Five Quarters Of The Orange | Kensal Rise Library | TinyCat |

2024-06-03 10:49 pm

Five Quarters Of The Orange

by Joanne Harris

Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Call number

823.914

Genres

General Fiction

Historical Fiction

Collection

Publication

Black Swan (2002), Edition: New Ed, 368 pages

Description

When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous woman they hold responsible for a tragedy during the German occupation years ago. But the past and present are inextricably entwined, particularly in a scrapbook of recipes and memories that Framboise has inherited from her mother. And soon Framboise will realize that the journal also contains the key to the tragedy that indelibly marked that summer of her ninth year. . . .

User reviews

LibraryThing member cbl_tn

Framboise, a middle-aged widow, returns to the town on the Loire where she spent the first decade of her life. During the German occupation in World War II, Framboise, her older brother and sister, and their mother were involved in an event so terrible that they fled the town. Framboise's mother

has died in the intervening decades. She left an album filled with her recipes and with seemingly random notes. Framboise returns to the town and restores the family's old farmhouse which she bought from her brother. She supports herself by opening a cafe where she serves her mother's recipes. The life she has built depends on keeping her real identity secret. Framboise is known by her married name, and she looks nothing like the child she was when the family left. A greedy nephew threatens to dig up the secrets that Framboise has tried so hard to keep.

This book was longlisted for the Orange Prize and I can see why it didn't make it onto the shortlist. It doesn't have the weight that judges of literary prizes would expect. However, it does have the right ingredients to transport readers to another time and place and hold them spellbound until the end. I read this book in a day. I couldn't sleep until I had finished it.

It's not really a mystery. Framboise knows the secret at the heart of the book. It's no mystery to her. She just won't give the secret up easily. It's part coming of age, as Framboise remembers events from her 10th year. It's part family drama, exploring sibling dynamics and the conflict between Framboise and her difficult mother. It's part historical fiction, dealing with the German occupation of France in World War II. There's even a little romance sprinkled in the book. The descriptions of French farm cuisine, the smells and sounds of summer, and the feel of the river delight the senses. It's a rich, rewarding reading experience that I highly recommend.

LibraryThing member michelebel

As a Francophile, I read Joanne Harris' "Chocolat" years ago and was disappointed in the rather ordinary depiction of French life in what seemed to me like a book written with an eye on film rights. "Five Quarters of the Orange" is a darker book, better-researched than "Chocolat" and with an

accurate portrayal of life in and near Angers in the Loire Valley during German occupation in World War II. The story is told from the viewpoint of a nine-year old girl, Framboise, and follows her family, her older siblings Cassis and Reinette and their neurotic mother through the difficulties of living a rural village life under occupation (one really irritating point for me was the names of the family characters - all named after fruits or nuts). The gossiping and the enmities amongst the villagers are very real, with the hypocrisies concerning collaboration with the Germans highlighting the difficulties that the French must have experienced as they sought to stay alive. It is not really a 'coming-of-age' novel, despite the gradual sensual awakening of Framboise, but there are elements of the pain and loss that growing older brings. The story faltered when recounting the rather silly dispute between the adult Framboise and her nephew - it wasn't needed and slowed the pace. But Joanne Harris has an easy style and her descriptions of the countryside are evocative. There were enough 'secrets' to make the climax gripping and disturbing.

LibraryThing member tjsjohanna

This is a powerful and moving book about tragedy and redemption (at least I think so!). I'm always amazed at novels where children set in motion such catastrophic events. We like to think of children as being innocent - and they are by virtue of their inexperience - but boy, can an innocent do some

horrendous things without even realizing it. I enjoyed the structure of this novel - a story within a story - and thought it was done well.

LibraryThing member BudaBaby

A tale of WWII collaboration, resistance, and devastating effects on small town life as experienced by a young child.

LibraryThing member gribeaux

Nicely dark, this one. Not horror, but a bit shivery. I really enjoyed it.

LibraryThing member Zmrzlina

A bit long in the telling, but an interesting story told through the eyes of a child from behind the eyes of the child as an adult. There are times when the reader might wonder how Boise could be so mean-spirited, but most of the time a realization that, yes, children can be incredibly mean,

replaces wonder.

I love reading about the French Resistance through the point of view of a non-romantic. I love reading about the French countryside. I love reading about the French food, though I doubt I'd enjoy much of what is considered the best of French cooking because I'm vegetarian. I did think the story's twists were too obvious, but I am often cynical when it comes to plot twists. I read too much. I always predict the outcome well in advance.

All in all, a very nice read.

