Please read this book!, 31 Oct 2008
Woman on the Edge of Time
Please do read this book, I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it so much. I read this book about 10 years ago and it still stays with me because it's so well written and really different. This is a stay up all night read. I hope you love it as much as I did, and I know you'll want Connie to win through. x

Speculative politics and patriarchy, 12 Aug 2008
An important (if flawed) example of feminist SF, Women On The Edge Of Time escapes that old cliche that nothing dates so quickly as visions of the future, which really speak only to the time of their imagining. But this might have more to do with the persistence (or resurgence) of the patriarchy which it critiques than with any quality of the book itself. The alternation between worlds is nicely imagined and thankfully free from a certain kind of technical obsession that we think of as 'masculinist'. The future citizens manage to take on a life of their own but lack the contradictions that make a work like LeGuin's The Dispossessed superior in so many ways. The language is itself a little pedestrian and reads a little too much like a morality tale - despite her incarceration in a mental institution and her outbreaks of violence and drug-taking, Connie is not quite complicated (or multivalent) enough to break cover into believable autonomy. Many of Piercy's central concerns, and more than a few features of her utopian future, are reminiscent of Joanna Russ's The Female Man. That is a much better place to go for the pleasures of feminist speculative fictions. Nevertheless, this has something going for it, even if that says more about politics and patriarchy than about literature.

A 1970s vision of the future still fresh and relevant today, 15 Mar 2008
When I started reading Woman on the Edge of Time, I had forgotten that it was supposed to be sci-fi and I was really rather disappointed to be reading about the depressing plight of a socially and economically disadvantage woman caught in an insane asylum, seemingly innocent (at least this time). As Luciente started appearing and slowly coaxed her into her future world, however, I became much more interested.

Initially, the future world that Marge Piercy paints is at odds with our - and indeed Connie's - vision of the future. Instead of gleaming towers and hovercars, Luciente and her "mems" live in squat mud huts and seem to be farmers, "peasants" in Connie's disappointed words. Nevertheless, I'd contend that this future world is not wholly original, especially when considering that this novel was written in 1976. At the time, there were many who considered an agrarian, communal life with ultimate respect for the individual utopia.

Into this utopia enters the world of the "multies" - those who have not adopted the idyllic peacefulness of communities like Mattapoisett. For sure (or "fasure" as Luciente would say), this heavily contrasted world is an extrapolation of the readers' own and a warning of what we may become if we don't change our ways and become a little bit more like Luciente and her "sweetfriends".

While these thoughts are typical of the 1970s, they are not entirely unmodern and, throughout the book, I never felt as if I was reading a book as old as I am! Connie's present and Luciente's future seem equally fresh and relevant in today's world. For example, mobile phones and the internet aren't noticeably absent (and in the future the "kenner" is like portable, talking Wikipedia).

The only lingering doubt that the book leaves me with is this: is the future experienced by Connie real or is it all a figment of her, clinically diagnosed schizophrenia?



An Important Historical Feminist Vision of the Future. , 15 Jan 2008
While, yes, certainly Piercy's work is dated, its theories of a feminist utopia are firmly set in the perhaps more `idealistic' 70's, this is still by no means a worthless read. In fact there is much to celebrate in her feminist, cum social critique, cum science fiction drama. The story of Connie's abuse at the hands of a pimp, the state and the resultant removal of her daughter, Angelina, into care creates an insight into a world of forced hysterectomies, unequal sexual relationships and discrimination of the poor and ethnic minorities. These are issues still affecting many women in American (where the book is set) and the rest of the world, today, and are therefore still relevant and worthy of analysis. Connie's resultant decent into so called `insanity' forces the reader to question just how mad Connie really is. Is she deserving of a lobotomy that will ultimately erase her memory and her ability to do what she believes is time travel into the future, or is the state interrupting and enforcing control over what they classify as a `dissident', a `rebel'? For insight into the plight of the poor and the often despicable treatment of the mentally ill this book stands alone as an extremely important late 20th century novel, up there with `The Bell Jar', `Girl, Interrupted' and `Prozac Nation.' The sub-plot, set in the future world of a so-called feminist `utopia' equally calls the reader to question just how utopian and improved the conditions really are. Certainly in comparison to Connie's existence in a sexist, discriminatory America were gender and class are definers of social standing, the future Connie finds herself exploring offers many improvements. Ultimately however, in a society today, were we are so forcefully defined by gender and sexuality (and not always in a belittling or derogatory manner - why shouldn't women after all celebrate what they believe is their innate womanliness - what ever that may be?), Piercy's utopia will certainly be found to be wanting by many of its readers. The sexless society she creates has its pros and its cons. It forces the inhabitants to define one another as human beings rather than as men and women. The birthing machine certainly frees women from the pains of childbirth, but ultimately robs them of the sometimes innate desire to bear children in a similar way to Connie's forced hysterectomy. Furthermore for want of a better expression the `free-love' community of the utopian future is problematic. In the 70's this concept represented to some the possibility of freedom from so-called `Compulsory Heterosexuality' i.e. man and wife partnerships, thus allowing women more sexual freedom and opportunities to explore their sexualities. However in practice these concepts are proved to not be without their flaws, as they are certainly no barrier to falling in love with someone who ultimately one cannot have a life long relationship with in a community where everyone belongs to everyone else. The guide Luciente painfully expresses this to Connie on one of her latter visits. Not without its flaws, but perhaps more thought provoking for them, Marge Piercy's novel will not leave you untouched, or unshaken, and there is much to think about in her richly dense analysis of society, feminism, gender, mental illness and technology.





