This graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, perhaps knowns to some as the creator of the Bechdel test, to others as the creator of the comic Dykes to Watch Out For, has won critical acclaim and is currently featured as The Atlantic’s 1book140 selection for LGBTQ month. I found to to be a truly engaging read both for its art and for its written content. The art is done in black, white and blue tones. Bechdel mixes up her own comic illustrations of her family with […]
“and a weak mailed fist / Clenched ignorant against the sky!”
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is harsh and beautiful and sad. It’s based on autobiography, and tells of a young Jeanette growing up in a tiny town in the North of England. The claustrophobia of the town is strongly evoked–it’s the sort of place where everyone knows everyone else, everyone has a place and is expected to stay in it, and any attempts to hide or move or change must be carried out under severe scrutiny by neighbours, friends and family and probably followed […]
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is Jeanette Winterson’s autobiographical novel about her upbringing by an evangelical Christian mother in England and her coming out as a lesbian. As with my previous review, The Golden Notebook, an underlying theme is alienation, a breaking up of the whole person and an attempt at putting it all back together again. In this case, the author struggles to reconcile religion, family and sexual preference. The main character, also named Jeanette, tells her story in retrospect and focuses on […]