Point of View

Each of Winterson's stories—"Planet Blue," "Easter Island," "Post-3 War," and "Wreck City—are narrated in the first-person in the present tense by either Billie or Billy, depending on the story. Although each Billie/Billy lives in a different time—or in the case of "Planet Blue", a different planet—there are several important commonalities between them all: Billie/Billy is homosexual, countercultural, transgressive, and an astute observer of his or her time. Never narrating with a blind or naive eye, each Billie/Billy takes readers to a place of insight above the present, allowing readers to experience an intellectual voice in the midst of the dystopic settings that Winterson presents.

As the novel unfolds, readers soon realize that each protagonist is really the same character every time, just reincarnated in different situations. While some traits fade to the background and others loom to the...