Tuesday 10 September 2013

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson

I've seen a great documentary about Jeanette Winterson and I even gave her book Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? out on World Book Night, yet I've never actually read any of her books, so when Sexing the Cherry won the vote in our book club I was excited.

It's a hard book to describe. It roughly follows Jordan and his 'mother' in the 17th century, except time, space and all things real are not really true. Villages that float, an elephantine protagonist and the stories of the 12 princesses (great bit btw) all mash together with the London Plague, feminism and sexuality. At even 144 pages I really struggled to follow it. Winterson's literary tongue, especially towards the end, was overindulgent and suffocated what was already a convoluted idea. I really enjoy literary fiction but was sorely disappointed with this result.
The book club was split, with some also not enjoying it but some really revelling in the prose.
Here's hoping that her other books are not as muddy and troublesome for me.

A dour 3.5 on the comfometer.
I'm excited to start The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Michael
@bigcomfybooks
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