What Might Be: A Worthwhile Fantasy in Time, 25 Jul 2007
I am a great fan of Marge Piercy's poetry - her skill at using simple and everyday language to capture everyday scenes and sensibilities in the inner and outer lives of strong women, and to shine upon them a sublime literary light - and so it was not difficult to convince me to break out of my usual reading, decidedly not science fiction, to spend time with this "time-traveling novel." That play on words, mind you, is quite intentional. I soon sensed, within the first pages, that this is the kind of story plotline (and the writing skill to make it succeed convincingly) that traverses time and retains meaning and interest, no matter the year. Some things change, some things never do.

Being familiar with Piercy's poetry and something of her own biography, I expected a feminist approach to the plot. Indeed, it was there, and this is why I was soon confident in my enjoyment of the novel, even if it did veer from my more typical reading choices. Whatever the genre, I like to read about strong and unique women. "Woman on the Edge of Time" has plenty, in the now and in the to be.

Consuelo (Connie) in the 1970s lives a life of poverty and abuse, when domestic violence is as common as air, and women survive all too often by selling themselves out as objectified beings, bodies without minds, without souls. A pimp beats up "his" women to maintain order, in this case, to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, and a scene of violence ensues, in which Connie is made the villain rather than the victim. She can say nothing to prevent herself from being institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital, called mad, whereas the male's voice, that of the pimp's, holds unquestioned weight. He has her out of his way to create more victims.

I couldn't help but draw parallels here with another literary classic, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, and even some undertones of Margaret Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale," but Piercy succeeds in making this story her own. Connie strives to maintain her sanity by traveling in time to another life in 2137, assisted by future person (Piercy uses "per" as pronoun, thus avoiding gender designation of she or he in this future), Luciente, a kind of almost andrygenous being. In that future, she explores a life much more pleasing, if not utopian, and in series of trips, explores this future world in its treatment of relationships, the interchange of genders and generations, the workings of community and government, the balance between work and play, spiritual evolvement, and even the occasional war. For it is not utopia, but a constant work in progress, however more evolved than our current day, with humankind in an ongoing mode of self-improvement.

No less fascinating is a shorter description of a darker parallel of life in the future, when Connie misses her usual destination and lands instead in a future that could just as easily, one fears, evolve from our current time. In this future, women are even more objectified than they are today, creatures resembling comic book and Barbie doll fantasy proportions, created by plastic surgery, produced specifically and only for the erotic pleasures of men, becoming sexual slaves. Mind reading allows for no privacy, no chance of escape. A woman might only think of the possibility of escape, and already she is reined in and punished. It is a world of callousness and cruelty, domination of gender over gender, power and greed ruling all, happiness for none.

In the hospital, woven through the story, Connie struggles for her sanity, as the doctors in power rule out any possibility of what they cannot understand, puzzled by her episodes of "unconsciousness," and many in the ward are forced to undergo brain-altering surgery. Connie, too, undergoes repeated surgeries. Her attempts at escape, sometimes in mind but sometimes also in body, can be heartrending, as she comes so close, so close...

This is a story worth reading, if not for intriguing storyline, than as a philosophical treatise on what could be, what might be, what a future for humankind might hold if we approach it with understanding. Whether Connie truly travels in time or only in fantasy is perhaps least important of all. Those who pick it up as science fiction fans might be disappointed if seeking high tech descriptions and complex alien worlds; this is not Piercy's intent. She is far more interested in exploring the evolvement of humankind if all are allowed to pursue their best, towards a world of harmony and a caring community that works on all practical levels.