LibraryThing member marient

When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous woman they hold responsible for a tragedy during the German occupation years ago. But the past and the present or inextricably entwined, particularly in a

scrapbook of recipes and memories that Framboise has inheirted from her mother. And soon Framboise will realize that the journal also contains the key to the tragedy that indelibly marked that summer of her ninth year.....

LibraryThing member cinesnail88

I really, really like this book, and I'm not even sure why. I read Chocolat a few years ago and found it a bit strange, and not really what I expected. This book was astounding though. The intricacies were certainly not exactly what I was expecting, and I enjoyed the strange way all the characters

were bound together. Very nice.

LibraryThing member Bibliofemmes

Great book! Vivid and diverse characters with evocative language. Each of our WWII selections have added the personal touch to history that we don't get in textbooks, building a more sensitive understanding to the human condition. cp

LibraryThing member bks4maggie

Interesting book, tho I found the main character not likeable at all. Very good in audio!

LibraryThing member madamejeanie

Sixty-three-year-old Framboise Dartigen returns incognito to the tiny
French village where she lived as a child, in order to confront a
horrific tragedy that occurred 55 years earlier during the German
occupation -- a tragedy that implicated her family and still haunts the
town to this day. Back then,

while her widowed mother struggled to make
a living from her fruit farm, Framboise and her siblings befriended a
German soldier who provided them with treats in exchange for tidbits of
information. Then a seemingly innocent series of events snowballed into
a horrifying tragedy -- the truth of which is hidden (mingled with
hundreds of family recipes) in a scrapbook her mother has bequeathed to
her. Now, as that truth is about to surface, Framboise must expose
painful family secrets and face the facts of her own complicity.

Harris is the author of "Chocolat" which is light and magical and
delicious. "Five Quarters of the Orange" is much darker, but told with
the same finesse. There is little humor in this book, but it's a
fascinating dissection of tortured minds, people struggling to lead
normal lives in extraordinary times. It is told rather dispassionately,
though, which is my only complaint. The story is a bit too drawn out, I
think. An interesting book. I'll give it a 4.

LibraryThing member vastard

Five Quarters of the Orange is a beautiful novel. It tells the story of Framboise, an older woman who moves back to the rural French village that she lived in as a child during WWII. Two intertwined narratives develop: one story shows the horrifying events that the young Framboise witnessed and

became part of when the village was under German occuption, while the other tells of Framboise's struggles as she returns to a town that has not yet forgotten or come to terms with its past. The book is captivating, with deeply believable characters and a delightful element of mystery.

LibraryThing member neverlistless

This is the story of a woman (Framboise) who owns a restaurant (of course, Joanne Harris and her food books!) in France who was a young girl during WWII and when the German soldiers were patrolling the area. The premise of the story seems to be that the girl's mother gave information to the

soldiers and was ran out of the village in shame. Framboise went back to the village as an older woman (with a different last name) and kept her identity a secret and opened a very successful restaurant. It flashes back and forth from current times to when she was a little girl - and we learn more and more about the truth of the story. love reading books set in WWII and this one has really hit the spot for me.

This book really moved me - I think many of us can remember back to when we were young and to that summer when our lives completely changed forever. How strong young love is and feels - and how that connection and memory can truly last into adulthood. Especially when the end of that relationship is so terribly tragic.

LibraryThing member lsh63

I found this book to be a very engrossing read. Set in a small French town, the protagonist, Framboise Simon refects on her past life as a nine year old farm girl(during World War II) and her present life as a sixty five extremely bitter woman.

I was fascinating with the character development in

this story, Framboise (Boise) was an extremely cruel child and hateful older woman. Although the character never had any redeeming qualities, I wanted to know her story. I wanted to know about each family member's secrets, what happened with the German soldier, and most importantly, what happened the summer of Boise's ninth year.

Add the many food references to this wonderful book and it makes for an excellent read.

LibraryThing member bookswamp

the novel is set in the theme of French resistance WW II

LibraryThing member ViaLys

A brilliantly unfolding story told from the frozen bitterness of the childhood without affection of a 9 year old farm girl in a rural French town, less rather than more Occupied by the conquering Nazi. Treating the pattern of the girl growing into the mother with sensitive brutality, this coming of

age tale unravels the truth of the infamous retaliation for the death of an officer.

LibraryThing member Nickelini

This was a pretty quick and entertaining read. What I liked were all the food elements (even though the fruit 'n' nut character names were a bit much). All the talk of French cooking really made me want to come home and pull out my French cook books. What I didn't like: there was a tone to some

parts of the book that was cold and impersonal. I'm not sure I empathized with the main characters as much as the author wanted me to.

