"The Stone Gods is a vivid, cautionary tale- or, more precisely, a keen lament for our irremediably incautious species." Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Gu...
read full description
reviews
Apr 10, 2008
Ian
rated it: 
When I bought my copy of The Stone Gods, the bookseller told me two things: it had received strong reviews, and “It’s science fiction, you know.” I parried this last one with some fuzzy comment that much of Winterson’s fiction violates expectations, and we left it at that, both sounding smart and not having said much.
And then I started reading: sure enough, page after page, the thing read true to the sci-fi genre. And not just in the details: it sounded like sci-fi, it thought l More...
And then I started reading: sure enough, page after page, the thing read true to the sci-fi genre. And not just in the details: it sounded like sci-fi, it thought l More...
Aug 01, 2008
Pierce
rated it: 
Okay, okay. This is tricky.
We all give ratings to books (and everything) within their genres. I do anyway. Five stars for this thing is not the same as five stars for that thing. But the problem with that is that the genres have to mean something. And be identifiable.
I have real thing for Jeanette Winterson. It dates back to Gut Symmetries, which I read at an impressionable time (maybe 17, though all my times are fairly impressionable). It was just beautiful and expansi More...
We all give ratings to books (and everything) within their genres. I do anyway. Five stars for this thing is not the same as five stars for that thing. But the problem with that is that the genres have to mean something. And be identifiable.
I have real thing for Jeanette Winterson. It dates back to Gut Symmetries, which I read at an impressionable time (maybe 17, though all my times are fairly impressionable). It was just beautiful and expansi More...
0 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Dec 28, 2009
Ben
rated it:
A very pleasant surprise. Wonderfully written and a joy to read.
It is a hard book to say much about without spoiling major parts. I will say that if you are reading this because it is "science fiction", don't give up on it too quickly. The first part of the book is pretty clumsy in the SF department but that is to be expected from someone who makes it clear that she is not a science fiction fan. Just keep reading until the end and trust me that it will all make sense.
It is a hard book to say much about without spoiling major parts. I will say that if you are reading this because it is "science fiction", don't give up on it too quickly. The first part of the book is pretty clumsy in the SF department but that is to be expected from someone who makes it clear that she is not a science fiction fan. Just keep reading until the end and trust me that it will all make sense.
3 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jun 10, 2008
Gina
rated it:
What a daunting task, writing a review of a Jeanette Winterson book, and this book is so prolix, I may just start with a few paragraphs and then add on as ideas begin to formulate.
Let's start with form: it is a sci-fi, anti-Utopian, satire, biography, lyric poem.
Here's my synopsis of the plot, maybe. Part I is called "Planet Blue" and the characters are aboard a spaceship leaving Orbis (Earth) which has finally succeeded in annihilating itself. Planet Bl More...
Let's start with form: it is a sci-fi, anti-Utopian, satire, biography, lyric poem.
Here's my synopsis of the plot, maybe. Part I is called "Planet Blue" and the characters are aboard a spaceship leaving Orbis (Earth) which has finally succeeded in annihilating itself. Planet Bl More...
2 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jun 27, 2008
Brian
rated it:
As she did in "The Passion", Winterson displays her gift for punching the reader in the face, then kicking you in the heart, and you still come out of the experience saying, "Can someone read this to me, out loud?"
It's a critique of the modern world, a critique of the future (extrapolated from the modern world), a re-vamped look at the past, and then another critique of the future. Seriously.
Oh... also...? It's fantastic. Bleak, beautiful, poignant More...
It's a critique of the modern world, a critique of the future (extrapolated from the modern world), a re-vamped look at the past, and then another critique of the future. Seriously.
Oh... also...? It's fantastic. Bleak, beautiful, poignant More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Dec 15, 2008
Megan
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 23, 2009
ellen
rated it:
Jeanette Winterson is one of my favorite authors. The Passion is one of my favorite books of all time, but I found this book to be lacking, much in the way of a favorite band branching off in some new direction and simply not striking the chord that made you love them in the first place. You still love their voices, and there's a glimmer of the past greatness about them, but it still falls short.
