Sexing the Cherry in Books We Love

Sexing the Cherry is by far one of my top five favorite books of all time. I read this for the first time years ago, and am proud to say that I have read it at least a dozen times since. Jeanette’s ability to masterfully craft poetic prose is just as impressive as the images she presents. One of the scenes that strikes me the most is the scene in which Jordan goes forth, as one of his fantastical expeditions, to a city where the very air is crowded with words. What Jordan does not see though, is that two lovers suffocate in a church at night, their words unable to escape through the lead above. A magnificent paragraph that has such power and beauty that I am still, years later, completely enamored by it.

This book is a must read for those who have interests in literary fiction set both in a historical and fantastical setting. It’s a short read but does not lack anything within its pages. Set in England during Cromwell’s rebellion, the dog woman (a half-reference to Jeanette’s adoptive mother, this she reveals in her memoir Why be Happy When You Can be Normal) finds a boy Jordan, who upon reaching adulthood, he leaves her to embark upon travels that take him to meet the twelve dancing princesses, lead him to a house with no floors where the inhabitants walk on tight ropes, and also in search of a love that always seems to be fleeing him. It is still in print and widely available. Get it. You will not regret it.

 http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/

Gwendolyn is a Master's student in Creative Writing Non-fiction at the University of North Texas and an avid consumer of literary genre.