Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
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Review
`Vivid, unpredictable, and sometimes mind-rattling memoir... This book... which had been funny enough to make me laugh out loud more times than is advisable on the No 12 bus - turns into something raw and unnerving' ----Julie Myerson, the Observer
`This is certainly the most moving book of Winterson's I have ever read... but it wriggles with humour... At one point I was crying so much I had tears in my ears. There is much here that is impressive, but what I find most unusual about it is the way it deepens one's sympathy, for everyone involved' ----Zoe Williams, the Guardian
`In the 26 years since the publication of her highly acclaimed first novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson has proved herself a writer of startling invention, originality and style. Her combination of the magical and the earthy, the rapturous and the matter-of-fact, is unique. It is a strange and felicitous gift, as if the best of Gabriel Garcia Marquez was combined with the best of Alan Bennett... This remarkable account is, among other things, a powerful argument for reading... This memoir is brave and beautiful, a testament to the forces of intelligence, heart and imagination. It is a marvellous book and generous one' ----Cressida Connolly, the Speactator
`Both inspiring and appalling, its cruellest details only made digestible by the restrained elegance of Winterson's prose' ----Fiona Sturges, Independent on Sunday --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
`This is certainly the most moving book of Winterson's I have ever read... but it wriggles with humour... At one point I was crying so much I had tears in my ears. There is much here that is impressive, but what I find most unusual about it is the way it deepens one's sympathy, for everyone involved' ----Zoe Williams, the Guardian
`In the 26 years since the publication of her highly acclaimed first novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson has proved herself a writer of startling invention, originality and style. Her combination of the magical and the earthy, the rapturous and the matter-of-fact, is unique. It is a strange and felicitous gift, as if the best of Gabriel Garcia Marquez was combined with the best of Alan Bennett... This remarkable account is, among other things, a powerful argument for reading... This memoir is brave and beautiful, a testament to the forces of intelligence, heart and imagination. It is a marvellous book and generous one' ----Cressida Connolly, the Speactator
`Both inspiring and appalling, its cruellest details only made digestible by the restrained elegance of Winterson's prose' ----Fiona Sturges, Independent on Sunday --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
The shocking, heart-breaking - and often very funny - true story behind Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
164 of 168 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Although one should never buy a book for its cover, I must admit that I was drawn to this book by the photograph on the front and by the title: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?' Jeanette Winterson chose this title because it was her adoptive mother's response to the news that Winterson was gay - so the title might just as easily have been: `Why me? What have I done to deserve a daughter like you?' Speculation aside, I must say that whatever the title, I am glad that the author decided to write this memoir.
In 1985 Winterson published her first novel: `Oranges are not the only Fruit' and this novel was acknowledged to be partly autobiographical. It tells the story of a girl who was adopted in her infancy by Pentecostal parents. When I read `Oranges' years ago and found out that it was partly based on fact, I thought the worst bits were most probably the fiction parts- not so. Winterson's book tells us that her childhood wasn't quite as that depicted in `Oranges' - it was worse, and that she found it necessary to invent kind people like Testifying Elsie. She writes: "There was no Elsie. There was no one like Elsie. Things were much lonelier than that".
This new book is full of wonderful stories, some funny, some very sad, some that must have been painful to write about. For the reader it may sound amusing to hear of Mrs Winterson striding past Woolworth's shouting "A Den of Vice"; past Marks and Spencer announcing that "The Jews killed Christ"; or marching past the funeral parlour and the pie shop saying "They share an oven" - but Winterson must have had very mixed feelings at the time. She goes on to tell us how Mrs Winterson was not a welcoming woman: "If anyone knocked at the door she ran down the lobby and shoved a poker through the letter box". Let's hope no one was looking through it at the time.
Winterson found refuge in the public library where she devoured books that she was unable to read openly at home; if she wasn't reading at the library, she would sit in the outside lavatory, or on the front step where she often found herself locked out overnight. When Mrs Winterson finds Jeanette's hidden cache of paperbacks, she burns them in the backyard. "F*** it" thinks Winterson, "I can write my own" - and the rest, up to a certain extent, is history. Winterson does well enough academically to get into Oxford, she gets her first book published and goes on to have a successful literary career. However that is not all. This memoir relates how Winterson falls in love with women, how her adoptive mother reacts to the knowledge that her daughter, instead of becoming a missionary, has become a lesbian and has paved her way to hell. We learn about Winterson's search for love and of her search for her birth mother and we learn a lot more in this honest, fierce, poignant and ultimately uplifting memoir. Wonderful.
5 Stars.
In 1985 Winterson published her first novel: `Oranges are not the only Fruit' and this novel was acknowledged to be partly autobiographical. It tells the story of a girl who was adopted in her infancy by Pentecostal parents. When I read `Oranges' years ago and found out that it was partly based on fact, I thought the worst bits were most probably the fiction parts- not so. Winterson's book tells us that her childhood wasn't quite as that depicted in `Oranges' - it was worse, and that she found it necessary to invent kind people like Testifying Elsie. She writes: "There was no Elsie. There was no one like Elsie. Things were much lonelier than that".
