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Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (Paperback)

by Jeanette Winterson (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Oranges are Not the Only Fruit + The Color Purple
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  • This item: Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

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Product details

  • Paperback: 171 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New Ed edition (5 Sep 1991)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099935708
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099935704
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,305 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > W > Winterson, Jeanette
    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards > Women's Literary Fiction
    #11 in  Books > Fiction > Women Writers & Fiction

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jeanette, the protagonist of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and the author's namesake, has issues--"unnatural" ones: her adopted mam thinks she's the Chosen one from God; she's beginning to fancy girls; and an orange demon keeps popping into her psyche. Already Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiographical first novel is not your typical coming-of-age tale.

Brought up in a working-class Pentecostal family, up North, Jeanette follows the path her Mam has set for her. This involves Bible quizzes, a stint as a tambourine-playing Sally Army officer and a future as a missionary in Africa, or some other "heathen state". When Jeanette starts going to school ("The Breeding Ground") and confides in her mother about her feelings for another girl ("Unnatural Passions"), she's swept up in a feverish frenzy for her tainted soul. Confused, angry and alone, Jeanette strikes out on her own path, that involves a funeral parlour and an ice-cream van. Mixed in with the so-called reality of Jeanette's existence growing up are unconventional fairy tales that transcend the everyday world, subverting the traditional preconceptions of the damsel in distress.

In Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Winterson knits a complicated picture of teenage angst through a series of layered narratives, incorporating and subverting fairytales and myths, to present a coherent whole, within which her stories can stand independently. Imaginative and mischievous, she is a born storyteller, teasing and taunting the reader to reconsider their worldview. --Nicola Perry

Review
"An explosively imaginative writer." -"The London Free Press"
"She is a master of her material, a writer [of] great talent." -"Muriel Spark"
"Many consider her to be the best living writer in this language." -"Evening Standard"
"The overwhelming impression of her work is one of remarkable self-confidence, and she evidently thrives on risk.... As good as Poe: it dares you to laugh and stares you down." -"The New York Review of Books"
"The most interesting writer I have read in twenty years." -Gore Vidal

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Customer Reviews

33 Reviews
5 star:
 (21)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars orgasmic poetry, 19 Oct 2003
'One of my earliest memories is me sitting on a sheep at Easter while she told me the story of the Sacrificial Lamb. We had it on Sundays with potato'.

This is just one of the many brilliantly quirky remarks of Jeanette that sparkle throughout Oranges. What so stands her apart from other modern writers in this novel is her signature frank style of writing - a refreshingly clean and matter-of-fact narrative, yet so flawlessly precise and so perfectly encapsulating of the emotions behind different experiences in life. Jeanette's idiosyncratic writing is one where every sentence shines with unadulterated beauty and raw poetic force. Her rare sensitivity and affinity with words and language itself is more than amazing - it is magical.

Oranges is more than Jeanette's autobiography weaven amidst fairytale myths and parables. It is more than a story about the struggle between religion and sexuality. It is the the story of all of us, it is our story. The betrayal of parental figures, the driving force of budding sexuality, the mixture of indifference and indignance towards an ex-lover, the innate loyalty to family deep within, all these are passages of life we all walk through, yet how often is it so penetratingly and unforgettably recorded in a chronicle that will be read again and again for many generations to come. Jeanette is the voice of a generation crying out for independence and the need to be true to our hearts; she is the hidden voice of all of us.

That perhaps is what really makes Oranges so special and personal, that behind Jeanette's dazzling prose we hear our story, our voice.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Passionate and gritty, a coming of age novel with a difference, 13 Jan 2008
By Rivercassini "Rivercassini" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
A curious mixture of stories and semi-autobiography which come together to shape the life of Jeanette, the adopted daughter of a church-obsessed mother and a quiet, dominated father. Oranges are not the Fruit traces Jeanette teenage years, growing up in a northern town in a community in which she never quite fits, despite her talent for preaching and her wildly imaginative ideas. The structure of the novel, skirting and spiralling between an disjointed biographical narrative and other stories which shape Jeanette's development, suits perfectly what is a gritty discourse on the nature of personality, history and memory and the importance of perspective in developing all three. And at the same time, it's an engaging, if sometimes distressing, story too.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This book will stretch your mind, 6 Mar 2000
By A Customer
Jeanette Winterson has written a powerful novel which will challenge the reader on many different levels. Its treatment of the lifestory to young adulthood of a non-conformist woman is so real you can touch the emotion. The layering of one story on another demonstrates Miss Winterson's marvellous technique as a novelist, whilst the way she weaves the Pentateuch into her plot will send you racing to check the original! A great read and well worth a deeper look.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well observed
I remember watching Oranges are not the Only Fruit on the BBC, oooh, about 1990/91 and me and my fiancee were enthralled (Married 15 years since!). Read more
Published 19 months ago by A. J. Fort

5.0 out of 5 stars Sex, Religion & Great Writing
It's all in the title. This is truely a masterpiece. Being a sort-of biography, the story tells that of Jeanette as a young girl, growing up in a stric religious society whilst... Read more
Published 22 months ago by S. Rankin

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking and heartwarming
I would normally have stayed well clear of a book like this but it's amazing what you'll pick up on holiday when the only other reading material available is the dreaded Freddie... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Cheeky Monkey

5.0 out of 5 stars Oranges are not the only fruit
I have just read a review of `Oranges are not the Only Fruit', which I found to be a poor attempt at criticising a fantastic novel. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2007 by Ms. E. J. Howells

2.0 out of 5 stars Over-rated
I enjoyed the first part of this book, but as it progressed, I found it quite irritating. The characters didn't seem to be properly developed, the plot was all over the place and... Read more
Published on 2 May 2007 by gerty guinea

4.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring struggle between religion and sexuality
Although I haven't read any other of Jeanette Winterson's material I found this book highly inspiring and absorbing. Read more
Published on 7 May 2003 by -nomi-

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, touching story of religion and sexuality
Winterson, in OANTOF, creates the seminal work on where lesbian relations fit in Christianity. Jeanette's confusion over her sexuality lets her question the dual tyranny in her... Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2003 by lexi_wades

5.0 out of 5 stars The Creation of Reality
This novel has often been criticised as Winterson's best now that she has gone on to write several powerfully experimental novels. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2002 by Eric Anderson

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling novel that zips along well.....
Although not clear whether this is autobiography or not (the main character, like the author, is 'Jeanette') this female Bildungsroman smacks of the same oppressive lifestyle as... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2002 by eeawdob

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written and a joy to read
I haven't yet read all of Jeanette Winterson's work, but I think after this I'm going to have to! The writing is absolutely perfect - in fact the style is so wonderfully... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2002 by mazeman11

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