While I still prefer Piercy's poetry to this sampling of her prose (my first, but probably not my last), her skill and imagination to produce worlds that intrigue as well as enlighten is worthwhile reading.

Please read this book!, 31 Oct 2008
Woman on the Edge of Time
Please do read this book, I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it so much. I read this book about 10 years ago and it still stays with me because it's so well written and really different. This is a stay up all night read. I hope you love it as much as I did, and I know you'll want Connie to win through. x

Speculative politics and patriarchy, 12 Aug 2008
An important (if flawed) example of feminist SF, Women On The Edge Of Time escapes that old cliche that nothing dates so quickly as visions of the future, which really speak only to the time of their imagining. But this might have more to do with the persistence (or resurgence) of the patriarchy which it critiques than with any quality of the book itself. The alternation between worlds is nicely imagined and thankfully free from a certain kind of technical obsession that we think of as 'masculinist'. The future citizens manage to take on a life of their own but lack the contradictions that make a work like LeGuin's The Dispossessed superior in so many ways. The language is itself a little pedestrian and reads a little too much like a morality tale - despite her incarceration in a mental institution and her outbreaks of violence and drug-taking, Connie is not quite complicated (or multivalent) enough to break cover into believable autonomy. Many of Piercy's central concerns, and more than a few features of her utopian future, are reminiscent of Joanna Russ's The Female Man. That is a much better place to go for the pleasures of feminist speculative fictions. Nevertheless, this has something going for it, even if that says more about politics and patriarchy than about literature.

A 1970s vision of the future still fresh and relevant today, 15 Mar 2008
When I started reading Woman on the Edge of Time, I had forgotten that it was supposed to be sci-fi and I was really rather disappointed to be reading about the depressing plight of a socially and economically disadvantage woman caught in an insane asylum, seemingly innocent (at least this time). As Luciente started appearing and slowly coaxed her into her future world, however, I became much more interested.

Initially, the future world that Marge Piercy paints is at odds with our - and indeed Connie's - vision of the future. Instead of gleaming towers and hovercars, Luciente and her "mems" live in squat mud huts and seem to be farmers, "peasants" in Connie's disappointed words. Nevertheless, I'd contend that this future world is not wholly original, especially when considering that this novel was written in 1976. At the time, there were many who considered an agrarian, communal life with ultimate respect for the individual utopia.

Into this utopia enters the world of the "multies" - those who have not adopted the idyllic peacefulness of communities like Mattapoisett. For sure (or "fasure" as Luciente would say), this heavily contrasted world is an extrapolation of the readers' own and a warning of what we may become if we don't change our ways and become a little bit more like Luciente and her "sweetfriends".

While these thoughts are typical of the 1970s, they are not entirely unmodern and, throughout the book, I never felt as if I was reading a book as old as I am! Connie's present and Luciente's future seem equally fresh and relevant in today's world. For example, mobile phones and the internet aren't noticeably absent (and in the future the "kenner" is like portable, talking Wikipedia).

The only lingering doubt that the book leaves me with is this: is the future experienced by Connie real or is it all a figment of her, clinically diagnosed schizophrenia?



