First chocolate, now wine. Absolutely marvellous! (Blackberry Wine - Joanne Harris)

Member Name: amyturtle

Product:	Blackberry Wine - Joanne Harris
Date:	09/11/02 (304 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to read, a cosy, interesting book

Disadvantages: Slightly underdeveloped characters, inevitable comparisons to Chocolat

For those of you that don't know, I'm a bit of a fan of books. Well reading in general actually, magazines, newspapers, crisp packets, whatever. Writing a review of a book however is a completely different kettle of fish and up until now I've been a bit chicken about doing it. I've wanted to, you know ?. I just haven't done it. There are very few books where I've struggled to get into the story and wrap the characters around myself. Blackberry Wine was one of those rare books where I felt I really had to plough through the first few chapters until I got to a point where I could look forward to picking it up again next time. I always persevere though, and on this occasion I'm glad I did. The book begins to open up nicely a few chapters in, and you start to feel as if there might be a story to tell. But let's go back to the beginning shall we?

Jay Mackintosh is a thirty seven year old writer living in London with his shallow and ambitious girlfriend, Kerry O'Neill. At the age of twenty three Jay published a hugely successful award winning novel, entitled Three Summers With Jackapple Joe, but has been suffering from a kind of writer's block ever since. He's written several science fiction novels under a pseudonym in the meantime, which have paid the bills nicely thank you very much, but has struggled with what he calls 'real' work. Drinking too much, dissatisfied and directionless, Jay spends his life wandering from one indistinct day to the next, clinging to the past and waiting for something to happen to him.

Now with this being a book and all that, quite obviously something does happen to him. It wouldn't be much of a story if it didn't, now would it? Early on we are introduced to Jay's memories of Joe Cox, an old man with whom he often spent hours and hours at a time during the long days of the summer holidays. Sent to spend the summers with his grandparents in the North
ern Town of Kirby Monckton, Jay is left to his own devices and takes the opportunity to explore the local dump, railway line and canal, as well as helping Joe with his allotment where he grows the fruit and vegetables necessary to make his own very 'Special' blend of wine. Jay finds Joe's unusual ways fascinating; his use of red scraps of cloth as lucky charms, his inherent belief in the benefits of talismans, and the way he manages to hide himself in his little house in Pog Hill Lane, almost without anyone seeming to realise he is there.

As Jay looks back on these summers with fondness and longing, he sees them as the best time of his life, something he longs to recreate. Joe has often talked of the places he has been and his dreams of moving on again one day, showing Jay the picture he has of the "chatto in Bordo" he hopes to buy. So when a brochure of holiday homes lands on Jay's doorstep one day, open at a familiar looking house marked For Sale, it has to be a sign. Doesn't it? Jay immediately buys the house and abandons his life in London, and everything that goes with it including Kerry, for the promise of a 'new' beginning in the tiny village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes.

Here he gradually becomes entwined in the lives of the locals, their hopes for Lansquenet and their beliefs about each other. He becomes intrigued by his mysterious neighbour, Marise d'Api, who never ventures into the village and keeps herself and her daughter, Rosa, secluded from prying villagers. A great source of gossip for the patrons of the Café des Marauds, Marise refuses to be drawn into conversation or friendships, leaving the circumstances surrounding the death of her husband Tony a mystery open to interpretation and exaggeration. A familiar face also appears once again when Joe suddenly materializes in Jay?s new house. He doesn't seem to live near Lansquenet, nor does he knock on the door when he arrives or leave
by it when he goes. He just appears. "Astral travel, lad. Astral bloody travel, how the bloody else d'you think I'd be able to do it if I was underground half me bloody life?"

There are other characters you might recognise in Blackberry Wine. The café owner Josephine Muscat, the baker Poitou, the market gardener Narcisse, Georges and Caro Clairmont all had an outing in Joanne Harris's earlier novel, Chocolat. None play a central role in Blackberry Wine however and you certainly wouldn't need to have read Chocolat to understand the part they play here. There is something comforting in their inclusion however. Perhaps it's the sense of coming back to an old friend, maybe it's just that it makes their characters that much more developed.

For me, you see, that's one of the places where Blackberry Wine falls down. Far too many of the characters feel underdeveloped and two dimensional. Even the central characters can feel a little shallow at times. Yes, we're told innumerable stories about Jay's childhood and experiences, but there just doesn?t seem to be enough emphasis on the way he thinks, the way he feels, what makes him tick. I felt as if I had to make a lot of assumptions about Jay's character from what I was told of his childhood. I don't expect to be spoon fed in a book; that would insult any reader's intelligence and take away the enjoyment of discovery. I just think I would have liked to have been guided a little bit more in the intricacies of his character, to feel like I knew him instead of just reading about him.

It's a shame because Joanne Harris writes with such descriptive panache that the pages turn very easily in this book. The style is clear and comfortingly readable without patronising or boring you. It won't make you laugh with a great guffaw, or cry with empathy and suspense; but it will make you relax and settle gently into something undemand
ing and enjoyable. The chapters are short, making it easy to read just one more before you go to sleep, and the story jumps very neatly between tales of grown up Jay rediscovering life in Lansquenet, and school boy Jay getting into trouble at Pog Hill Lane. Maybe it's this chopping about that stopped me getting quite as into the characters as I would have liked. There's barely time to settle back into the relevant era before you're off again, travelling in a whirlwind of time.

There's no doubt in my mind as to why I found this book a bit difficult to get in to at first though. The first few chapters are written from the perspective of a bottle of wine stuffed unceremoniously at the back of Jay's London cellar in the company of six of Joe's 'Specials'. I'm all for a fresh approach to writing and sometimes the unusual tactic of writing observationally from the point of view of an inanimate object can work really well. Unfortunately, here I found it faintly ridiculous, irritating and inconsistent. To a certain extent the whole book is written from the point of view of this bottle of wine, but it's done in such a half hearted way that I really wish it hadn't been done at all. I found the book much more enjoyable during the lengthy periods where I was able to forget all about this aspect of it.

This book is really very clever in the way it effortlessly transcends so many genres. It includes magic and superstition without crossing into science fiction. It tantalises with love and the breaking down of barriers without being a love story. It's fictional with an edge of real life, believable and yet fanciful and embellished. In lots of ways I thoroughly enjoyed it but after the exotic draw of Chocolat I just expected more. I can't decide if three stars is harsh and bourn out of my own high expectations, or fair given that this is an opinion and this really reflects the way I feel. The end of
this book left me feeling dissatisfied and expecting a greater crescendo. It's a perfectly good ending and in keeping with the gentle, undramatic tone that prevails throughout the book. It just feels a bit rushed and perhaps a bit unfinished.

Overall I would recommend this book. It's well written and enjoyable in its own right. Be warned though, that if you compare this to Chocolat, you're likely to be mighty disappointed.

Summary: