Customer Reviews

Bruised Fruit: A Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bruised Fruit is a witty, pithy glimpse of several very memorable characters. I've heard it compared to Tales of The City, but, although it does have a Maupinish flair, it would be an injustice to insinuate that Bruised Fruit is not utterly original. Although the complex plot does not allow Livia to develope her characters as fully as one might wish, they are well-sketched and very real.

This book is kind of like a bad car wreck. You don't want to look, but you can't stop yourself.

When I read reviews about this book I thought it was going to be humorous.

As it turned out none of it was humorous really, unless you find child sexual abuse humorous--and somehow I think that's one subject there's just no way it can be funny

This book is definitely not for the squeamish as it has people eating fingers, infectious material, and reproductive parts of animals.

"Anna Livia's astringently humorous, no-holds-barred novel, 'Bruised Fruit,' is the story of British Caroline, lesbian escapee from an abusive relationship; Sydney, dainty hermaphrodite with a Southern drawl; and Patti, bisexual with a trust fund who inexorably, it seems, kills every man she sleeps with."

"These three, along with a tantalizing array of minor characters, are thrown together in San Francisco, each in search of someone to tell his or her--or in the case of Sydney, his and her--secrets to. When fate gathers them at the home of Ella Weissman, a feminist therapist whose house is her significant other, the intertwined tale of their loves, fears, and confusions sinuously unfolds."

After I read the first few chapters of "Bruised Fruit," I was confused. Who is this story about Patti, Caroline or Sydney? A light bulb lit up inside of my head. This book was about all three characters. The author intricately wove a web that brought these characters together as bruised fruit later in the chapters.

"Bruised Fruit" may have confused me at first. Then I found myself entangled in the storyline. I didn't want to sit the book down.

Caroline is continually shocked by exposure to her own "tales of the city." Sydney feels compelled, once and for all, to pick a gender. Patti wants to be sexually attractive without giving in to everyone else's desire and its negative effects, where she kills every man she sleeps with. (Patti does not kill them through the act of sex. She cannot be that talented. Or may be she is.) Then Patti finds herself attracted to Caroline. Could this be the death of Caroline? Does Sydney find love and chose a gender?

Livia wrote "Bruised Fruit" as a mixture of chilling comedy and neogothic. One thing I was taught by reading "Bruised Fruit" was that I would check the fruit carefully in my cart before taking it home. It is better to squeeze it first and get to know your fruit. This way you will have no unwanted surprises.

Place a copy of "Bruised Fruit" in your cart. It is better than most characters you have taken home or fruit you have purchased!

There have been few books I read again and again, and I never know, on first reading, which these will be. What will weather innumerable moves, love changes, head changes? Some of these are great (brothers karamatzov, for instance--and I've only read that 1.3 x), a lot of them are great/genre (Madeline L'Engle's young adult books, or Pat Califia's porn--all very soft-pawed) but most of them are 1. FUN ENOUGH 2. WEIRD ENOUGH 3.ESCAPISM ENOUGH 4. COMPLEX ENOUGH and 5. CONTINUE TO RING TRUE TO MY HEART. _Bruised Fruit_ is one. (for more, see Sagemonkey's Soft-paw collection @ listmania)

This is a funny, touching, well-written book. While not my favorite of Livia's books (I like her earlier, more explicitly feminist books) it is very readable. I thought the child abuse content was handled very well.