An Important Historical Feminist Vision of the Future. , 15 Jan 2008
While, yes, certainly Piercy's work is dated, its theories of a feminist utopia are firmly set in the perhaps more `idealistic' 70's, this is still by no means a worthless read. In fact there is much to celebrate in her feminist, cum social critique, cum science fiction drama. The story of Connie's abuse at the hands of a pimp, the state and the resultant removal of her daughter, Angelina, into care creates an insight into a world of forced hysterectomies, unequal sexual relationships and discrimination of the poor and ethnic minorities. These are issues still affecting many women in American (where the book is set) and the rest of the world, today, and are therefore still relevant and worthy of analysis. Connie's resultant decent into so called `insanity' forces the reader to question just how mad Connie really is. Is she deserving of a lobotomy that will ultimately erase her memory and her ability to do what she believes is time travel into the future, or is the state interrupting and enforcing control over what they classify as a `dissident', a `rebel'? For insight into the plight of the poor and the often despicable treatment of the mentally ill this book stands alone as an extremely important late 20th century novel, up there with `The Bell Jar', `Girl, Interrupted' and `Prozac Nation.' The sub-plot, set in the future world of a so-called feminist `utopia' equally calls the reader to question just how utopian and improved the conditions really are. Certainly in comparison to Connie's existence in a sexist, discriminatory America were gender and class are definers of social standing, the future Connie finds herself exploring offers many improvements. Ultimately however, in a society today, were we are so forcefully defined by gender and sexuality (and not always in a belittling or derogatory manner - why shouldn't women after all celebrate what they believe is their innate womanliness - what ever that may be?), Piercy's utopia will certainly be found to be wanting by many of its readers. The sexless society she creates has its pros and its cons. It forces the inhabitants to define one another as human beings rather than as men and women. The birthing machine certainly frees women from the pains of childbirth, but ultimately robs them of the sometimes innate desire to bear children in a similar way to Connie's forced hysterectomy. Furthermore for want of a better expression the `free-love' community of the utopian future is problematic. In the 70's this concept represented to some the possibility of freedom from so-called `Compulsory Heterosexuality' i.e. man and wife partnerships, thus allowing women more sexual freedom and opportunities to explore their sexualities. However in practice these concepts are proved to not be without their flaws, as they are certainly no barrier to falling in love with someone who ultimately one cannot have a life long relationship with in a community where everyone belongs to everyone else. The guide Luciente painfully expresses this to Connie on one of her latter visits. Not without its flaws, but perhaps more thought provoking for them, Marge Piercy's novel will not leave you untouched, or unshaken, and there is much to think about in her richly dense analysis of society, feminism, gender, mental illness and technology.





What Might Be: A Worthwhile Fantasy in Time, 25 Jul 2007
I am a great fan of Marge Piercy's poetry - her skill at using simple and everyday language to capture everyday scenes and sensibilities in the inner and outer lives of strong women, and to shine upon them a sublime literary light - and so it was not difficult to convince me to break out of my usual reading, decidedly not science fiction, to spend time with this "time-traveling novel." That play on words, mind you, is quite intentional. I soon sensed, within the first pages, that this is the kind of story plotline (and the writing skill to make it succeed convincingly) that traverses time and retains meaning and interest, no matter the year. Some things change, some things never do.

Being familiar with Piercy's poetry and something of her own biography, I expected a feminist approach to the plot. Indeed, it was there, and this is why I was soon confident in my enjoyment of the novel, even if it did veer from my more typical reading choices. Whatever the genre, I like to read about strong and unique women. "Woman on the Edge of Time" has plenty, in the now and in the to be.

Consuelo (Connie) in the 1970s lives a life of poverty and abuse, when domestic violence is as common as air, and women survive all too often by selling themselves out as objectified beings, bodies without minds, without souls. A pimp beats up "his" women to maintain order, in this case, to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, and a scene of violence ensues, in which Connie is made the villain rather than the victim. She can say nothing to prevent herself from being institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital, called mad, whereas the male's voice, that of the pimp's, holds unquestioned weight. He has her out of his way to create more victims.

I couldn't help but draw parallels here with another literary classic, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, and even some undertones of Margaret Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale," but Piercy succeeds in making this story her own. Connie strives to maintain her sanity by traveling in time to another life in 2137, assisted by future person (Piercy uses "per" as pronoun, thus avoiding gender designation of she or he in this future), Luciente, a kind of almost andrygenous being. In that future, she explores a life much more pleasing, if not utopian, and in series of trips, explores this future world in its treatment of relationships, the interchange of genders and generations, the workings of community and government, the balance between work and play, spiritual evolvement, and even the occasional war. For it is not utopia, but a constant work in progress, however more evolved than our current day, with humankind in an ongoing mode of self-improvement.

No less fascinating is a shorter description of a darker parallel of life in the future, when Connie misses her usual destination and lands instead in a future that could just as easily, one fears, evolve from our current time. In this future, women are even more objectified than they are today, creatures resembling comic book and Barbie doll fantasy proportions, created by plastic surgery, produced specifically and only for the erotic pleasures of men, becoming sexual slaves. Mind reading allows for no privacy, no chance of escape. A woman might only think of the possibility of escape, and already she is reined in and punished. It is a world of callousness and cruelty, domination of gender over gender, power and greed ruling all, happiness for none.

In the hospital, woven through the story, Connie struggles for her sanity, as the doctors in power rule out any possibility of what they cannot understand, puzzled by her episodes of "unconsciousness," and many in the ward are forced to undergo brain-altering surgery. Connie, too, undergoes repeated surgeries. Her attempts at escape, sometimes in mind but sometimes also in body, can be heartrending, as she comes so close, so close...

