Perhaps my mind is simply too literal to be a fan of magical realism tales and therefore really appreciate this but I still found it a remarkably original and imaginative piece of writing which deserves to be on the 1001 list. This is quite a short book (my copy is 144 pages) but don't be fooled, it still takes the reader on a roller-coaster of emotions. Motherly love and the difficulty of conveying emotions are examined much more seriously. But this isn't gratuitous violence, instead it is done with a wonderfully subtle tongue-in-cheek humour. The remainder are rapists, murderers and sexually depraved. I should point out at this juncture that there are only two decent male characters in this book. In one enchanting passage we hear the story of twelve princesses who are forced to marry twelve princes who all come to a deservedly sticky end. Jordan takes the reader to the magical places he visits and introduces us to the characters he meets along the way and read like short stories. She is a wonderful literary creation, one who can do terrible things and yet you still want to cheer for her. It switches between two main narrators, Dog Woman and her adoptive son Jordan, and mixes reality with dream and fairytale although there is also a linear plot weaving throughout.ĭog Woman is a force of a nature, an impossibly huge woman, violent and dangerous but with heart of gold. The book celebrates the power of the imagination.

'Sexing the Cherry' is set in the mid-seventeenth century and spans the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I(in gory detail),the rise of the Puritans, the restoration of Charles II and even touches on the Plague and Great Fire of London. The Dog-Woman finds a baby in the slime of the river bank, takes him home, raises him and names him Jordan. 'Every journey conceals another journey within its lines: the path not taken and the forgotten angle.' Sexing the Cherry is a novel that incorporates magical aspects of time travel and teleportation into a more realistic plot concerning a mother and her adopted son.

Sexing the cherry book