<![CDATA[Five Quarters of the Orange]]>

false <![CDATA[Five Quarters of the Orange]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1254173643m/15096.jpg 15096 35 In Five Quarters of the Orange, Joanne Harris returns to the small-town, postwar France of Chocolat. This time she follows the fortunes of Framboise Dartigan, named for a raspberry but with the disposition of, well, a lemon. The proprietor of a café in a rustic village, this crabby old lady recalls the days of her childhood, which coincided with the German occupation. Back then, she and her brother and sister traded on the black market with the Germans, developing a friendship with a charismatic young soldier named Tomas. This intrigue provided a distraction from their grim home life--their father was killed in the war and their mother was a secretive, troubled woman. Yet their relationship with Tomas led to a violent series of events that still torment the aging Framboise. Harris has a challenging project here: to show the complicated, messy reality behind such seemingly simple terms as collaborator and Resistance. To the children, of course, these were mere abstractions: "We understood so little of it. Least of all the Resistance, that fabulous quasi-organization. Books and the television made it sound so focused in later years; but I remember none of that. Instead I remember a mad scramble in which rumor chased counter-rumor and drunkards in cafes spoke loudly against the new regime." The author's portrait of occupier and occupied living side by side is given texture by her trademark appreciation of all things French. Yes, some passages read like romantic, black-and-white postcards: "Reine's bicycle was smaller and more elegant, with high handlebars and a leather saddle. There was a bicycle basket across the handlebars in which she carried a flask of chicory coffee." But these simple pleasures, recorded with such adroitness, are precisely what give Framboise solace from the torment of her past. --Claire Dederer 1121528 book 1901 Five Quarters of the Orange total:4299|5:868|4:1825|3:1243|2:304|1:59| 4299 16036 5665 603 5 10 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 07:12:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 07:28:50 -0700 2007
There are only two books (other than the Harry Potter Series) that I have read more than once - Cold Mount...more...]]> 4 3 false true Mon Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Dec 29 02:24:45 -0800 2007 Mon Mar 31 23:08:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 4 false false Mon Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 12 10:06:26 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 22 11:36:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 12 12:20:58 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 12 12:20:58 -0700 2008
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....more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon May 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Feb 09 19:44:22 -0800 2008 Mon May 12 20:05:23 -0700 2008 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...more...]]> 3 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 12:21:33 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 08 18:52:50 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false true Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 16 13:06:43 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 16 13:06:49 -0800 2008
Also, I feel like ther was this huge buildup to a terrible event. I wish that the actua...more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Apr 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 12:42:30 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 09:42:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jul 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 03:19:26 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 10:20:47 -0700 2008 http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4371...

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, ...more...]]> 3 3 false false Wed Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 14:10:39 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 13:02:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 05 11:35:56 -0700 2008 Mon May 05 11:36:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Thu Jul 03 17:06:34 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 05 05:41:25 -0700 2008
As an old woman with many...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Aug 17 06:54:36 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 07:09:35 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 07:58:42 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 27 14:01:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false true Fri Jul 04 11:18:48 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 11:38:40 -0700 2008
"But five quarters? There is no such thing – there we have the logic of children: split an orange five ways and what do you get? Five quarte...more...]]> 3 1 true false Sun Oct 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 03 12:01:25 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 05 19:22:21 -0700 2008
Harris's prose oft...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Mar 19 14:41:12 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 14:41:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 02 17:20:34 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 17:28:29 -0800 2009
You don't keep the secret, the secre...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 14 21:15:41 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 21:17:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 09:44:27 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 10:03:41 -0700 2009
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 whi...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=15096