Five Quarters of the Orange

At 64 years old, Framboise returns to the French village of her birth--- a village she, her brother Cassis, sister Reine-Claude and their mother left as disgraced exiles during the German occupation of France. Enbittered by the events that took place that year she was nine years old, she hopes against hope that the village will not connect the froggy-faced little girl with the grandmotherly woman she has become. Luck is with her---she purchases the old farm where she once lived and by utilising her mother's mouth watering recipes found in an old scrapbook, she opens a marvelous creperie, popular with both the locals and vacationers alike. When her food is reviewed by a famous culinary critic, her weak nephew and his ambitious wife, also restauranteurs, slither in, questioning her owneship of her mother's scrapbook, desiring its recipes for their own failing big city endeavor. Furious, Framboise refuses, triggering an attack meant to destroy the success of her creperie and simultanoeuly reveal the secret that has shamed and haunted her for her entire life.
Ingeniously woven throughout the modern story is Framboise's first person account of her ninth year. Harris' style is fast-paced; her revelations are amply yet masterly metered out to keep the reader thoroughly entranced until the last page. The book is not overly long, yet Harris manages to finely draw her characters: Mirabelle, the migraine suffering mother, Tomas,the sly Black Market manipulator, Paul, the one person in the village that recognizes Framboise, and Framboise hersef, strong and bright, ever the leader, not realizing what her cleverness will orchestrate.
I found this novel much more interesting and entertaining than Harris' other popular novel Chocolat; the format seems more complete--the structure more satisfying and the ending neatly tying up all fragments and substories. Like Chocolat, it is a novel meant to be read with a fine glass of red wine and a square of good European dark chocolate. Harris' food descriptions utterly tantalize, her knowledge and love of food is evident in the way in which she allows her characters to safely emote through the food they create when they are unable to facilitate speech or gesture. After 'sampling' some of Mirabelle's culinary delights, I admit to purchasing a book on how to make homemade cordials!

Five Quarters of the Orange has left me speechless. Wow... what a wonderful novel. I just finished last night and I don't know how I slept eight hours without thinking of these characters. Joanne Harris, one of my favorite authors, has yet to disappoint me. This 3rd book I've read by her is now my new favorite.
Five Quarters tells the story of Framboise Simon, a older woman who comes back to the town of her youth, Les Laveuses, a small village near the Loire. She has come home in secret ~ no one in town knows who she really is: the daughter of Mirabelle Dartigen, the woman whom the town had ridiculed, harassed, tortured and defamed nearly 50 years before.
While making her home once again in Les Laveuses, Framboise recounts her childhood in startling detail, beautiful and powerful prose that will leave the reader speechless. Framboise, at the age of nine, was involved in something so innocent ~ wanting to be accepted and included in the lives of her older brother and sister, Cassis and Reine-Claude ~ but this innocence takes a harrowing and terrifying turn. Set during the German Occupation of World War II, the events that take place that year will forever change her, her family and the town of Les Laveuses.
Joanne Harris is a true artist. Her masterpiece, Five Quarters of the Orange, is so breathtakingly beautiful. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what the big secret was, or at least that last final detail that changed everything. I did not see it coming, that's for sure! And it was truly stunning.

This is a book that, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get into. I could not sympathise with any of the characters, and the plot just did not grab me. Perhaps someone will like this more than I did...I couldn't even finish it.

This book sends an appalling message. Harris has provided a sympathetic image of a totally despicable character. A young girl who is committing unconscionable acts, and getting away with them. As an adult there is no remorse. The characters who seem to be trying to right the wrongs are pictured as the "bad guys". I cannot find any redeeming features in message the book is sending.