Perhaps it's my general dislike of the Science Fiction genre or my discomfort with the More...
Perhaps it's my general dislike of the Science Fiction genre or my discomfort with the More...
Mar 13, 2010
Kivrin
rated it:
"Everything is imprinted for ever with what it once was" is the final line in this stunning novel.
So, Winterson would tell us, Read closely. Planet Blue, Easter Island, Post-3 War. There is a connection between these three scenarios-these three apocalyptic tales-these three love stories. Life is repetition. Can humans learn from the mistakes of the past? Winterson unfolds all at once, a cautionary tale, a survival story, and a complicated, exquisitely written novel on what More...
So, Winterson would tell us, Read closely. Planet Blue, Easter Island, Post-3 War. There is a connection between these three scenarios-these three apocalyptic tales-these three love stories. Life is repetition. Can humans learn from the mistakes of the past? Winterson unfolds all at once, a cautionary tale, a survival story, and a complicated, exquisitely written novel on what More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 31, 2008
Tripp
rated it: 
eanette Winterson's latest novel, the Stone Gods, is a dark mix of 1984, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and the Cloud Atlas. Despite the fact that her characters state they don't like science fiction and she herself says she hates it in this interview, the book is very much a science fiction novel. It is fixed on ideas, but would be comfortably shelved in either the literature or the science fiction sections of the bookstore.
The book's principal idea is that human society is pre More...
The book's principal idea is that human society is pre More...
2 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Mar 30, 2008
Imogen
rated it:
After all the identity blurring and timeline overlapping in her work, nobody was surprised when Jeanette Winterson turned into Angela Carter.
I don't know whether this will replace the Passion or Lighthousekeeping as one of my top favorites of hers. I mean, it's way better than the Powerbook or Gut Symmetries, in my way less than humble opinion, but I honestly can't predict whether it'll stick like my favorites of hers. It's beautifully constructed, though, it's a great idea, it's sc More...
I don't know whether this will replace the Passion or Lighthousekeeping as one of my top favorites of hers. I mean, it's way better than the Powerbook or Gut Symmetries, in my way less than humble opinion, but I honestly can't predict whether it'll stick like my favorites of hers. It's beautifully constructed, though, it's a great idea, it's sc More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 02, 2008
Zoe
rated it:
jeanette has been one of my all time favourite authors and has given me so much inspiration and joy in my life. her language is such a beautiful one. it's been a long time since i read any of her work. while i really enjoyed the book and the theme is a very timely and important one, this book didn't burrow into me like her other works from the past. well maybe the sci-fi side of things just didn't take with me. it was fresh... the move from historical to futuristic, but i didn't feel the charact
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 14, 2008
Jenny
rated it:
Winterson leaves me astounded. Her prose is simply fantastic - I am amazed at how she makes the simplest observations read like poetry, and what could be a very fatalistic narrative is instead deeply seeded with hope.
Early on in this book, I was thinking I would rate it four stars, since I felt that though truly engaging, and in her wonderful style, her book, "The Passion" was a superior work. I've changed my mind. This is as good as "The Passion". Wholly differe More...
Early on in this book, I was thinking I would rate it four stars, since I felt that though truly engaging, and in her wonderful style, her book, "The Passion" was a superior work. I've changed my mind. This is as good as "The Passion". Wholly differe More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Oct 30, 2011
Elf
rated it:
So, I’ve finished reading The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson, and my reactions are mixed, to say the least. My primary reaction was one of intense sadness: she really does believe that she’s braving new territory. She is completely unaware that she’s hacking through a jungle right next to a long, well-trodden road and the crew that’s building it is far, far ahead of her, and her course takes her away from the best conclusions. She’s off in a strange, dualistic universe in which robots come
More...