This is a story worth reading, if not for intriguing storyline, than as a philosophical treatise on what could be, what might be, what a future for humankind might hold if we approach it with understanding. Whether Connie truly travels in time or only in fantasy is perhaps least important of all. Those who pick it up as science fiction fans might be disappointed if seeking high tech descriptions and complex alien worlds; this is not Piercy's intent. She is far more interested in exploring the evolvement of humankind if all are allowed to pursue their best, towards a world of harmony and a caring community that works on all practical levels.

While I still prefer Piercy's poetry to this sampling of her prose (my first, but probably not my last), her skill and imagination to produce worlds that intrigue as well as enlighten is worthwhile reading.

A big fan somewhat confused!!, 16 Nov 2003
I read this book years ago and at that time it was called Body Of Glass!! It has remained one of my favourite books of all time using history and robotics to examine the question what is human it provides an original twist on one of SF's big themes.

Want to know the future? Sci-Fi authors tell us about it! by Rocio A. Chongtay, 31 Mar 2000
I have recently read "He, She and It", Marge has probably heard comments like this before, reading her book was not only a great pleasure but also a strange feeling of seeing many things of my life printed from somebody's imagination! , the similarities are quite amazing.

I've studied Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh as her character Shira, I've also faced a lot of difficulties on being acknowledged and allowed to apply my AI knowledge combined with the every day struggle of working in a male dominated environment. And similar to the Y-S multis, currently I work in a multinational company.

Shira represents my old dreams about self development, love, family and motherhood. Both Shira and Chava face the cost and troubles of wanting to have all that combined. Malkah, my biggest heroine, is a fascinating character that represents my current ambitions and feelings, as an independent individual with the mental freedom of choosing paths in life, and a self esteem that allows us to enjoy pleasure in all expressions bringing the best of us to the surface.

As a Science Fiction fan this is one of the best books I've read, I've worked with robots only during my education, Yod, is still a constantly developing AI dream-project but there are already other type of cyborgs facing many aspects of this complex character, e.g. identity and the ethics about control that can be applied in all types of relationships.

There are many elements described in the book that became a more solid reality soon after it was published, nowadays we can feel the power of telecommunications, information and advanced technologies making a constant impact in our every day lives. Marge Peircy's work and imagination give us a taste of how technology impacts social phenomena trends to a level that bring us to analyse our deepest thoughts and feelings.

Shall we create life to serve ourselves?-a woman's debate, 15 May 1999
I read Chapter 3 and was hooked("Malkah Tells Yod a Bedtime Story" - pure poetry)! I felt right at home. Rarely have I read a science fiction novel which explores inner life so well. Nor one which so successfully analyzes its moral issues from the intelligent woman's point of view. One is reminded of Golda Meir, holding informal cabinet meetings in her kitchen while making chicken soup. The book examines the high-tech net as a tool for a simple low-tech ethnic collective which can exist on its own apart from impersonal futurist worlds nearby seeking to invade. The characters debate the destiny of their advanced, powerful protective robot. One of the robot's creators is a (high-tech) grandmother who tells the robot the Yiddish fable of a Golem who was created to protect the Jews of Prague from pogroms in 1600. We keep returning to the fable - it creates just the intuitive symbolism we need to explore the novel's ethical concepts without losing track of the action. The book unfolds as a mystery, a love story, a question - I found myself reading to answer the unexplained, enjoying the beautifully crafted journey, and staying up all night to do so.

Highly Recommended, 10 May 1999
This is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever had. I enjoyed it so much that I feel to share with others. This novel has many interesting characters. This novel is about a mothers love for her beloved son and Yod who is a cyborg and also Golems tale. This novel at the end flashes light on Shira, about her love lost and found.

Complex, rich, thoughtful and thought-provoking., 26 Dec 1998
This is #1 on my all-time SF list. Piercy examines in minute detail the question of what a "perfect" artificial man might really be like, working mostly from the viewpoint of his lover. A deeply insightful book with excellent characterization and an all-too-believable, if somewhat depressing, picture of future society. While I am primarily an SF fan, I was so impressed with this that I have delved into a number of Piercy's other books, many of which are not SF. "Gone for Soldiers" is also highly satisfying and readable (and of course, her other SF novel, "Woman on the Edge of Time"). It's wonderful to have a writer of Piercy's talent using SF as a medium.

