Blackberry wine

a novel

No cover

Joanne Harris: Blackberry wine (2001, G.K. Hall)

416 pages

English language

Published Nov. 20, 2001 by G.K. Hall.

ISBN:
978-0-7838-9453-9
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3 stars (1 review)

11 editions

Irritating narration

3 stars

A weird mish-mash of ideas in this novel which is irritatingly narrated by a bottle of wine. There are other 'magical' bottles too but fortunately they fade out as each is drunk. The two-part storyline describes Jay's teenage summers of rural 1970s idyll and I enjoyed these sections, particularly his relationship with Joe who is by far the best character in the whole book. However, young Jay's chapters alternate with those of adult Jay, a self-obsessed alcoholic who emigrates to rural France in a fug of wine fumes to discover the true meaning of life among comfortingly familiar stereotypes in the Chocolat village. I guess this novel was aspirational for Brits still dreaming of Peter Mayle-type escapism a decade ago but, for me reading now, Blackberry Wine mostly felt dated and twee.

Subjects

  • Wine and wine making -- Fiction.
  • British -- France -- Fiction.
  • Country life -- Fiction.
  • Novelists -- Fiction.
  • Large type books.
  • France -- Fiction.