This new book is full of wonderful stories, some funny, some very sad, some that must have been painful to write about. For the reader it may sound amusing to hear of Mrs Winterson striding past Woolworth's shouting "A Den of Vice"; past Marks and Spencer announcing that "The Jews killed Christ"; or marching past the funeral parlour and the pie shop saying "They share an oven" - but Winterson must have had very mixed feelings at the time. She goes on to tell us how Mrs Winterson was not a welcoming woman: "If anyone knocked at the door she ran down the lobby and shoved a poker through the letter box". Let's hope no one was looking through it at the time.
Winterson found refuge in the public library where she devoured books that she was unable to read openly at home; if she wasn't reading at the library, she would sit in the outside lavatory, or on the front step where she often found herself locked out overnight. When Mrs Winterson finds Jeanette's hidden cache of paperbacks, she burns them in the backyard. "F*** it" thinks Winterson, "I can write my own" - and the rest, up to a certain extent, is history. Winterson does well enough academically to get into Oxford, she gets her first book published and goes on to have a successful literary career. However that is not all. This memoir relates how Winterson falls in love with women, how her adoptive mother reacts to the knowledge that her daughter, instead of becoming a missionary, has become a lesbian and has paved her way to hell. We learn about Winterson's search for love and of her search for her birth mother and we learn a lot more in this honest, fierce, poignant and ultimately uplifting memoir. Wonderful.
5 Stars.
56 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Jeanette Winterson's experience of growing up without knowing her birth parents is wise, amusing and insightful. Her descriptions of working class family life, poverty and social history are reflective and to the point without being overtly judgemental or self-pitying. Her straightforward style of prose makes this book accessible to a wide range of readers.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Easy reading and great chapter division in true Winterson style. Summed up by her self- "I never could write a story with a beginnning a middle and an end."
It was intriguing to see what was her and what wasn't from Oranges- particularly after all the speculation in the 80's. I also enjoyed considering her reflection of what Oranges represented when published (a cultural and gay landmark).
Overall to me it presented a partial autobiography to show what was Oranges/fiction and what was her and share how she found her birth Mum.
I'd recommend it. It also inspired me to re-read Oranges are not the only fruit.
It was intriguing to see what was her and what wasn't from Oranges- particularly after all the speculation in the 80's. I also enjoyed considering her reflection of what Oranges represented when published (a cultural and gay landmark).
Overall to me it presented a partial autobiography to show what was Oranges/fiction and what was her and share how she found her birth Mum.
I'd recommend it. It also inspired me to re-read Oranges are not the only fruit.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great read
This is a first class read and would highly recommend it to anyone especially to anyone that has been adopted.
Published 2 days ago by Mrs V M Mackintosh
Brave, powerful and honest
JW's account of her experiences is inspiring. It shows how creativity and excellence can be forged from pain. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Ms. A. Catherine
Heartbreaking and hopeful
JWs autobiography is astounding in its expression of pain and survival. The humour is so dark and the atmosphere of that terrible home is claustrophobic and disturbing. Read more
Published 7 days ago by dunnie
Simply Genius - Why read rubbish when you could read this?
I adore Jeanette Winterson's prose, always have, and this beautifully crafted, piercingly honest and elegant memoir is, to my mind, the best yet. Read more
Published 10 days ago by white rose
Coping, collapsing, convalescing
NOTE: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS.
For its first two-thirds, this is a wonderfully feisty and often funny account of a very difficult life, with many laugh-aloud... Read more
For its first two-thirds, this is a wonderfully feisty and often funny account of a very difficult life, with many laugh-aloud... Read more
Published 13 days ago by Ralph Blumenau
An addictive read
This was my introduction to Jeanette Winterson - having read a review of the book ,I was eager to find out about her writing. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Louise Black
Same old angry writing
Why did I think I had read this before? I have only read two of Ms Wintersons books, this one and oranges. I thought I was reading the same book. Read more
Published 24 days ago by tangoo
Literature as escape, and metaphor as avoidance
Jeanette Winterson tells us that she found words, through reading and writing, that let her examine and understand her childhood; she hopes still, through psychotherapy as well as... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alex Knisely
Why Be Happy When You Could Be abnormal
I can highly recommend Jeanette Winterson's autobiography Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal. This book is literary in nature and full of pain. In fact it brought me to tears. Read more
Published 1 month ago by dumphimlove
Not as enjoyable as I hoped
This book was, as another reader agrees, curate's eggish.Parts of it were enjoyable, but I found a lot of it difficult to understand and obscure. Read more
Published 1 month ago by V. Rendall
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