Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson - Alexa

[Luke]

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson, 1985, England, NOVEL

"...It is the most sparkling, delightfully funny story of a young girl’s coming of age, interspersed with all sorts of fantastical metaphorical fairytales she tells herself. While she mercilessly ridicules her family and the church she grew up in, none the less her underlying fondness for them both, in spite of herself, and in spite of their betrayal of her, shines through."

(Alexa, review)

Review Medley
Zanna
Cecily

[Zanna]

I <3 this book. Here's my review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cecily]

If you're able, it really makes sense to read Oranges not long before or after the more recent, unfictionalised(!) Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?. It fills in some gaps, especially her adult life, but what I particularly loved was its focus on poetry and literature and how they had, pretty much literally, saved her, more than once.

My detailed review of Why be Happy?: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review of Oranges is old, brief and not really worth looking at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alexa]

Cecily wrote: "If you're able, it really makes sense to read Oranges not long before or after the more recent, unfictionalised(!) Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?...."

Yes, it is totally on my list for sometime soon! One comment I frequently heard from those who read Why Be Happy first, was that they were turned off by the fantastical elements in Oranges; yet that might have been one of my favorite parts!

[Cecily]

I can see why people might think that (but as I read Oranges first, many years ago, it didn't apply to me).

[Alexa]

Yes, I'm glad I'm reading them in that order!

[Zanna]

I really loved the fantastical elements too - but I do like fantasy in general...