Hey guys, Katie here, how's it going?
Today I want to talk about THE PASSION by Jeanette Winterson.
I originally read this book in college, so it's been a really interesting experience to re-read the story.
Um, when I was in college, it was in one of my favorite English classes,
and I think it was Victorian Lit or Victorian Women's Lit.
So, ever since I joined Booktube I've been wanting to reread The Passion
and be able to talk about it on my channel, and show
you guys why I loved it so much.
And I'm so glad that I finally managed to do it.
I'm just really excited.
So, THE PASSION is about two young people
during the late eighteen hundreds and
also during the Napoleonic Wars. One is a
young man named Henri, who goes into
Napoleon's army and actually becomes his
personal, like, chicken retriever.
He retrieves the chickens for the cook to
cook for Napoleon, and has a lot of
interesting experiences through that.
Including living through the zero winter
in Russia. The other main character is a
young woman named Villanelle, who lives
in Venice and her family has this huge myth
surrounding them they're called the Boatmen.
And they have, like, webbed feet.
Villanelle's story is mostly about her
falling in love with a woman, who turns
out to be married and initially, actually
thinks the Villanelle is a man because
she dresses like a man once in awhile.
Which is why I mentioned a couple of
my videos of this book looks at gender
pretty closely because Henri is like
young and scrawny and maybe not exactly
a warrior type, and so he doesn't really
fit in with the army; and Villanelle, on
the other hand, is this woman who
sometimes likes to be a man and
sometimes she likes to be a woman, and
falls in love with a woman, and has this
incredible, short relationship with her
that just completely impacts her life.
The biggest impression that the book
actually left on me was Villanelle's story,
because there was something so magical
about her experience in Venice,
and Venice itself and the myth about the
Boatmen. And I think that's definitely a
good reason to read the book if you're
interested in, kind of, myths and like
magical realism. That's definitely
something that is in the book, and in
terms of historical fiction,
this is a really interesting look at the
Napoleonic Wars. It's real, but its not
real. You know, there's magic--all sorts of
things happening which makes it a really
kind of, enchanting read, I would say. Like
I just overall really enjoy reading this
book. Another thing that I really love
about THE PASSION is something that i
love about all of Jeanette Winterson's
books, and that is her writing, which is
just beautiful and very poetic. And I
think I mentioned when I talked about
her book ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT,
she kind of uses repetition and
makes the whole book feel like you're
reading one long poem, because it's such
a beautiful and a poignant kind of
statement that she makes in between, you
know, everything that's going on in the
actual story. So, I think that's actually
everything I want to say about
THE PASSION. I think it's a really beautiful
historical fiction/LGBT read, so if
those are some things that you're
interested in, I highly recommend it.
There's so much to talk about.
I know that we spent a lot of time in my
class talking about it, but I really
don't want to spoil it! I just really
would like to recommend it, and so if
you've read THE PASSION, or any of Jeanette
Winterson's work, be sure to let me know
in the comments, and let's talk about it.
I still haven't read all of her books,
but it's definitely something that I'm
working on, and so far I think
THE PASSION is definitely my favorite but
THE STONE GODS was also really incredible.
Anyway that's about it! Let me know if
you've read THE PASSION, or if you want to
read it, and I hope this was helpful for
you, and I will see you guys next time, bye!
