Customer Reviews

Mangoes and Quince: A Novel

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This extraordinary first novel carries the reader into fascinating, mysterious worlds: the Dutch East Indies, the exotic lives of a charismatic cult leader and his followers, and the adventures of a magical monkey named Majine. But the heart of the story is the poignant, moving coming of age of the book's main character. The reader is instantly seduced by the rich images and vivid depictions of both Amsterdam and the East Indies. But Field's descriptions of the sumptuous dishes created by Miranda in her new restaurant are so delicious that the reader is compelled to read more, and then to read again this remarkable novel.

I was wandering through the bookstore one afternoon and just picked this up randomly. I can honestly say this is my favourite "pick up" so far, and I pick up many different books. Carol Field is very passionate in her detail, and the characters' stories are ones that you feel personally despite the (at times) exotic locale.

I felt an indifference towards Miranda at first, but I did admire her tenacity. Of the 3 generations of women in that house, I felt the most compassion for the eldest and the youngest, but I guess I understood most where Miranda was coming from......

This is a wonderful book, a captivating read, and a perfect rainy afternoon escape. It won't take you long to finish it!!

Though the book dealt with interesting material and exotic themes, I felt in some ways that the flow of the book was a bit awkward at times. There is more of the impression of having different episodes that together make up the story, with little transition between them. For example, the daughter's coming of age and relationship with her mother and grandmother could have been developed and explored much more to my satisfaction.

Field's writing style however is delicious and thouroughly enjoyed it. I am interested in readng her other work.

Just after World War II, Anton brought his Australian "child"-bride Miranda home to Amsterdam, but his mother Ria rejects Miranda. Over the next few years, Anton went on many sea voyages, eventually leaving Miranda and their daughter Diana behind with his mother.

When Diana is still a preadolescent, Anton fails to return from his latest sea voyage. With the bills piling up and no income coming in, Miranda decides to take in borders. Soon her cooking skills become famous and many of the housewives start ordering her dishes. Over the next few years as Diana becomes a teen she misses her father. When Rotterdam anthropologist Max Madoqua learns about all the exotic items in Miranda's home that Anton brought home over the years, he makes an attempt to see them using Diana's father fixation as his avenue to the collection. With Max's prompting, Diana sneaks into her father's two special locked rooms to begin a quest to find out what happened to him.

MANGOES AND QUINCE is a period piece that centers on the deep characters, especially Miranda, Diana, and to a lesser degree Ria and indirectly Anton. The story line travels at a leisurely pace so that the reader can savor the feelings of the principal players. Not for action lovers, Carole Field has written an interesting family drama that will please those historical cozy fans. This is one of those rare books that belong on the keeper shelf

Harriet Klausner

I loved this unpredictable story about exotic places and people and food, hauntingly beautiful,fabulous and bazaar... food and characters that jump off the pages ...I read it years ago and re-purchased it so I could read it again. I'm thinking it should be made into a movie...it is a bit dark in spots, and a little twisted...warning to the faint hearted...:) I'd like to read what others have to say about this book.

I purchased Carol Field's first novel on a whim and have to admit that, unlike some other reviewers, I found it a definite page turner. My amateur "opinion" is that the author tried to make the storyline as "exotic" and "sumptuous" as possible in every way. Where this worked amazingly was in her frequent descriptions of food, cooking, restaurant preparation, etc. and how the subject of food relates to so many aspects of the characters lives. Where it proved disturbing was in Field's treatment of the pagan sexual "rites" and the disturbing sexual obsessions of the missing husband and father in the novel. Her description of travel among the islands of Indonesia is alluring however (I have no idea if they are accurate). The sexual rites described in the book are very unsettling, even though they do provide an all too vivid explanation for both Miranda and Diana's mental anguish. Where this book shines is in the emotional drawing out of the lives of Miranda and Diana after the death of the grandmother. Their piecing together of their lives through the opening of the restaurant and the accompanying narratives are compelling. I kept wishing that the storyline of the missing father had been less "over-the-top" (even though the chapter that alternates letters from the private investigator looking for the father followed by the meandering visions of Diana at home is frighteningly effective).
The novel concludes with some very beautiful writing about the healing of the indifferent and strained relationships between mother and daughter. Field has a very profound knowledge of structuring sentences and using words to paint vivid mental and emotional images. So I felt that the reviews who dismiss her first novel out-of-hand are wildly missing the point. This is a highly gifted author who could probably achieve a certain level of artistry regardless of the genre she attempts. And I have to say that the spectacle of her descriptions of Miranda's restaurant and the various exotic dishes concocted will long stay in my memory. Oh to have a restaurant like this in my neighborhood <G>.

