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163rd out of 2,659 books
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7,365 voters
Five Quarters of the Orange
The novels of Joanne Harris are a literary feast for the senses. Five Quarters of the Orange represents Harris's most complex and sophisticated work yet - a novel in which darkness and fierce joy come together to create an unforgettable story.
When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the in
...morePaperback, 320 pages
Published
June 4th 2002
by Harper Perennial
(first published April 24th 2001)
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I first read this book some time ago. When I read it, I throughly enjoyed it. This year, I found my mind going back to the book several times and decided I needed to read it again.
There are only two books (other than the Harry Potter Series) that I have read more than once - Cold Mountain, and now this book. While reading this book for the second time, I wondered at length, what is drawing me back to this book.
The story is a dark story of a child growing up with a very difficult, unpredictable m...more
There are only two books (other than the Harry Potter Series) that I have read more than once - Cold Mountain, and now this book. While reading this book for the second time, I wondered at length, what is drawing me back to this book.
The story is a dark story of a child growing up with a very difficult, unpredictable m...more
I am head over heels in love with this book. Only a terrific author can write about something as appalling as war and occupation and uneccesary death but yet make you feel so alive and carefree whilste reading it. The prose was as mouthwatering, succulent and juicy as the food in the book and I wanted to be there! Yes, I wanted to run down to the Loire and swim and splash and yell and hang upsidedown from trees overhanging the river and race through sun-soaked fields and pick fruit in the orchar...more
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I ended up liking this book in the end, and would maybe have given it 4 stars, if large parts of it didn't drive me so nuts. I just had a few problems with it. I had a really hard time getting into it; the real story didn't really start until 100 pages into it. And I had a really hard time connecting to the characters in any sort of way. The mom acts like she hates her children the whole book, and the children hate their mom. And when people waste that much energy being mean and cruel to each ot...more
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Under the shroud of a new identity an aging woman returns to her childhood town. She opens a café and reopens the wounds of her past.
In German-occupied France, 9 year old, Framboise, and her brother and sister secretly befriend a German soldier and trade secrets for black market goods. Using the black market oranges to provoke her mother’s migraine headaches, Framboise torments the woman and ensures herself unsupervised time with the soldier. The friendship spurs a series of events which affect...more
In German-occupied France, 9 year old, Framboise, and her brother and sister secretly befriend a German soldier and trade secrets for black market goods. Using the black market oranges to provoke her mother’s migraine headaches, Framboise torments the woman and ensures herself unsupervised time with the soldier. The friendship spurs a series of events which affect...more
I don't really know what to say about this book. I don't know if I just wasn't really into it when I started it, or if I really didn't like it as much as I thought. It took me over 100 pages to really get into the story, and I had sort of written it off by then. But then things picked up, and the last, maybe, quarter of the book finally got good. While you are reading, you know that "something happened" and that you will eventually find out. It was frustrating to me that she gave so little infor...more
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Do you know, I have a much harder time writing a review for a book that I didn't particularly like than for one I really enjoyed?
I didn't particularly like Five Quarters of the Orange, by Joanne Harris, but I am at a loss to explain why. I can't point to egregiously bad writing, and while I didn't like any of the characters, that itself does not a bad book make. See, e.g., my review of The Good Terrorist. Puzzled by my reaction, I asked my mother what she thought a book needed in order to be a g...more
I didn't particularly like Five Quarters of the Orange, by Joanne Harris, but I am at a loss to explain why. I can't point to egregiously bad writing, and while I didn't like any of the characters, that itself does not a bad book make. See, e.g., my review of The Good Terrorist. Puzzled by my reaction, I asked my mother what she thought a book needed in order to be a g...more
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Another engrossing read from Joanne Harris which although similar to ‘Chocolat ‘and ‘Blackberry Wine’ it is a much darker story. Once again set in France this time a small village ‘Les Laveuses’ near Angers on the banks of the Loire, during WWII and the present day.
