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A review by maiathemagical
The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Winterson's writing is beautiful, she really does have a way with words which makes her writing enjoyable to read, but at the end of the day this book feels poorly thought-out.
There are many interesting themes, but it feels like the author has just chucked them all into a blender without much careful thought about how they link together and develop throughout the play. Other ideas just felt like they shouldn't have been present at all - a character in the book picking up a copy of the book felt like an entirely pointless self-reference that added nothing to the story or themes.
Things that felt interesting, whether characters or themes, were not given enough time to develop, with stories being cut off by the next section of the book seemingly at the worst moments (aside from the Easter Island section, which truly could not end fast enough).
The book's main theme is humanity's tendency to repeat its past mistakes, and that "corporations bad". It feels half-baked, and at the end of the book I felt robbed of the novel I could have read, the novel that I fully believe Winterson could have written, that could have nailed its core themes, developed characters and ideas more, and tied it all together beautifully in a slightly more thought-out cyclical narrative that reinforced its core themes, as Winterson tried and failed to do.
There are many interesting themes, but it feels like the author has just chucked them all into a blender without much careful thought about how they link together and develop throughout the play. Other ideas just felt like they shouldn't have been present at all - a character in the book picking up a copy of the book felt like an entirely pointless self-reference that added nothing to the story or themes.
Things that felt interesting, whether characters or themes, were not given enough time to develop, with stories being cut off by the next section of the book seemingly at the worst moments (aside from the Easter Island section, which truly could not end fast enough).
The book's main theme is humanity's tendency to repeat its past mistakes, and that "corporations bad". It feels half-baked, and at the end of the book I felt robbed of the novel I could have read, the novel that I fully believe Winterson could have written, that could have nailed its core themes, developed characters and ideas more, and tied it all together beautifully in a slightly more thought-out cyclical narrative that reinforced its core themes, as Winterson tried and failed to do.