Schön: Auch mit fünf Viertel einer Orange ist es Joanne Harris gelungen, den Leser nach Frankreich zu entführen und in eine Welt der Genüsse und Köstlichkeiten abtauchen zu lassen.
Hauptsächlich aber geht es um die Geschichte von Fromboise, die viel über ihre Mutter erzählt, mit der schwer auszukommen war. Die Mutter hat in einer Kladde Rezepte aufgeschrieben und hinterlies sehr geheimnisvolle Notizen. Framboise'Neffe und dessen Frau, die ein Restaurant betreiben, sind hinter dieser Kladde und den Rezepten her und lassen sich so manche Intrige einfallen, um Framboise zum aufgeben zu bewegen.
Fünf Viertel einer Orange halte ich für sehr empfehlenswert.

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. ( )

Dark. Very dark. But most books capturing Western European life during World War II are. The beginning was slow, but once the true storytelling began, the pace picked up immensely. ( )

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. ( )

I like the plot, the food (and fish) analogies and the fact that the main character is not saccharine which makes her seem all the more real. The book moves along at a deliberate pace in keeping with Framboise's character but is still a page turner. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

By the author of Chocolat, another painting of a small town in France. A heartbreaking misunderstanding causes the lives of people. Growing up in France during the German occupation. ( )

Sixty-five-year-old widow Framboise Dartigen returns, under an assumed name, to the French village where she spent her childhood. Having inherited her mother's gift for cooking, she opens a cafe. The novel intertwines this present day story with memories of her childhood, when the village was under Nazi occupation. In return for chocolate and movie magazines, Framboise and her brother and sister collaborated with a young German soldier, Tomas. This dangerous relationship, and Framboise's infatuation with Tomas, provided the catalyst for events that would soon tear the village apart.

Like William Trevor, Harris is good at exploring the nature of small, rural societies where everyone knows everyone else, and their business. Even though Framboise was just a child when she left the village, she fears that she will be judged harshly by the villagers who remember the old days, hence the assumed name. But in spite of the fear of being 'found out', she feels she must live here, and try to unravel the secrets of her mother's journal, a mish-mash of recipes mixed with enigmatic comments, and 'disguised' entries written in a kind of Pig Latin.

She has one ally from the old days, her old friend Paul, who supports Framboise when a young man sets up a snack van in overt competition with her cafe, providing the novel with some comic relief. Framboise must also come to terms with the complicated relationship she had with her mother, which affects the way she relates to her own two daughters.

This is a darker novel than Chocolat and Harris does a good job of showing the reality of occupation through the eyes of children. For them, the war seems a long way away, and the trading of secrets for little black market luxuries is treated almost like a game. This is a finely-balanced, non-judgemental novel, in which many of the characters are unlikeable to varying degrees, but treated with understanding. 'Collaborator' is a highly emotive word, but Harris shows that it wasn't quite a case of 'us' versus 'them', or 'good' versus 'evil' - the reality was rather more complicated and messy, and even mundane. [Feb 2009] ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

An excellent read about 2 sisters and a brother in France during the second world war when the Germans occupied their village. Insightful into the minds of young children and their perception of what is going on around them. Their story is told by the youngest girl as an adult through flashbacks and how she saw her mother's behaviour. As an adult she learns to understand the reason for her mother's actions and finds peace and happiness through that understanding. I really enjoyed it. 10/10 ( )

Discomfiting book about a three French children and their migraine-affected mother surviving during the German occupation. A secret survives with Framboise who also has the knowledge of her mother's famous cookery. Harris really did like serving bitter characters before the sweet finale. ( )

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

Yet another excellent book by one of my favourite authors. The story of Framboise and her family, the book flits backwards and forwards between present day and wwii France. ( )

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

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
We met at Carole's house and dined on French foods suggested in the book ( )

Many similarities to Chocolat - superstitious villagers, secrets and widows. Some twists in the tale, enough to keep me interested on a long train journey and an easy read. ( )

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. ( )

Another beautiful story from Joanne Harris. Her words are comforting, like fresh baked bread or sweet syrupy berries. Even when the story is about a tormented woman who fears for her sanity with an addiction to painkillers, or a daughter who is so harsh that she feels no sorrow for inducing her mother's feared hallucinations, or a Nazi soldier who manipulates them all to his own gain, there's something soothing and calming in Harris' prose. ( )

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. ( )

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