Aug 10, 2010
Leo
rated it:
I could easily give this book four stars if not for the third section. The book is made up of four separate stories or sections. The first is set in a futuristic and idyllic future world where humans continue to rape the world, but science is able to mask most of the inconveniences. The second is set in 18th century Easter Island, and basically makes the point that this raping of our planet is nothing new, and not a particularly "western" problem. The fourth section returns to the futu
More...
Jun 26, 2010
Margaret
rated it:
I learned that i do like Jeanette Winterson's writing. I have little tabs of paper sticking our marking almost a dozen pages.
"'The thing about life that drives me mad,' I said, 'is that is doesn't make sense. We make plans. We try to control, but the whole thing is random.
'This is a quantum universe, ' said Spike, 'neither random nor determined. It is potential at every second. All you can do is intervene.'"
"'One day, tens of millions of yea More...
"'The thing about life that drives me mad,' I said, 'is that is doesn't make sense. We make plans. We try to control, but the whole thing is random.
'This is a quantum universe, ' said Spike, 'neither random nor determined. It is potential at every second. All you can do is intervene.'"
"'One day, tens of millions of yea More...
Feb 28, 2010
Frederick
rated it:
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 th
More...
Sep 10, 2009
Gail
rated it:
"everything is imprinted forever with what it once was"
Billie Crusoe and a roque "Robo sapien" named Spike are sent to help settle Planet Blue before humans completely destroy their home planet. Through further human mismanagement this plan backfires and the two find themselves reliving a past life (lives) and similar human foibles.
I loved this book (and I don't like science fiction so I really wouldn't call it a science fiction book although I know t More...
Billie Crusoe and a roque "Robo sapien" named Spike are sent to help settle Planet Blue before humans completely destroy their home planet. Through further human mismanagement this plan backfires and the two find themselves reliving a past life (lives) and similar human foibles.
I loved this book (and I don't like science fiction so I really wouldn't call it a science fiction book although I know t More...
Jan 08, 2011
Sara
rated it:
This book was clearly written in Jeanette Winterson's voice, but it was speaking in a way that seemed foreign and distant. Missing was the honesty of Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, the poetry of The Passion, the richness of The Passion. This novel might be comparable to Gut Symmetries in the way it has bound science into its narrative, but it lacks the poetry of that story.
I was perplexed the entire time I read this novel. I could find hints of the sheer beauty in Winterson's voice and More...
I was perplexed the entire time I read this novel. I could find hints of the sheer beauty in Winterson's voice and More...
Jul 19, 2010
Juliet
rated it:
This is an amazing, heartbreakingly beautiful novel. Soewhere in the far past or the far future, Billie and Spike are leaving their world to explore a new planet, but will their people learn from their mistakes? The first signs indicate that they probably won't as the new planet is bombed to get rid of the giant lizards that live there so that it can be safe for the new settlers.
Action then moves to Easter Island where Billy has been abandoned to his fate, but will Spikkers be able More...
Action then moves to Easter Island where Billy has been abandoned to his fate, but will Spikkers be able More...
Nov 16, 2009
Adam
rated it:
I'm not really sure what to write. This is closer to 3.5 than 4 in my opinion, but it's not average so I have to give it the extra star.
Wonderful in that marvelously dystopian way. Though I disagree with some of the messages that Jeanette Winterson tries to convey. Maybe I'm too hopeful for her dystopia.
Or maybe I'm just a man which Winterson isn't very... fond of? I'm not sure that that is the best term, but others are slightly too harsh.
The novel chalks up a More...
Wonderful in that marvelously dystopian way. Though I disagree with some of the messages that Jeanette Winterson tries to convey. Maybe I'm too hopeful for her dystopia.
Or maybe I'm just a man which Winterson isn't very... fond of? I'm not sure that that is the best term, but others are slightly too harsh.
The novel chalks up a More...
Feb 14, 2009
Matthew
rated it: 
I really love Winterson's early work, but she has been fading in recent years and I found her latest book to be a huge disappointment. Billed as a sort of science-fiction story, it reads more like a cranky diatribe about various random aspects of the modern world. At times this involves meaningful subjects, like the human propensity for war and environmental destruction, but it also involves complaining that everyone writes on computers instead of notebooks and romanticizing an imagined pastoral
More...