Please read this book!, 31 Oct 2008
Woman on the Edge of Time
Please do read this book, I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it so much. I read this book about 10 years ago and it still stays with me because it's so well written and really different. This is a stay up all night read. I hope you love it as much as I did, and I know you'll want Connie to win through. x

Speculative politics and patriarchy, 12 Aug 2008
An important (if flawed) example of feminist SF, Women On The Edge Of Time escapes that old cliche that nothing dates so quickly as visions of the future, which really speak only to the time of their imagining. But this might have more to do with the persistence (or resurgence) of the patriarchy which it critiques than with any quality of the book itself. The alternation between worlds is nicely imagined and thankfully free from a certain kind of technical obsession that we think of as 'masculinist'. The future citizens manage to take on a life of their own but lack the contradictions that make a work like LeGuin's The Dispossessed superior in so many ways. The language is itself a little pedestrian and reads a little too much like a morality tale - despite her incarceration in a mental institution and her outbreaks of violence and drug-taking, Connie is not quite complicated (or multivalent) enough to break cover into believable autonomy. Many of Piercy's central concerns, and more than a few features of her utopian future, are reminiscent of Joanna Russ's The Female Man. That is a much better place to go for the pleasures of feminist speculative fictions. Nevertheless, this has something going for it, even if that says more about politics and patriarchy than about literature.

A 1970s vision of the future still fresh and relevant today, 15 Mar 2008
When I started reading Woman on the Edge of Time, I had forgotten that it was supposed to be sci-fi and I was really rather disappointed to be reading about the depressing plight of a socially and economically disadvantage woman caught in an insane asylum, seemingly innocent (at least this time). As Luciente started appearing and slowly coaxed her into her future world, however, I became much more interested.

Initially, the future world that Marge Piercy paints is at odds with our - and indeed Connie's - vision of the future. Instead of gleaming towers and hovercars, Luciente and her "mems" live in squat mud huts and seem to be farmers, "peasants" in Connie's disappointed words. Nevertheless, I'd contend that this future world is not wholly original, especially when considering that this novel was written in 1976. At the time, there were many who considered an agrarian, communal life with ultimate respect for the individual utopia.

Into this utopia enters the world of the "multies" - those who have not adopted the idyllic peacefulness of communities like Mattapoisett. For sure (or "fasure" as Luciente would say), this heavily contrasted world is an extrapolation of the readers' own and a warning of what we may become if we don't change our ways and become a little bit more like Luciente and her "sweetfriends".

While these thoughts are typical of the 1970s, they are not entirely unmodern and, throughout the book, I never felt as if I was reading a book as old as I am! Connie's present and Luciente's future seem equally fresh and relevant in today's world. For example, mobile phones and the internet aren't noticeably absent (and in the future the "kenner" is like portable, talking Wikipedia).

The only lingering doubt that the book leaves me with is this: is the future experienced by Connie real or is it all a figment of her, clinically diagnosed schizophrenia?



An Important Historical Feminist Vision of the Future. , 15 Jan 2008
While, yes, certainly Piercy's work is dated, its theories of a feminist utopia are firmly set in the perhaps more `idealistic' 70's, this is still by no means a worthless read. In fact there is much to celebrate in her feminist, cum social critique, cum science fiction drama. The story of Connie's abuse at the hands of a pimp, the state and the resultant removal of her daughter, Angelina, into care creates an insight into a world of forced hysterectomies, unequal sexual relationships and discrimination of the poor and ethnic minorities. These are issues still affecting many women in American (where the book is set) and the rest of the world, today, and are therefore still relevant and worthy of analysis. Connie's resultant decent into so called `insanity' forces the reader to question just how mad Connie really is. Is she deserving of a lobotomy that will ultimately erase her memory and her ability to do what she believes is time travel into the future, or is the state interrupting and enforcing control over what they classify as a `dissident', a `rebel'? For insight into the plight of the poor and the often despicable treatment of the mentally ill this book stands alone as an extremely important late 20th century novel, up there with `The Bell Jar', `Girl, Interrupted' and `Prozac Nation.' The sub-plot, set in the future world of a so-called feminist `utopia' equally calls the reader to question just how utopian and improved the conditions really are. Certainly in comparison to Connie's existence in a sexist, discriminatory America were gender and class are definers of social standing, the future Connie finds herself exploring offers many improvements. Ultimately however, in a society today, were we are so forcefully defined by gender and sexuality (and not always in a belittling or derogatory manner - why shouldn't women after all celebrate what they believe is their innate womanliness - what ever that may be?), Piercy's utopia will certainly be found to be wanting by many of its readers. The sexless society she creates has its pros and its cons. It forces the inhabitants to define one another as human beings rather than as men and women. The birthing machine certainly frees women from the pains of childbirth, but ultimately robs them of the sometimes innate desire to bear children in a similar way to Connie's forced hysterectomy. Furthermore for want of a better expression the `free-love' community of the utopian future is problematic. In the 70's this concept represented to some the possibility of freedom from so-called `Compulsory Heterosexuality' i.e. man and wife partnerships, thus allowing women more sexual freedom and opportunities to explore their sexualities. However in practice these concepts are proved to not be without their flaws, as they are certainly no barrier to falling in love with someone who ultimately one cannot have a life long relationship with in a community where everyone belongs to everyone else. The guide Luciente painfully expresses this to Connie on one of her latter visits. Not without its flaws, but perhaps more thought provoking for them, Marge Piercy's novel will not leave you untouched, or unshaken, and there is much to think about in her richly dense analysis of society, feminism, gender, mental illness and technology.





