‘How I loved reading Fruit of Knowledge … Clever, angry, funny and righteous, also informative to an eye-popping degree’ Rachel Cooke, OBSERVER GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE MONTH
From Adam and Eve to pussy hats, people have punished, praised, pathologised and politicised vulvas, vaginas, clitorises, and menstruation. In the international bestseller Fruit of Knowledge, celebrated Swedish cartoonist Liv Strömquist traces how different cultures and traditions have shaped women’s health and beyond.
Her biting, informed commentary and ponytailed avatar guides the reader from the darkest chapters of history (a clitoridectomy performed on a five-year-old American child as late as 1948) to the lightest (vulvas used as architectural details as a symbol of protection). Like Alison Bechdel and Jacky Fleming, she uses the comics medium to reveal uncomfortable truths about how far we haven’t come.
‘Just the thing for all the feminists in your life’ Observer Books of the Year
‘This book made me laugh in public (and also cry a little). It is the book I gave to my younger sister the next time I saw her because of its anger and brilliance and because it is an overwhelming source of knowledge about things we should all already know’ Daisy Johnson, author of the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Everything Under
‘There are moments of genuine hilarity, as when Strömquist pictures the dinner party chatter of men living under a matriarchy, and others of fierce anger in this wild, witty and vital book’ Observer Books of the Year
From Adam and Eve to pussy hats, people have punished, praised, pathologised and politicised vulvas, vaginas, clitorises, and menstruation. In the international bestseller Fruit of Knowledge, celebrated Swedish cartoonist Liv Strömquist traces how different cultures and traditions have shaped women’s health and beyond.
Her biting, informed commentary and ponytailed avatar guides the reader from the darkest chapters of history (a clitoridectomy performed on a five-year-old American child as late as 1948) to the lightest (vulvas used as architectural details as a symbol of protection). Like Alison Bechdel and Jacky Fleming, she uses the comics medium to reveal uncomfortable truths about how far we haven’t come.
‘Just the thing for all the feminists in your life’ Observer Books of the Year
‘This book made me laugh in public (and also cry a little). It is the book I gave to my younger sister the next time I saw her because of its anger and brilliance and because it is an overwhelming source of knowledge about things we should all already know’ Daisy Johnson, author of the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Everything Under
‘There are moments of genuine hilarity, as when Strömquist pictures the dinner party chatter of men living under a matriarchy, and others of fierce anger in this wild, witty and vital book’ Observer Books of the Year
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Reviews
Imagine if you could walk through the world with a Liv Strömquist at your side. The moment you stumbled on an injustice or an error in thinking, you could point her at the culprit like a loaded wit-revolver, instead of having to stand there digging through your own murky arguments
Brilliantly drawn, cleverly researched and deeply funny
A lively, educational and anti-idiot oration on one of society's less comfortably discussed topics
This book made me laugh in public (and also cry a little). It is the book I gave to my younger sister the next time I saw her because of its anger and brilliance and because it is an overwhelming source of knowledge about things we should all already know
Feminist, snappy, instructive and hilarious!
How I loved reading Liv Strömquist's Fruit of Knowledge. Mostly, this was down to its sheer, punchy brilliance: should you be in possession of a teenage daughter, you absolutely must buy it for her and all her friends, in addition to those copies you will now immediately purchase for yourself and all of yours . . . If her strips are clever, angry, funny and righteous, they're also informative to an eye-popping degree . . . every page is so fantastically acute
Liv Strömquist's refreshing humour and visionary ability truly make me rejoice'
There are moments of genuine hilarity, as when Strömquist pictures the dinner party chatter of men living under a matriarchy, and others of fierce anger in this wild, witty and vital book
Impeccably researched [and] enormously funny ... Almost every page is so brilliantly and wittily written and unarguably righteous that it is constantly tempting to show the book to the nearest person. This is a sure sign that this is a work of unusual excellence. Buy two copies - one to read and keep and one to lend out - and make peace with the idea that you may need to get more in time
Will appeal to fans of popular feminist authors like Caitlin Moran ... Through witty illustrations and punchy text, the book examines society's love-hate relationship with women's sexuality ... Buy it for your teenage granddaughter and have a peek yourself
Fruit of Knowledge: The Vulva vs the Patriarchy, is just the thing for all the feminists in your life, particularly those of a younger generation