The protagonist is Framboise Dartigen who has returned to the village after a long absence to live in the farmhouse of her childhood. Her mother Mirabelle Dartigen has since died and part of Fra...more
Another engrossing read from Joanne Harris which although similar to ‘Chocolat ‘and ‘Blackberry Wine’ it is a much darker story. Once again set in France this time a small village ‘Les Laveuses’ near Angers on the banks of the Loire, during WWII and the present day.
The protagonist is Framboise Dartigen who has returned to the village after a long absence to live in the farmhouse of her childhood. Her mother Mirabelle Dartigen has since died and part of Fra...more
What I liked about this book: the main character is richly drawn, and I especially enjoyed seeing her at different stages of life. There's also a momentum to the story that keeps you reading, wanting to know just what will happen next (and what really did happen way back in the past). The setting is fabulous -- especially for anyone who studied French in high school and dreams of extended travels in the Loire Valley. And of course the food talk. Yummmmm....
What I didn't like about this book: I t...more
What I didn't like about this book: I t...more
Aug 08, 2007
Sarah
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone interested in culinary appearances in literature or looking for a slow, downer summer read
Shelves:
great-story
This book seriously dragged me right along to an inevitable (and dark) conclusion. I kept toggling between enjoying her writing style, loads of unique description and a nice layer of old memories and new experiences for the main character, and being sort of shocked and horrified by the absolute coldness of most of the characters in the story. It was an interesting book, but I had a hard time absorbing myself in it(which is what I've been looking for lately).
Perhaps the other drawback (and major...more
Perhaps the other drawback (and major...more
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This story is artfully told through the eyes of Framboise, as nine year old girl and as an adult woman, who lived with her widowed mother and siblings in a small French village during WWII. The concept of the book is unique, from its origin in a recipe style scrapbook to the title, which refers to a momentous choice in the book that proves a turning point towards its outcome. Harris has crafted a story filled with characters who are deeply written, who you like, dislike, and pity, sometimes simu...more
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When Harris includes a food or drink in her title, you know that the epicurean side of her story will be as important as any character or event. In this book, a story of a woman coming back to the abandoned family homestead, hoping to make a place for herself as someone different than the girl who left the place, her mother's recipe book actually is the plot. Secrets are uncovered not only between the recipes, but inside the body of the recipes. But it's not until she begins to reconnect with he...more
If you like to read about food, then you will like this book. It's about an older French woman named Framboise who after inheriting her misunderstood mother's journal/recipe book, returns to her childhood farm and in the course of restoring the farm and cooking her mother's recipes, recalls the summer when she was nine and German soldiers were occupying her rural village during WWII. It's an intriguing story about Framboise's complicated relationship with her mother and the devastating result of...more
I started off enjoying this book. And then my enjoyment faded. The two things that stood out in my mind that I did not care for were this:
1) The story is narrated by a woman, 1/2 of the time when she was 9 and the other half when she was an adult. Her narattion as a child was annoying - she was manipultive towards her mom to the point of cruelty, and she had a negative "know-it-all" attitude towards her older siblings. Newscast kid, you're only 9, stop talking and acting like you're an independe...more
1) The story is narrated by a woman, 1/2 of the time when she was 9 and the other half when she was an adult. Her narattion as a child was annoying - she was manipultive towards her mom to the point of cruelty, and she had a negative "know-it-all" attitude towards her older siblings. Newscast kid, you're only 9, stop talking and acting like you're an independe...more
I became quite engrossed in this story. It weaves such beautiful elements of provincial life; the book is very sensual. The foods described can almost be smelled and tasted by the reader, and the beauty of the forest and the Loire river can be clearly visualized.
