Victoria's bookshelf: social-commentary (showing 1-3 of 3) (sorted by: date added) (cover view)

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position

cover

title

The Stone Gods

author

Winterson, Jeanette

isbn

0151014914

isbn13

9780151014910

asin

num pages

224 pp

avg rating

3.64

num ratings

1,706

date pub

Jan 01, 2007

date pub edition

Apr 01, 2008

Victoria's rating

4 of 5 stars

my rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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review

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...more 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 out the Earth's resources and are considering colonizing a new planet to resume the status quo was almost too close to home. And that's totally the point, which is why I admire Jeanette Winterson for writing this book.

She does an excellent job of providing social commentary throughout the text on issues from terrorism to an obsession with youth that borders on pedophilia to nuclear war. She ponders what a world without resources (even money) can be and goes the extra mile of comparing it to other time periods in the past. Isn't conquering a new planet similar to British explorers "discovering" Polynesia? She goes there.

On top of that, she incorporates literary elements into a genre that tends to be more action-based. There isn't much action in this book and I appreciate that. It's less about the world ending or restarting as it were, and more about observing people struggling with a changing world. There's a great sense of repetition throughout the novel. Certain phrases are highlighted and mentioned over and over or the same sentiment is repeated but the phrases change or the language becomes more antiquated. Characters from different time periods share similar experiences and names to emphasize how closely linked these situations are.

While it might have been a little out there for me at times (not from a realist standpoint but from a what am I reading standpoint), this book was definitely a challenging one to read. That's wholly intentional. Maybe that's why there's a bisexual robot? To ease the discomfort of looking privatization and paranoid governments in the face? Maybe to remind us that there are no easy answers.(less)

notes

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# times read

1

date started

Aug 12, 2011

date read

Sep 02, 2011

date added

Aug 12, 2011

date purchased

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format

Hardcover

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Victoria > Books: social-commentary (3) ×

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