Read this book only if you have nothing else. The fact that the paperback carried "national bestseller" was disappointing. (Add my amazement to the many times characters in the book are "amazed".)

The writing, plotting, settings and characterization are poorly done. The only good writing concerns food. After 6 years of ignoring her daughter Diana and "coping" (by cooking and going about the house in "diaphanous" clothing, apparently meant to indicate her sensual nature) after her husband disappears, Miranda suddenly gets involved and interested in his fate after his mother dies and legal issues arise.

The book needed a strong editor's hand to shorten many lengthy sentences and dangling phrases, reduce redundant phrasing and take out stilted language. Sex scenes seem added arbitrarily to spice up the action. Characters label Anton's Indonesian adventures as spiritually "dark" and threatening, but intimations of that are overcome by the laughable writing.

Research was inadequate. Settings are vague. It's hard to get a sense of time for when the story supposedly takes place, even when more information is given.

Miranda, Diana and Ria appear to exist in an Amsterdam without museums or libraries or bookstores. Diana needs a researcher to tell her what a sarong is, when there would have been much information (and local examples

available) in Amsterdam, given the Netherlands' long colonial history in Indonesia. She goes to school but never seems to learn anything there.

She, her mother and grandmother seem to exist in a timewarp or cloud of unknowing that may be intentionally vague but is infuriating to read about. It achieves neither magical nor unmagical realism. Diana and Miranda go skating more than once, when they always "strap on" their skates. I'm sure that even in Amsterdam, by the 1960's people were using boot skates just as they did in the US.

Much is made of Miranda's cooking and how unique it is, but again, because of its colonial history, Amsterdam would have had a long history of food enlivened by spices and ingredients similar to those she used.

In an early section of the book, set in Amsterdam, the girl Diana is taken fishing by someone who lived at her house. He took her to "the river that flowed from distant foothills". Foothills are extremely distant from flat Amsterdam in the lowlands of the Netherlands! The author goes on to say the river "emptied into tributaries that reached the waters of the nearby port". Tributaries are smaller streams that FEED a river; a river doesn't empty into tributaries. The port is on the river in Amsterdam; the water is the same river.

There are descriptions of jaguars in Indonesia, when jaguars exist only in Central and South America. Vague descriptions of rituals and clothing in Indonesia seem influenced more by soft porn fantasies than anthropology.

An investigator goes to Indonesia to try to find Anton. The author seems to have little sense of geography. The tens of thousands of islands in Indonesia aren't enough for the investigator; suddenly he takes a detour and is exploring a small island "off Ceylon"! Then he quickly makes his way back to Indonesia.

He spends days in primitive villages that seem far removed from contemporary life, where the people happily show him sacred religious rituals, then he casually goes to unnamed "nearby cities" for a change, and then back again. When he needs to escape because he literally can hear the sound of newly aroused "wild warriors" chasing after him, he easily gets away and on a convenient ship.

No one is ever anxious; each character feels "queasy" at times of stress. I began to get seasick just reading this book. No one ever looks around a corner; each "peeks" every time. Foods and items "emit" and "exude" odors. A woman "exudes" sensuality. "Emit" and "exude" should be banned by all authors as they've been used beyond excess in this book.

I do not recommend this novel.

This book reads so well!! It's a page turner as well as being finely written. Fascinating characters and story.

Part of me thinks it's unfair to review a book I couldn't finish, but not when I really want to warn other people off! I've tried twice to read it, but both times couldn't get past about page 30.

The writing is flat, the characters cardboard, and there's way too much purple prose. Diana's "ginger-colored curls" are mentioned three times in the first chapter; I GET it already! Also, I think it's kind of gratuitous to have sexual abuse of a character before that character's been brought alive to the reader; it's as if the author's trying to use sensationalism in place of character, plotting and a lot else. Do not buy this book.

I was fully unprepared to have picked up a novel that dealt repeatedly with the sexual abuse of women. I was expecting a far more pleasant read about a cook (Miranda) who delights all with her talents for exotic dishes (but the restaraunt does not appear until more than 1/2 way through the book). While the descriptions in the kitchen are thoroughly convincing and rich, the treatment of child molestation, spousal beating, and rape (of more than one woman) are superficially disturbing. Furthermore, since a significant portion of the story dealt with the area in and around Indonesia and the rituals of various islanders, far more research should have been done. Customs were left vague, without any discussion of meaning, and were practiced by nameless "natives" of some unnamed little island here or there (was the ear-sucking greeting real or imagined by the author?). However, it is these very customs that play a crucial role in the transformation of Miranda's husband. Since there are elements of the supernatural that connect the characters, I have to wonder how much of the "factual" background is really fictional within such an unreal reality.