What Might Be: A Worthwhile Fantasy in Time, 25 Jul 2007
I am a great fan of Marge Piercy's poetry - her skill at using simple and everyday language to capture everyday scenes and sensibilities in the inner and outer lives of strong women, and to shine upon them a sublime literary light - and so it was not difficult to convince me to break out of my usual reading, decidedly not science fiction, to spend time with this "time-traveling novel." That play on words, mind you, is quite intentional. I soon sensed, within the first pages, that this is the kind of story plotline (and the writing skill to make it succeed convincingly) that traverses time and retains meaning and interest, no matter the year. Some things change, some things never do.

Being familiar with Piercy's poetry and something of her own biography, I expected a feminist approach to the plot. Indeed, it was there, and this is why I was soon confident in my enjoyment of the novel, even if it did veer from my more typical reading choices. Whatever the genre, I like to read about strong and unique women. "Woman on the Edge of Time" has plenty, in the now and in the to be.

Consuelo (Connie) in the 1970s lives a life of poverty and abuse, when domestic violence is as common as air, and women survive all too often by selling themselves out as objectified beings, bodies without minds, without souls. A pimp beats up "his" women to maintain order, in this case, to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, and a scene of violence ensues, in which Connie is made the villain rather than the victim. She can say nothing to prevent herself from being institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital, called mad, whereas the male's voice, that of the pimp's, holds unquestioned weight. He has her out of his way to create more victims.

I couldn't help but draw parallels here with another literary classic, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, and even some undertones of Margaret Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale," but Piercy succeeds in making this story her own. Connie strives to maintain her sanity by traveling in time to another life in 2137, assisted by future person (Piercy uses "per" as pronoun, thus avoiding gender designation of she or he in this future), Luciente, a kind of almost andrygenous being. In that future, she explores a life much more pleasing, if not utopian, and in series of trips, explores this future world in its treatment of relationships, the interchange of genders and generations, the workings of community and government, the balance between work and play, spiritual evolvement, and even the occasional war. For it is not utopia, but a constant work in progress, however more evolved than our current day, with humankind in an ongoing mode of self-improvement.

No less fascinating is a shorter description of a darker parallel of life in the future, when Connie misses her usual destination and lands instead in a future that could just as easily, one fears, evolve from our current time. In this future, women are even more objectified than they are today, creatures resembling comic book and Barbie doll fantasy proportions, created by plastic surgery, produced specifically and only for the erotic pleasures of men, becoming sexual slaves. Mind reading allows for no privacy, no chance of escape. A woman might only think of the possibility of escape, and already she is reined in and punished. It is a world of callousness and cruelty, domination of gender over gender, power and greed ruling all, happiness for none.

In the hospital, woven through the story, Connie struggles for her sanity, as the doctors in power rule out any possibility of what they cannot understand, puzzled by her episodes of "unconsciousness," and many in the ward are forced to undergo brain-altering surgery. Connie, too, undergoes repeated surgeries. Her attempts at escape, sometimes in mind but sometimes also in body, can be heartrending, as she comes so close, so close...

