Saturday, January 15, 2011

36. "Written on the Body" by Jeanette Winterson



Winterson, Jeanette. Written on the Body. New York: Vintage International, 1992. Print

190 pages

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Written on the Body is an erotic tale of love, desire and loss. The protagonist moves from woman to woman, never really falling in love until she meets Louise. Louise has a secret that drives the protagonist to misery. Truthfully though, the protagonist causes her own misery. She is selfish to the end and by the time she learns her lesson, it is too late.

I love Jeanette Winterson’s writing style. It is fluid and abstract. The issue I had with this book, was I did not like the protagonist. This made it hard for me to like the book. I identified with Louise and ached for her. I related all too well with Jacqueline, one of the protagonist's many betrayed girlfriends, when she says to her, “You mean we’ll talk about it and you’ll do what you want anyway” (Winterson 58).

As hard as I tried, I could not sympathize with the main character and I could not, despite the beautiful, lyrical writing, enjoy the book very much.

2 darts out of 5

Bookshelf Project Status: Given as gift.

2 comments:

Janet Ellis said...

Loving your book reviews, and I found Freedom Writers to be amazing as well. Erin was extraordinary in her willingness to go to such lengths to make a real difference in the lives of her students. It is really wonderful that it resonated with you as well. I see so many young people who are very busy focusing on getting ahead and forgetting that if they actually focus on the work, the service, the path to success will actually smooth out much faster than they can imagine. I also love your other blog on living in Iowa. You have a nice formula going on there in that you focus on different aspects of life period, as well as life in Iowa. I will continue to come back again and again. Have a great Sunday. ~Blessings, janet

d'Artagnan said...

Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement. It means a lot and couldn't have come at a better time!

*hugs*

Jess