Book Review – The Passion

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson




The Passion won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1987.


I can’t make up my mind about this book. The characters were fascinating in an intellectual way but I didn’t find any of them substantive. They have only stayed with me in a vague sort of way. I found myself adding so much of my own imagination to the story that I felt almost cheated by the writer.


I did keep reading but only because I was waiting for something I never got. I felt it lacked passion. It was well written from a craft stand-point.


It’s not a very long book so if you want to experience some quirky characters, I recommend it. But in the end, I was disappointed with the story as a whole.

From the website:


It was Napoleon who had such a passion for chicken that he kept his chefs working around the clock. What a kitchen that was, with birds in every state of undress... It was my first commission. I started as a neck-wringer..

This is the story of Henri, a young Frenchman sent to fight in the Napoleonic wars. It is the story of Villanelle, a cross-dressing Venetian woman, born with webbed feet.

I give this book 2 out of 5 butterflies because the story left me unfulfilled.

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