What to say about a well written, interesting novel, full of compelling subject matter, evocative passages, genuine emotion and thoroughly dislikeable characters? The themes of wartime occupation, collaboration, and resistance as seen through the eyes of children is unique and moving.
My problem lies with the characters themselves, it was difficult to sympathize with any of them even through their times of hardship and tragedy. Mirabelle the cruel, migraine prone mother was a bitter shell of a woman. Framboise, far too calculating and spiteful even in light of the harsh treatment meted out to her by her mother. The siblings never held my interest and were left rather underdeveloped. I did think the plot twist near the end was well done, although again it did nothing but reinforce my lack of affection for the siblings.
As a small aside, another reviewer commented on the silly names of the characters and I would have to agree. As someone who lives in a English and French speaking country I have never heard of Francophone's with these type of bizarre names. It also seemed odd that someone with the strange name of Framboise would then name her own children with goofy food names (after nuts no less), when she was so desperate to remain anonymous. Not a bad book, but for me it's hard to love a book and not care about the characters. 3.5 stars.

After 50-some years, Framboise Dartigen, now in her 60's, disguises her real identity and returns to her home village in the south of France to rebuild the burntdown family farmhouse in order to live out the rest of her life there. A sour women despite her sweet name (Framboise means raspberry in French) Framboise has a secret that stems back to her childhood during WWII, living in German-occupied France with her brother, sister and mother. She and her siblings forged a friendship with a German soldier, Tomas, with whom they would trade villagers' secrets for goodies such as chocolates and comic books. A series of events ultimately lead to tragedy and in telling the story Framboise slowly reveals the follies and uncertainties the war brought to their daily lives. Framboise's mother, an emotionally stern woman who kept a diary filled with often undecipherable notes, words, recipes, and secrets and who willed this diary to Framboise upon her death, was frequently taken with debilitating migraines and often spent days at a time in bed. Just prior to the migraine coming on, her mother would think she smelled oranges in the house. The title refers to the way Framboise, at the age of six, would instigate her mother's migraines by hiding orange slices in the house which would send her mother into a debilitated state and would enable Framboise and her siblings to spend the day/night out with Tomas.
The history of this family's dynamics, especially the relationship between Framboise and her mother, is a complicated story well told. Harris uses the sensualities of food - mostly the sweetness of the fruits that the Dartigens grew on their farm - to juxtapose the emotional hardships and hostilities of love and of war and the disenchantedness and consequences that result from this environment. I would have liked to have seen Harris spend a little more time on Framboise's relationship to her own daughters in the present which is touched upon but never really explored. There is also a subplot concerning Framboise's brother and nephew (also in present day), which Harris uses as a catalyst for Framboise to tell her story but which was unnecesarily overwritten and which, for me, distracted from the richer narrative at hand. Overall, a fine book, not an uplifting one but one which does have warmth in unexpected places.

As my favorite Joanne Harris book, this story was very appealing to me, because it reflected the realities of what people lived through in France during the occupation and resistance period of World War II. It does not condemn or blame but with great humanitarian compassion reveals how all sides responded to their circumstances in the best way that they could. It is a story about lives impacted by war and the human drama of survival during the worst of times. It is uplifting in the sense that we see the strength of the human spirit to endure. The story is also a powerful reminder of what the war generation in Europe endured, and how modern Europe continues to grapple with the legacy of this experience.

The author is a first-class writer, and this story of a widow in occupied WWII France trying to hold her family together offers a knife-sharp insight into the relationships and conflicts between a mother and her daughter.

Five Quarters of the Orange
Past and present converge to tell the tale of love and life lost during the Second World War. Set in the Loire Valley of France, Joanne Harris has created a beautiful story that bring the characters to life and draws the reader in.
Framboise Simon returns to the village of her childhood to reconstruct the way of life she lost during the war. Her only legacy from her long deceased mother is a scrapbook of recipes which on closer examination also holds the key to the truth of her past. Framboise is haunted by her memories as she grows closer to the truth that will ultimately set her free.
Intrigue, suspense, love and hate are all rolled into this wonderful story. Truly a book I'd recommend to friends.

Told from the perspective of a young girl growing up in a war-ravaged village, Harris depicts the simplicity and straightforwardness of childhood, the complexities and confusion of coming-of-age and the weariness of dysfunction of family in adulthood. Through it all, terrible secrets are harboured and slowly revealed. The characters will haunt you for days after finishing this book.