The Stone Gods (novel)


The Stone Gods is a 2007 novel by Jeanette Winterson. It is mainly a post apocalyptic love story concerned with corporate control of government, the harshness of war, and the dehumanization that technology brings, among other themes. The novel is self-referential, where later characters in the story find and read earlier sections of the book itself, and where certain sets of characters’ story arcs repeat, particularly those of a Robo sapiens named Spike and her reluctant human companion, Billie. This technique sets the book in the postmodernist genre, though it is mainly used to warn against history’s tendency to repeat itself, as well as humanity’s inability to learn from past mistakes, even when these mistakes repeat across history, planets, and their respective evolutionary timelines.
Ursula Le Guin, while criticizing exposition and sentimentality, thought the novel a worthwhile and cautionary tale.
Andrew Milner, a literary critic and author of Science Fiction and Climate Change, notes that this book is an early example of 'doomer' climate fiction.

A novel in four parts