Book Review: The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Rating: 4.5/5

The Passion is the first Jeanette Winterson book that I’ve read, and I’m already itching to get ahold of her other work. When dealing with subjects like war, prostitution and unrequited love, it’s easy for authors to take a heavy-handed approach, but there is no melodrama here. Winterson’s written voice is calm and eloquent as she unravels the story of two paths crossing during the Napoleonic Wars. She explores the subtleties that distinguish adoration, love and passion, in scenes full of quiet grace and unexpected surrealism. A quick read that is both tragic and oddly charming, The Passion is humble gem of a novel that presents complex emotions with clean and simple prose: 

“I didn’t know what hate felt like, not the hate that comes after love. It’s huge and desperate and it longs to be proved wrong. And every day it’s proved right it grows a little more monstrous. If the love was passion, the hate will be obsession. A need to see the once-loved weak and cowed and beneath pity. Disgust is close and dignity is far away. The hate is not only for the once loved, it’s for yourself too; how could you ever have loved this?”