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The Stone Gods Jeanette Winterson 9780151014910 Books

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The Stone Gods Jeanette Winterson 9780151014910 Books

Billy Crusoe seems to view the world lightly but she's got serious problems with the way the inhabitants of earth are hell-bent on destroying it. The novel opens with Billy about to be exiled to a planet being prepared for colonization before the earth goes kaput. She's a rebel who is one of the last owners of an organic farm in a world that prides itself on not only reconstituting most food in chemical form but also is very close to reconstituting the DNA of humans who wish to be ageless, beautiful and just perfect! Imagine wanting to be a teenager to stop one's philandering husband from pursuing much younger woman - tongue in cheek for sure!

There are numerous references to starting over from Robinson Caruso's heroic adventures, including a flashback to 1774 in which Billy travels to Easter Island with the famed Captain Cook's band. What is about human beings that just can't see the forest for the trees as even here they cut down all the trees to fashion their stone gods? Billie realizes they destroy their God-given earth to attempt to get closer to their imagined gods - situational irony in the extreme but typical flawed human style.

We then are returned to post-war (WW III) in which we have another flashback of how Billy was separated from the mother she loved, indeed adored. Technology has taken over human reproduction and mothers and fathers are an anachronism to be jettisoned. Indeed independent human thought, feeling and goal-oriented living are just passe. Everything is planned by the "authorities" and it is clear that Billie's hunger for connection and love is deep and unshared by her medicated and inebriated earthling friends.

At first the reader will think that Billie falling in love with a robot is just plain silly, even stupid! But the conversation that flows from their evolving romantic relationship envelops the reader into a curious fascination, for Spike is more than just a hunk of metal who is programmed to automatically respond in word or deed. This is, for this reviewer, the most out-of-the-box portion of this novel that makes it very special. Spike and Billie communicate beyond the trite to the touching, essential and vibrant realities of living that soar far above survival, the book's repetitive theme, to transcending technology and touching the stars, replete with poetry, music and more!

The Stone Gods is an unusual but dynamic read that is a must for science fiction lovers or those who just dabble therein! It's fresh, bright, complex and surreal! Nicely done, Ms. Winterson!

Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on May 19, 2008


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The Stone Gods Jeanette Winterson 9780151014910 Books Reviews

The Stone Gods is an exceptional book. It is lyrical but dense, a deep love story that also discusses some fundamental ideas of humanity (freedom, maturity and humanity, sexuality and love) against the backdrop of a frighteningly possible future (a third world war resulting in corporate takeover and an untenable environment). It mixes these elements together impressively and in only 200 pages has considerable impact. I can understand why Atwood (who wrote "Oryx and Crake," another excellent novel about the 'end' of the world) likes this book so much.

Many of the low reviews for this book appear to have wanted a potboiler. This is not a book read solely for the series of events that happen in it. Its lyricism is not limited to the writing, but extends to the portrayal of this world and its characters. The names of the characters (Billie Crusoe is later assisted by Friday, Cpt. Handsome, etc.) reflects this, as do some of their decisions, and complaints of "unbelievability" are misplaced.

One low reviewer appears to be offended by the discussion of pedophilia and sex in the book. I think Winterson does a masterful job demonstrating a consumer culture's sexual appetites, and presents a believable progression of current society. Maybe a "degradation" to pedophilia would be more appropriate, since the protagonist is strongly opposed to the practice, and I think in part it is presented as a reflection of society's failure to mature past childhood. Second, this speculative fiction (as Atwood would say) appears to treat people as people in the purest sense, and has little interest in trapping them by being male or female. It is implied being straight is uncommon, although not necessarily a negative. This treatment is similar to Heinlein's "The Golden Globe" (public nudity also appears to not be a taboo anymore, etc.) Finally, this book has very little focus on physical sex, and sex acts that are described are brief and usually comic. If you are offended by same sex relationships then I hope you enjoy this book and after reading it appreciate they are like any other.
This was interesting, to say the least. It’s a tad belligerent with the overall message and I got really attached to characters in the beginning, which made it sad when the book delved into other time periods. Unique writing style though. You love it or you hate it, based on the reactions of my sci-fi analysis class.
This satirical, sad, and often poetic presentation of the human condition is described in three short stories (or three and a half), all linked by a protagonist of the same name, though the three time periods (past, present, future) are far from each other. The author chooses the name Billie Crusoe for the protagonist in all three(female in the first and last, male in the second), and the famous castaway's dilemma of survival hovers behind it all, with even a "Friday" character as a guide in the final episode. There are several themes, each poignantly presented so well by the author that the reader is pulled into the hopes and heartbreaks of the protagonist. All stories are linked by the flaw of organized humanity's need to destroy what has gone before in order to present and preserve a `new and better way'--- whether the dinosaur population of Earth in the first vignette, the stone gods of Easter Island in the second, or the wretched remnant of the free thinkers in the third. Within these settings lies a second theme, the need for love and reality of abandonment. At times this is stretched to the absurd--- whether that love lies in a better-than-human robot, in a dear friend, or in a mother. All in all, this is science fiction at its best, moving us to see the present and future, and ourselves in it, complete with our blatant flaws---and yet with constant hope for a better day, whatever the cost.
Billy Crusoe seems to view the world lightly but she's got serious problems with the way the inhabitants of earth are hell-bent on destroying it. The novel opens with Billy about to be exiled to a planet being prepared for colonization before the earth goes kaput. She's a rebel who is one of the last owners of an organic farm in a world that prides itself on not only reconstituting most food in chemical form but also is very close to reconstituting the DNA of humans who wish to be ageless, beautiful and just perfect! Imagine wanting to be a teenager to stop one's philandering husband from pursuing much younger woman - tongue in cheek for sure!

There are numerous references to starting over from Robinson Caruso's heroic adventures, including a flashback to 1774 in which Billy travels to Easter Island with the famed Captain Cook's band. What is about human beings that just can't see the forest for the trees as even here they cut down all the trees to fashion their stone gods? Billie realizes they destroy their God-given earth to attempt to get closer to their imagined gods - situational irony in the extreme but typical flawed human style.

We then are returned to post-war (WW III) in which we have another flashback of how Billy was separated from the mother she loved, indeed adored. Technology has taken over human reproduction and mothers and fathers are an anachronism to be jettisoned. Indeed independent human thought, feeling and goal-oriented living are just passe. Everything is planned by the "authorities" and it is clear that Billie's hunger for connection and love is deep and unshared by her medicated and inebriated earthling friends.

At first the reader will think that Billie falling in love with a robot is just plain silly, even stupid! But the conversation that flows from their evolving romantic relationship envelops the reader into a curious fascination, for Spike is more than just a hunk of metal who is programmed to automatically respond in word or deed. This is, for this reviewer, the most out-of-the-box portion of this novel that makes it very special. Spike and Billie communicate beyond the trite to the touching, essential and vibrant realities of living that soar far above survival, the book's repetitive theme, to transcending technology and touching the stars, replete with poetry, music and more!

The Stone Gods is an unusual but dynamic read that is a must for science fiction lovers or those who just dabble therein! It's fresh, bright, complex and surreal! Nicely done, Ms. Winterson!

Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on May 19, 2008