For this book, I'm going to have to talk as Hannah, not as Spectrum, simply because it is my favorite book ever written (that I've read so far, although it would be quite hard to surpass it). Jeanette Winterson is such a fantastic author that I would really recommend any book she's written, particularly Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and The Passion.
In the start of the novel, we are introduced to Billy Crusoe (a woman, by the way) and a robot, Spike, who has actually evolved and developed emotions. Spike (also a female) is about to be deprogrammed, or essentially erased. Billy and a few others accompany a mission to see Planet Blue, a possible replacement for Orbus, their dying world. On the way over, Billy and Spike fall in love, which might be the end of many books, but not of this one.
Winterson's style is fluid, mosaic and lyrical. Thus, the story continues in different time periods where the characters, though essentially possessing the same personalities, live under different identities and names. They start over each time, not because Winterson has created a sort of samsara where life is a infinite game, but because the force of their love transcends time and identity.
Reading this book was, for me, like being immersed in a strange sort of pool. It took me several minutes to regain my bearings and catch my breath after I finished.
How does this relate to LGBT issues? Well, for one, Billy and Spike are (originally) both female, though the sex of the characters changed once or twice throughout the novel. The overpowering message, besides a rather forceful environmental warning which I have not discussed here, is that love exists regardless of sex, physicality or even time. Winterson herself is gay, so she might be speaking from personal experience. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit was her first novel, and is perhaps still the most well known, and it directly covers the challenges faced by a young woman discovering her sexuality in a religious family. I chose The Stone Gods simply because I prefer it to Oranges, and also because I read it first. However, both are wonderful books.
I am now reverting to Spectrum.
Have a wonderful week!
CCHS Spectrum
