What can I say? Winterson might be my favorite author now. This book is well crafted, and I'm a sucker for the British/English vibe. I've loved the Frankenstein story since I was a punk kid, and this compliments it so well.
An old tale- woven into a newer one
Winterson’s genius for leaving the reader never certain where she’s taking them is in full force here. I loved her imagining the Shelleys and their romantic impulses to produce pieces of literature. I was kept uneasy as a contemporary story developed, deftly sketched and amplified. Not a horror story, but an unsettling one.
Got this as a holiday gift for a colleague. Shared that: “This book is SO weird, in the best way. It's a retelling (?) of Frankenstein. Sort of. Half the book takes place from Mary Shelley's perspective as she writes Frankenstein in 1816, but we also have a POV character in 2022, a trans doctor named Ry Shelley who falls in love with Victor Stein, a scientist who is also an AI evangelist. It asks a bunch of really weird, morally complex, and thorny philosophical questions, but the one I really love, at the heart of the story, is "Am I the teller or the tale?"
M
marguerite
August 27, 2025
Very creative historical fiction and sci friction combined. This is unlike any Jeanette Winterson book before, and I have read them all. It goes back and forth in time with some characters existing in different forms in all of the stories. One of the lead characters is trans and the conversation around what that means and is, especially with scientific and computer advances. Fascinating and quick read.
J
Jim Stucker
October 31, 2019
Verified Purchase
A thought-provoking, very well written book.
Several months ago after watching the movie Mary Shelley I reread her Frankenstein book and the books of Yuval Noah Harari on the history and future of Homo sapiens. Then I came across this book and was delighted with it. Like the other authors she addresses two of the questions we humans eternally ask: Who are we, our good and our bad? and What do we want to become?
Seventy or so years ago Philip Wilie, a popular author of the time and one of the founders of The New Yorker, suggested that when organisms evolved from single to multiple cells they gave up eternal (or at least longer) life, but received sex in return. To keep us interested, I guess. One of the many questions that Ms Winterson poses is: Will we soon be willing to give up sex in return for eternal (or at least longer) life?
I certainly hope not.
