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Rating:  -
As a big fan of Joanne Harris, I was excited to read Blackberry Wine. Maybe I just could not relate to Jay or to Joe the mysterious ghostly gardener. I finished this book in just a few hours and it did hold my attention. It did include beautiful scenary with great details of nature and the art of gardening. The character development was fairly flat. The great mystery of the of the silent neighbor Marise was disappointing. After Chocolate and Five Quarters of the Orange, I was expecting another 5-star novel. Instead I got a solid, interesting, and decent book. Definitely read her other novels first!
Rating: -
After Chocolat, I suppose I should have expected a let down. The plot was good - the young writer dropping everything and going to France, his traumatic learning experiences during his teenaged years, searching for the woman that got away, his mentor who just up and disappeared, the wine bottles salvaged from the rubble of his youth that take on a sort of magic of their own, all very compelling stories. My problem was the way the author presented the stories. It jumped around EVERY chapter. I got tired of jumping between decades so frequently. Read it, but just don't buy it new.
Rating:  -
Perhaps Joanne Harris had a hard time identifying with a male perspective. Perhaps the only topic she knows is the magical and medicinal attributes of herbs and plants. Perhaps she had her own 'Nick' (a minor in this novel, Nick is the pushy publishing rep who tries to convince the main character, Jay, to hurry his follow up novel through the presses). Who knows? But this book just didn't have the panache of "Five Quarters of the Orange" and "Chocolat". The plot struggles at times and characters from the other novels make cameos with no apparent purpose other than to remind the reader that this book is by the same author. Sigh. Just like Peter Mayle, Joanne Harris has strong sophmore efforts that are well worth reading but seems to fall flat in this subsequent attempt. If you haven't yet read "Five Quarters...", I would highly recommend it for it's complex yet well crafted storylines. If you've already read it, read it again and pass on "Blackberry Wine".
Rating:  -
Retaining the atmospheric intensity of Chocolat, Joanne Harris creates another tale which cleverly interweaves the childhood
and new life of Jay Mackintosh, a one-novel wonder who now fills his time producing pulp standard science fiction and drinking
in an effort to recreate the glorious past he once possessed. After witnessing the decline of a relationship with his literary vulture girlfriend, Mackintosh buys a derelict French farmhouse in Lansquenet which inspires memories of his blissful childhood. As with fiction, nothing is quite what it seems and Jay finds himself caught in the middle of a long-standing dispute between
members of the village whilst discovering that his writing ability is now as fertile as the land surrounding him.
By cutting back to Jay's childhood, Harris encapsulates the mystique and adventure of moving to foreign fields, contrasting it with the relationships that Jay forms and breaks during his upbringing. This is often billed as being a romance novel but it can also claim to hold a number of other redeeming qualities, not just a great eye for the provincial French farmland but also the
nuances of a teenager's experiences. These range from love to betrayal and the realisation that no matter what something
appears to be, the truth is often a great deal harsher.
Rating: -
If you liked Chocolate, then read Blackberry wine just to find out what happened to your favourite characters after Vianne had left the villige. The smell of Specials will take you back to your own childhood, you will remember the light, feelings, wishes. Very nice and inspirating reading. It says Funny on the cover, but is is more nostalgic:) Worth buying though!
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