The Passion (Contemporary classics) [Paperback]

 

 

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I read this again and I recognise where I go wrong with Winterson. I read her, like I would read an Agatha Christie, but these books demand more. I'm not a clever boy but it's funny I spent more time struggling with this than I would reading a 500 page book. It's the same as climbing a mountain and looking back at the view and I felt different having read it. This, by the way, in my opinion, is how Winterson is a genius. It's one thing enjoying a story and being distracted but it's quite different when a book changes the way you feel. She is, in short, an extrodinary writer.

I think before I sound really stupid, I should just list why this book needs to be read.
- Language here has a texture, like a silk or something.
- It's an amazing story
- "It was Napoleon who had such a passion for chicken that he kept his chefs working round the clock," is the best opening line of a book ever.
- The twist at the end, which I think is saying the absence of freedom can be chosen.
- Etc. Etc.

Really buy it. The Passion is a demanding mistress but a rewarding one.

Okay so now I'm a Winterson fan. I'll stop now.

Love. When you mean it, when you really feel overwhelmed by someone there is pain as well as plasure. That is one aspect of this brilliant book. How faith in one human being can lead thousands to war, how nine days and nights can be the most important of your life. The book looks at how one person can completly alter your life and way of thinking. How love for another can make you look at yourself and the world differently. When love isn't returned it can lead to genuine pain and grief, but when returned the notion of happily ever after and a wonderful world seem within reason. Jeanette Winterson has written a beautiful book. It has a strong fantasy element but there is truth on every page, and we will all recognise feelings and fears we ourselves have experienced though we may never have been in war or walked on water. Reading a book like this makes you feel less lonely, and I would recommend it to anyone. Nicola.

I read Oranges are not the only Fruits a long time ago and was impressed. Since then I have always wanted to read a second novel by Jeanette Winterson. The Passion, first published in 1987, is now 21 years old. At long last what finally prompted me to read a second novel by Winterson was the fact that in 2006 the Observer newspaper, following the New York Post, published a list it regarded as the fifty best novels from 1980 to 2005 written by British, Irish or Commonwealt novelists. Miss Winterson's The Passion featured in the list. In reading The Passion, did I ultimately regret the long delay in reading a second novel by Winterson?

The Passion is a very short novel that outline the fantastic adventures of its two main characters - Henri and Villanelle. The adventures are set against the backdrop of Napoleon's campaingns which effectively gives some shape to the novel. The story is structured in four parts with two first person narrators. This in itself demands a careful read especially as in the final part the narration suddenly shifts back and forth between Henry and Villanelle.

In a short preface to the 2001 edition, Miss Winterson tells us that: "The Passion was written in 1986, boom time of the Thatcher years." It appears that part of Miss Winterson's aim was to counter the Thatcherite culture of boom and get rich quick city boys. She states: "I wanted to write a separate world, not as an escape, as a mirror, a secret looking glass that would sharpen and multiply the possibilities of the actual world." So in this world that Jeanette Winterson sets out to create she reveals to us the extremes of human desires and behaviour. There is cross dressing, theft, prostitution, gambling where the stakes are very high, murder, but above all, and perhaps the saving grace there is falling passionately in love.

There is no doubt that this is a highly imaginative piece of writing. There are some acute observations but one must admit that within themselves do not always add up to much. Take for example the following: "I was happy but happy is an adult word. You don't have to ask a child about happy you see it. They are or they are not. Adults talk about happy because largely they are not." If you are therefore looking to read something that is grounded in realism then this is not for you as it was, broadly speaking, not for me. However, one must admire Miss Winterson's boldness to attempt something 'new'.

The text, narration and structure of this novel is very self-conscious. It could be said that the text is a writely one. Winterson wants to cast herself in the tradition of the great writerly novelists - I won't give any example. Her novel therefore attempts to draw attention to the mechanism of the story just as much as it does the story itself. In doing so Miss Winterson forces us, the reader, to produce meaning from it.

Ultimately, The Passion strikes me as a book that attempts to reveal the extremes to which humans are prepared to go to achieve their passions. The passions we pursue are alternatives to the drudgery of our mundane daily activities. But they can be dangerous to pursue. As Winterson says you could find yourself "among the desperate".

I sturggled to decide whether or not to rate this novel a two or three stars. In the end I opted for three stars because some of the final passages are quite moving as we realise that in the final analysis love conquers all. Henri locked up in prison tells us: "I think now that being free is not being powerful or rich or well regarded or without obligations but being able to love." Henri also reveals that even in prison one can still have the verve for life. In oxymoron fashion he says: "I like to know that life will outlive me, that's a happiness Bonaparte never understood."

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4.0 out of 5 stars The Passion
The Passion is a quirky novel, part historical and part a look at love from different perspectives. The book is split into four sections which by the end form a whole. Read more

Published 9 months ago by N. A. Spencer

5.0 out of 5 stars A highwayscribery Book Report
Three readings of this slim tome in the past ten years do not yield a conclusion that each time it gets better, but it certainly holds up well. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Stephen Siciliano

3.0 out of 5 stars Initial Zing but fades quickly,
This book started with much promise as Henri embarks on his adventures as a young soldier in Napoleon's army but when Winterson changes narrators to Villanelle my interest started... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Kiwifunlad

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most original books I've ever read.
The Passion' is one of the most original books I have ever read!

Though it is set during the Napoleonic era, it is a book where 'the laws of the real world are... Read more

Published on 16 July 2009 by BL Chapman-allan

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this if you're visiting Venice
I already like this writer's work but chose to read this because I knew there was a link with Venice which I was about to visit. Read more

Published on 4 Jun 2009 by Garden reader

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Passion? I think so!!
'Bridges join but they also separate.'

'I like the collision between different realities', she says, as she prepares two mugs of Irish tea. Read more

Published on 1 Sep 2008 by J. S. Lewison

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
This book was recommended to me by a good friend and is definetly not the kind of book I would normally dwell into; about love, passion... Read more

Published on 21 Sep 2007 by Erik Cleves Kristensen

3.0 out of 5 stars The madness of passion.
I found the whimsical content of this short story haunting. The two principal characters inhabit a twilight reality, coalescing into dreamscapes and fantastical imagery. Read more

Published on 23 Aug 2006 by Room For A View

3.0 out of 5 stars Cruel and Unusual...
... that's not to say it's not a good read, just not what I expected.

Set against the background of the Napoleonic wars, this book blends historical references with... Read more

Published on 25 Jun 2006 by maria1971

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent political read!
I'll admit first off that I had to read this book for my degree, but I was impressed with the very beginning, and what becomes almost the book's 'catchphrase' - "I'm telling you... Read more

Published on 17 May 2004 by Joe Payne

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