Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit in Our Shared Shelf

Nov 23, 2021 Molli B. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: format-paperback, length-novel, format-audio-audible, genre-f-f, theme-lgbt, genre-queer-fiction, genre-mainstream, genre-historical, 2020-shelved, own-voices

Quick listen. It's read by the author, which is one of my favorite things. She does an intro, too, explaining her reasoning on whether or not the story is autobiographical (and makes a good point that if a man wrote a book featuring a character with his name, no one would think it was autobiographic, but the moment a woman does, she's assumed to be pouring out her heart and secrets). Parts of the story are tough—organized religion should take a long walk off a short pier—but I enjoyed following ...more

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Apr 29, 2008 Terena Scott rated it it was amazing

I have been a fan of Jeanette Winterson for years, so I was suprised when I realized I'd never read her first book. Her writing is both lyric and grounded, with strong characters and rich prose. This story is about a young girl growing up in an extremely religious household who desires to become a missionary. When the girl enters puberty, she discovers she's a lesbian. How can she be true to herself and still love God? The honesty and humor in this book make the story tangible and moving, withou ...more

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May 20, 2017 Robin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: feminism-and-fem-lit

This one started out just okay for me, but got more complex and more interesting as it went on. I was afraid it was a standard coming-of-age story (which, let's be honest, are usually all the same story arc). Fairy tale type stories were woven in seemingly at random, but had a nice effect on the mood of the book. I had previously read Winterson's "Written on the Body" which I think is much better, but this one is worth a read (plus it's short). ...more

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