Recommended for: Readers who like books set in rural France. Harris captured that feel very well.

LibraryThing member Greatrakes

The story of Framboise (Boise) Dartigen and her childhood in Occupied France and the secrets it held. A story partly about childhood and how the world of the child and the world of the adult are light years apart although existing in the same place and time. The German who befriends the Dartigen

children becomes an ally in a world enemy adults, the old teacher they betray is a member of the resistance but to them just an interfering adult. No one is heroic and everyone just tries to get by.

Less of a mystical air to this book than Chocolat, but plenty about the food of France.

LibraryThing member verenka

I found this book at a book sale and bought it because I really enjoyed "Gentlemen and Players" by the same author. I recently gave up on a book by her that was completely unlike Gentlemen and Players and this one seems to be right in between the two books.

I had already started to wonder if there

are two different authors of the same name.

Five Quarters of the Orange has elements of both books - the mystery buried in the past, hinted at and slowly, very slowly revealed of G&P and the almost sensual stories about food and cooking and french countryside of Blackberry Wine. Add forbidden love and coming of age and you have a beautiful book, that manages what few do: to have an interesting storyline both for the present and the past.

LibraryThing member cestovatela

This is my very favorite kind of book -- the kind where watching a compelling character grow and change is the essence of the plot. More than anything, I wanted to unravel the mystery of the main character's bitterness and find out who she would become at the end of the novel. It's rare for a dark

book to naturally arrive at a hopeful ending, but this one manages it well -- one more feature that makes it unique and outstanding.

LibraryThing member jcwlib

Framboise Simon returns to the village where she grew up but not as her true identity. Memories of a German soldier who was killed there haunts her. As she reads through a book of recipes her mother left her, she begins to figure out different pieces of the puzzling memories.

This book is told as a

remembrance of events in the past by Framboise to her adult daughters and one time lover. The memories highlight how German soldiers would gain trust of the locals to gain information during the war. The oranges referenced in the title refer to the orange slices Framboise would use to cause her mother to get migraines. These migraines would allow Framboise and her siblings to play and explore unsupervised.

This book was well written and went between the present day and the past seamlessly. I like how food was interwoven into the plot as well.

LibraryThing member christinelstanley

Great story, beautifully written. Another triumph from Joanne Harris

LibraryThing member KateNichols

Fascinating book, set in a small town in France during WWII, the protagonist is a nine-year-old child who becomes involved with a German, but told from the adult point of view. Her older brother and sister, and mother it turns out are also involved with him. Framboise Dartigen uses an orange to

give her mother severe migraine headaches so that she can sneak out and see a movie, or meet the German. They trade the village's secrets for lipstick, comics, other black market items and the German, Tomas, uses the information they give him to blackmail for the items. The mother is cold toward Boise, one day she turns on their stuttering friend, Paul. In the end Framboise and Paul are friends and they swap secrets from their childhood that set off a chain of events leading to the massacre of ten villagers. As a nine-year-old, Framboise is clever or devious, but unfeeling toward her mother's suffering. As a child I do not remember being fascinated, or falling in love with a man, although maybe there was such a man in my life who paid attention to me. The story is a fascinating account of the occupation and how the villagers, collaborators and resistance lived with the Germans.

LibraryThing member emmakendon

Not mine - on loan from Sara. The only Joanne Harris I have read but it was reminiscent of the film of Chocolat. An elegantly written book, not unlike McEwan's Atonement, with an aging lady looking back to her childhood as the youngest child, Framboise, in a Loire valley village during German

occupation. Key characters are her brother Cassis, her sister Reine-Claude, her mother Mirabelle Dartigen, Tomas Liebniz, Old Mother - an enormous ominous pike - and Paul, childhood friend and old companion. Themes like mother-daughter relationships and food run throughout the book and make enjoyable reading while you're in it, but it certainly isn't a book I finished with a wow. Parts reminded me of other things, the villagers reminded me of Lars von Trier's Dogville, but their rage ended so much more cleanly than here. Bits really jarred, the mother's journal, Paul as an older man, but the writing itself, including some very useful recipes (!) was gripping at the time.

LibraryThing member Hernibs

My all time favorite. Set in modern France,part of th ebook flashes back to World War II.Absolutely fascinating! Her best in my view.Even better than Chocolat.

Awards

Women's Prize for Fiction (Longlist — 2002)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2001

Physical description

368 p.; 5 inches

ISBN

0552998834 / 9780552998833

Barcode

91100000177438

DDC/MDS

823.914

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