As an old woman with many secrets, Framboise moves back to the village of her youth. She renovated her family's farm and cleans up the orchards on the land. She opens her restaurant and become the talk of the town with her wonderful reci...more
As an old woman with many secrets, Framboise moves back to the village of her youth. She renovated her family's farm and cleans up the orchards on the land. She opens her restaurant and become the talk of the town with her wonderful reci...more
Lately I seem to be reading books about life-shaping troubled childhoods. This one was a little dark. The story of the main character, Framboise, alternates between when she was nine and when she is sixty-five, still trying to deal with all that happened over fifty years earlier. Some of the things she did as a child are cruel, but you see that she was a child and didn't comprehend the implications of her actions. (In that way, she reminds me of Briony in "Atonement"). She is a compelling charac...more
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I am about 1/2 way through this book and it is a very intriguing story about a girl and her family in German occupied France during WWII. The girl is an old woman now, telling the story, so it mixes past and present as it unveils slowly something terrible that happened (I don't know what that is yet.) This is the author who wrote 'Chocolat' so there is a culinary piece to it. So far very good.
The ending does not live up to the beginning in my opinion. Still interesting read. Some what like 'The...more
The ending does not live up to the beginning in my opinion. Still interesting read. Some what like 'The...more
I didn't like the story (too dark for my taste) but it was well written. The book tries to end on a redeeming and hopeful note, but I just didn't feel it. I felt the hatred, evil, and bitterness that surrounded all of the characters during the majority of the narrative.
Harris's prose often reads as poetry, not blatantly stating the obvious. I think my main problem was actually believing that the actions, words and thoughts were those of a 9 year old. I felt she was acting more like a young teena...more
Harris's prose often reads as poetry, not blatantly stating the obvious. I think my main problem was actually believing that the actions, words and thoughts were those of a 9 year old. I felt she was acting more like a young teena...more
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Well at first I read this book in Russian language, so if I say that I like the way author describes and so on kinda not right. Anyways, I read this book almost 5 months ago so my memory not so fresh; I remember that in the beginning I didn't like this book, and frankly saying it's not a sort of books I use to read. However, I like it. Even after almost half a year I still remember that it's very interesting, "delicious"(omg the way she described French dishes literally make you hungry :) ) and...more
Three and a half stars, actually. This is the story of Framboise, an aging Frenchwoman who comes back home to the village where she grew up, once the scene of a terrible tragedy with her mother at the center. With only her memory to guide her and her late mother's cryptic journal/cookbook to fill in the gaps, Framboise attempts to reconstruct the events that led to the deaths of ten villagers back when she was a child, during the German occupation of World War II. Framboise, a child of nine when...more
What to say about "Five Quarters of the Orange", a book that won a special place in my heart?
I read this book last summer. I was bored, lost in a grey melancholia that always takes me down on this time of the year. I decided to read a book to keep the damp off my mind, and because this book had been my latest purchase I decided to just dive into it.
I had already a good opinion on the the author from the books I had read so far. But Five Quarters of the Orange has, most definitely, set her as one...more
I read this book last summer. I was bored, lost in a grey melancholia that always takes me down on this time of the year. I decided to read a book to keep the damp off my mind, and because this book had been my latest purchase I decided to just dive into it.
I had already a good opinion on the the author from the books I had read so far. But Five Quarters of the Orange has, most definitely, set her as one...more
Я, наверное, не смогу многого сказать о романе Дж.Харрис "Пять четвертинок апельсина". Если чуть перефразировать цитату с обложки, получится точно мое восприятие её: "Эта книга Харрис - острая, с горчинкой". И те апельсины, с которыми она связана лично для меня - это сорт кюрасао - горькие, пряные, дикие.
Именно такой предстает перед нами Фрамбуаз, главная героиня, от лица которой ведется повествование. На сей раз форма романа немного изменилась - всю историю нам рассказывает один человек, но соб...more
Именно такой предстает перед нами Фрамбуаз, главная героиня, от лица которой ведется повествование. На сей раз форма романа немного изменилась - всю историю нам рассказывает один человек, но соб...more
Five Quarters of the Orange / 0-06-095802-2
I loved "Chocolat", so it was probably a given that I'd be immediately hooked by "Five Quarters".
