The Passion
by Jeanette Winterson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jeanette WintersonEdition: Paperback
Published: 1997-08-07
ISBN: 0802135226
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of The Passion
Book Review: Good...but not that "good"...
Summary: 3 Stars
This is certainly a provocative novel. From the gargantuan appetite of Bonaparte for chickens, the ethereal mystery that is the Empress Josephine, the transience of Venice (recall Calvino's Invisible Cities [and not because of his nationality...but hey...]), to the fantastical experiences of Henri and Villanelle, Winterson's novel reveals an incredible world in every chapter. In a way, it made me wonder if such things were indeed experienced in the Napoleonic years--in the back of my mind, I know that Patrick's eagle-eye (with its apparently helpless tendency to zone in on naked bodies), and Villanelle's webbed feet and her once-literally-taken-then-rescued heart are flights of fancy. But even so, Winterson's narrative has that indecipherable mesh of fact and unrealism that a reader can actually think, "why not?"
If one were to place emphasis on the themes of physical and emotional casualties brought by war for both the conqueror and the conquered, the intricacies of romantic love, the dialectics of power and blind submission, and the propensity of humans to take refuge in myriad disguises (to the extent they inevitably fall for it themselves), it is evident that this novel, for all its fanciful undertones, touches on very real human issues that would long remain contemporary.
Despite the obvious literary bent of The Passion though, I thought that Winterson sometimes tried a bit too hard in being allegorical. In addition, some parts became overly contemplative and/or philosophical for me that it was at times discomfiting, at most, exasperating. Hence, the 3 stars. But that's just me.
In fairness, however, I can readily say that I enjoyed the interactions of, and the dialogues between, the characters. Those were certainly stimulating. All in all, this was a memorable novel, not THAT great but hardly ignominious. Rather than discourage, I'm hoping to read another of her novels and have a more positive reaction to it.
Summary of The Passion
In 1985 Jeanette Winterson won the Whitbread Award for best first fiction for the semi-autobiographical Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, an often wry exploration of lesbian possibility bumping up against evangelical fanaticism. She was 25. Two years later, The Passion, her third novel, appeared, the fantastical tale of Henri--Napoleon's cook--and Villanelle, a Venetian gondolier's daughter who has webbed feet (previously an all-male attribute), works as a croupier, picks pockets, cross-dresses, and literally loses her heart to a beautiful woman. Written in a lyrical and jolting combination of fairy tale diction and rhythm and the staccato, the book would be a risky proposition in lesser hands. Winterson has said that she wanted to look at people's need to worship and examine what happens to young men in militaristic societies. The question was, how to do so without being polemical and didactic? Only she could have come up with such an exquisite answer. In the end, Henri, incarcerated on an island of madmen, becomes aware that his passion, "even though she could never return it, showed me the difference between inventing a lover and falling in love. The one is about you, the other about someone else."Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napoleon from glory to Russian ruin, and Villanelle, the red-haired daughter of a Venetian boatman, who has lost her heart to a married noblewoman and wanders the western world to retrieve it.
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