Gut Symmetries
Ratings8
Average rating3.1
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.1
The highwire artist of the English novel redraws the romantic triangle for the post-Einsteinian universe, where gender is as elastic as matter, and any accurate Grand Unified Theory (GUT) must encompass desire alongside electromagnetism and gravity. One starry night on a boat in the mid-Atlantic, Alice, a brilliant English theoretical physicist, begins an affair with Jove, her remorselessly seductive American counterpart. But Jove is married. When Alice confronts his wife, Stella, she swiftly falls in love with her, with consequences that are by turns horrifying, comic, and arousing. Vaulting from Liverpool to New York, from alchemy to string theory, and from the spirit to the flesh, Gut Symmetries is a thrillingly original novel by England's most flamboyantly gifted young writer. "Winterson is unmatched among contemporary writers in her ability to conjure up new-world wonder...A beautiful, stirring and brilliant story."--Times Literary Supplement "Dazzling for [its] intelligence and inventiveness...[Winterson] is possessed of a masterly command of the language and a truly pliant imagination."--Elle "One of our most brilliant, visionary storytellers."--San Francisco Chronicle
Reviews with the most likes.
“‘Look at me,' said Grandmother. Yes look at her. Spiny as a jujube tree, sweet as a julep, ju-jitsu-minded with a heart like a jubilee. Energy, work and heat in the joule-force of her. A wryneck jynx, sudden turn of the head. Woodpecker bird at the World Ash Tree.”
I'm hard-pressed to remember a time I read such distinctive prose. I didn't care much for the plot or the characters (which is generally, you know, quite an indictment of a novel) but the sheer oddness of the writing made it worthwhile.
Jeanette is a wondrously talented author, and it's always a pleasure to experience her prose.
Likely due to me not being the intended audience, I strongly disliked every single character. Their intentions, drive, and choices have a mix of fatuousness and injudiciousness I found unpalatable.
Really cool premise, disappointing plot direction. Weirdly for Winterson, unempowering in a feminist sense.
Books
7 booksIf you enjoyed this book, then our algorithm says you may also enjoy these.