"Five Quarters" is darker than "Chocolat", but in many ways just as sweet. Throughout the novel, Harris uses scents and tastes to transport the reader back through the narrator's childhood recollections. Reluctantly, she remembers the German occupation and her own innocent collaboration with them as they oppressed her people and hurt her family and friends....more
I loved "Chocolat", so it was probably a given that I'd be immediately hooked by "Five Quarters".
"Five Quarters" is darker than "Chocolat", but in many ways just as sweet. Throughout the novel, Harris uses scents and tastes to transport the reader back through the narrator's childhood recollections. Reluctantly, she remembers the German occupation and her own innocent collaboration with them as they oppressed her people and hurt her family and friends....more
It’s a commonality to speak of dysfunctional families, and I’d prefer to think of the Dartigan family as fragile and vulnerable. The mother would have been cold and stiff in any case, but when she is forced to live out her lonely life in occupied France, there is an added layer to their difficult life which tipped them all into tragedy.
The novel moves between these World War II years and the 90s, when Framboise, the youngest Dartigan daughter and our narrator, now cooks for her small café but se...more
The novel moves between these World War II years and the 90s, when Framboise, the youngest Dartigan daughter and our narrator, now cooks for her small café but se...more
My initial reactions to this being our book club pick were a.)Not another book about kids and Nazis and b.)Well, I did like the movie Chocolat. Now that I've finished the book, I'm glad to find that it's much more than a (sigh, buzzword alert) "coming-of-age" story with Nazis, and that I should really read the actual Chocolat book.
Harris write beautifully and handles the food motif well. It's much more woven in and goes beyond the typical recipes-as-metaphors theme. This is one of the few books...more
Harris write beautifully and handles the food motif well. It's much more woven in and goes beyond the typical recipes-as-metaphors theme. This is one of the few books...more
Okay so another book by Joanne Harris and must say that I love her...she is such an intelligent writer who is able to effortlessly switch subject matter but not her style keeping her vivid descriptions, her elegant prose and her ability to foreshadow and keep you intrigued throughout the entire novel..this book dealt with fishing, World War II, recipes and a mean and spiteful little girl Framboise Dartigen or now an old woman, Francoise Simon, la veuve Simon retelling of the summer she was nine....more
I found this at my grandparents house on a trip when I hadn't brought anything to read. I finished it all too quickly, scarfing it down like an orange at Christmas time.
"Five Quarters of the Orange" is told from the perspective of Framboise both looking back at the past and recounting current events as an older woman, and telling "present" events as a child. Framboise and her family live in a small French village during the German occupation. The father was killed early in the war by a German, b...more
"Five Quarters of the Orange" is told from the perspective of Framboise both looking back at the past and recounting current events as an older woman, and telling "present" events as a child. Framboise and her family live in a small French village during the German occupation. The father was killed early in the war by a German, b...more
Wonderful book, but not really what I expected, having half-seen the film of 'Chocolat'. This is darker, a reconstruction of history told by somebody who knows nearly all of what happened, and attempting to discover the truth of an occupied village in France. I was left with questions at the end, as Framboise, the narrator did not know everything that her mother had done. None of the characters are particularly pleasant, except perhaps Paul. The events in the village during the war are terrible,...more
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Joanne Harris was born in Barnsley in 1964, of a French mother and an English father. She studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and was a teacher for fifteen years, during which time she published three novels; The Evil Seed (1989), Sle...more
More about Joanne Harris...
Joanne Harris was born in Barnsley in 1964, of a French mother and an English father. She studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and was a teacher for fifteen years, during which time she published three novels; The Evil Seed (1989), Sle...more
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“I let it go. It's like swimming against the current. It exhausts you. After a while, whoever you are, you just have to let go, and the river brings you home.”
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“It's a feeling which tells me that any woman can be beautiful in the eyes of a man who loves her.”
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