Jeanette Winterson's most recent work is a worth while read on one level , for the story is engaging and entertaining , and on another level a book that will provoke thought in us all. The author examines ideas currently consuming all our thoughts in relation to human existence; this book is going to hit validation with many readers.
Although Science fictional, apocalyptic and weighted with metaphor, this work is somewhat basic and real in the questions it requires us to ponder - environment, nuclear bombs, politics, life choices, love. What kind of society at base level are we, and do we, live in? If we are all as egotistical and superficial as mass media tells us we are, we might be living, according to ?The Stone Gods' in a society where one can genetically freeze ourselves in appearance at whatever young age we choose to, one where robots choose our appearance: what we wear, what we do to our hair, where childlike is the ideal sex partner and age appearance.
At one point we are given the opportunity to ask ourselves what it is that is love and humanness as our main character Billie helps her robot lover dismantle herself, body part by body part, eventually becoming a talking head.
The talking head returns later in the book in other circumstances that can only remind us of the uses of another decapitated head in the movie 'Re-Animator' (1985) and possibly for some , answer the question for us about what is the essence of a relationship.
The fact that an early manuscript of 'The Stone Gods' had apparently been forgotten by an editor and found on the tube has given Jeanette Winterson a wonderful opportunity to play out her meta-fictional tendencies by including and expanding on this event in her book.
Readers may feel disassociated from the book as it progresses through other scenarios in different time zones examining human self destruction but the return in the end to the original characters, time, and place brings it all home for us relieving the reader from any continuity anxiety and we're left with the feeling of having been thoroughly entertained and engaged.
Five out of five
