And a Note About Frankissstein

When Jeanette Winterson's latest novel, "Frankissstein," showed up in my mailbox I'll admit that I relegated it to the bottom of my huge reading pile doubting it would ever make it to the top ten. Lesson learned! Never judge a

book by its cover. This was one of the best surprise reads of the year - laugh out loud funny and deeply provocative. Winterson probably gave me more food for thought than any other author I read this year.

We hear the term "gender fluid" bandied about a lot lately but have we ever really pondered the ramifications of its meaning? In "Frankissstein" Winterson imagines a moment in time in the lives of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley and their friend Lord Byron as they drink away the long, dark, damp hours of a sojourn on Lake Geneva back in 1816. On a dare, Mary writes her now famous book "Frankenstein," but Winterson draws our attention to the sexist attitudes toward female writers and women in general, focusing on Mary's single motherhood and poverty after the death of her husband.

Fast forward to current/future times where a transgender scientist, Ry Shelley  falls in love with Dr. Victor Stein, an expert in artificial intelligence who's experimenting with cryogenics. Their affair engenders a fascinating exploration of sexual attraction, why we are drawn to certain people, and why it is often the mind of the love object that hypnotizes rather than just the shell. And if we are just shells, why then shouldn't our souls, our essence, be uploaded to databases for future use?

For comic relief we have Ron Lord, creator of a lucrative line of sex-bots, who becomes enamoured of a certain evangelical writer with friends in high places. She sees in Ron's creations a means to God's end - no more need for adultery, no more sexually transmitted disease. Think about it! Is it really cheating if you're with a bot?

Winterson has written, as I said for LJ, a brave, bawdy book, outrageously original yet sentimental too. If you've ever questioned the nature of desire, the complexity of relationships, or the fragile boundary between male and female sensibility, then take a chance on "Frankissstein." You won't be disappointed.