Feb 05, 2009
Winterson is best known for challenging boundariesincluding those of gender and sexualityand here, her imaginative worlds, achingly human characters, biting dialogue, and urgent message won many critics over; the Dallas Morning News called the novel a "dynamic and brilliant work of experimental fiction." However, the characters' deep philosophical debates struck some critics as heavy-handed; some reviewers also found fault with the sappy scenes and the lengthy, and sometimes tediou
More...
Dec 12, 2011
Valley Cottage
rated it:
Jeanette Winterson is hands-down one of my favorite writers. Her prose is poetic and sensual. Her style is always experimental.
While still experimental, and very good, this book is rather different from her others. It is separated into 4 parts - the first and last being straight-up science fiction. The first part, in particular has a very different tone from her other novels, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't what I was expecting. It seemed that the language was more focused on cre More...
While still experimental, and very good, this book is rather different from her others. It is separated into 4 parts - the first and last being straight-up science fiction. The first part, in particular has a very different tone from her other novels, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't what I was expecting. It seemed that the language was more focused on cre More...
Aug 16, 2011
Suzanne
rated it:
This book has a lot of flaws--she's pretty heavy handed with the political satire/dystopia stuff and the novel's three part structure is a little too surreal/disjointed for me, but somehow I really enjoyed it anyway. People talk a lot in their comments about it being a sci-fi novel--to me, this isn't science fiction, it's our near future. I think she pretty brilliantly describes the logical consequences of where our current ecological/sociological collective choices are taking us. Sure, she exag
More...
Dec 12, 2011
Katie
rated it:
Jeanette Winterson is hands-down one of my favorite writers. Her prose is poetic and sensual. Her style is always experimental.
While still experimental, and very good, this book is rather different from her others. It is separated into 4 parts - the first and last being straight-up science fiction. The first part, in particular has a very different tone from her other novels, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't what I was expecting. It seemed that the language was more focused More...
While still experimental, and very good, this book is rather different from her others. It is separated into 4 parts - the first and last being straight-up science fiction. The first part, in particular has a very different tone from her other novels, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't what I was expecting. It seemed that the language was more focused More...
Sep 02, 2011
Victoria
rated it:
I tend to have issues with fiction, especially sci-fi, so I'm honestly surprised that I've made so much progress on this book. That being said, it was hard to get into the first 50 pages or so because it placed the reader into the future right away with no explanations. It's comforting and weird at the same time because explanation requires remembering what's going on but also distances me as a reader from the characters so I can judge them easier. Reading about a future where people have burned
More...
Aug 02, 2011
Vance
rated it:
The best way I could explain this book is to say that it is an exploration of where we have been and where we are going through the eyes for two lovers who exist in many times. It explores the oh so human pattern or putting our ideas above our humanity, and in some very new an novel ways also explores what it means to be human ( Winterson work is always exploring the human experience in the most delightful ways ). I've probably got that all wrong but that's ok. Superficially the narrative takes
More...
Oct 21, 2010
Emily
rated it:
Recently, my love for Jeanette Winterson's work had waned a bit. She seemed to be so esoteric - I just couldn't find my way in anymore. This book feels a lot more immediate and visceral again. It's still confusing sometimes, in the ways of her recent work but it has an extraordinary passion and feels very very relevant. It's part sci fi, part historical novel and part contemporary fiction - part distopia and part utopia. I found her alternate world, or future world, or whatever world it was to
More...
Dec 13, 2008
Michael
rated it:
how does she do it? can she make anything, any story line, into something beautiful and inspiring and mind-tingling and arousing? this is definitely still Jeanette Winterson and her gorgeous writing, just with a corny, off-the wall, sci-fi plot line... when you read the inside cover, you can't help but ask yourself "what the...?" or perhaps simply "whoa!?" a, galactic circle of life/ apocalyptic/ history repeating itself kind of thing paired of course with love and eroticism
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
