the wild nights who can you call home? Only the one who knows your name.”