This is a story worth reading, if not for intriguing storyline, than as a philosophical treatise on what could be, what might be, what a future for humankind might hold if we approach it with understanding. Whether Connie truly travels in time or only in fantasy is perhaps least important of all. Those who pick it up as science fiction fans might be disappointed if seeking high tech descriptions and complex alien worlds; this is not Piercy's intent. She is far more interested in exploring the evolvement of humankind if all are allowed to pursue their best, towards a world of harmony and a caring community that works on all practical levels.

While I still prefer Piercy's poetry to this sampling of her prose (my first, but probably not my last), her skill and imagination to produce worlds that intrigue as well as enlighten is worthwhile reading.

A big fan somewhat confused!!, 16 Nov 2003
I read this book years ago and at that time it was called Body Of Glass!! It has remained one of my favourite books of all time using history and robotics to examine the question what is human it provides an original twist on one of SF's big themes.

Want to know the future? Sci-Fi authors tell us about it! by Rocio A. Chongtay, 31 Mar 2000
I have recently read "He, She and It", Marge has probably heard comments like this before, reading her book was not only a great pleasure but also a strange feeling of seeing many things of my life printed from somebody's imagination! , the similarities are quite amazing.

I've studied Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh as her character Shira, I've also faced a lot of difficulties on being acknowledged and allowed to apply my AI knowledge combined with the every day struggle of working in a male dominated environment. And similar to the Y-S multis, currently I work in a multinational company.

Shira represents my old dreams about self development, love, family and motherhood. Both Shira and Chava face the cost and troubles of wanting to have all that combined. Malkah, my biggest heroine, is a fascinating character that represents my current ambitions and feelings, as an independent individual with the mental freedom of choosing paths in life, and a self esteem that allows us to enjoy pleasure in all expressions bringing the best of us to the surface.

As a Science Fiction fan this is one of the best books I've read, I've worked with robots only during my education, Yod, is still a constantly developing AI dream-project but there are already other type of cyborgs facing many aspects of this complex character, e.g. identity and the ethics about control that can be applied in all types of relationships.

There are many elements described in the book that became a more solid reality soon after it was published, nowadays we can feel the power of telecommunications, information and advanced technologies making a constant impact in our every day lives. Marge Peircy's work and imagination give us a taste of how technology impacts social phenomena trends to a level that bring us to analyse our deepest thoughts and feelings.

Shall we create life to serve ourselves?-a woman's debate, 15 May 1999
I read Chapter 3 and was hooked("Malkah Tells Yod a Bedtime Story" - pure poetry)! I felt right at home. Rarely have I read a science fiction novel which explores inner life so well. Nor one which so successfully analyzes its moral issues from the intelligent woman's point of view. One is reminded of Golda Meir, holding informal cabinet meetings in her kitchen while making chicken soup. The book examines the high-tech net as a tool for a simple low-tech ethnic collective which can exist on its own apart from impersonal futurist worlds nearby seeking to invade. The characters debate the destiny of their advanced, powerful protective robot. One of the robot's creators is a (high-tech) grandmother who tells the robot the Yiddish fable of a Golem who was created to protect the Jews of Prague from pogroms in 1600. We keep returning to the fable - it creates just the intuitive symbolism we need to explore the novel's ethical concepts without losing track of the action. The book unfolds as a mystery, a love story, a question - I found myself reading to answer the unexplained, enjoying the beautifully crafted journey, and staying up all night to do so.

Highly Recommended, 10 May 1999
This is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever had. I enjoyed it so much that I feel to share with others. This novel has many interesting characters. This novel is about a mothers love for her beloved son and Yod who is a cyborg and also Golems tale. This novel at the end flashes light on Shira, about her love lost and found.

Complex, rich, thoughtful and thought-provoking., 26 Dec 1998
This is #1 on my all-time SF list. Piercy examines in minute detail the question of what a "perfect" artificial man might really be like, working mostly from the viewpoint of his lover. A deeply insightful book with excellent characterization and an all-too-believable, if somewhat depressing, picture of future society. While I am primarily an SF fan, I was so impressed with this that I have delved into a number of Piercy's other books, many of which are not SF. "Gone for Soldiers" is also highly satisfying and readable (and of course, her other SF novel, "Woman on the Edge of Time"). It's wonderful to have a writer of Piercy's talent using SF as a medium.

Absorbing; a fun read, 01 Oct 1998
I have enjoyed several of Piercy's other works and I am always intrigued by the way she takes "odd" relationships, turns them around til you, the reader, see them differently--as optimal. While I enjoyed the whole dynamic, the character of Crystal was truly well drawn. Unfortunately, I have known women like Crystal, for whom drawing and binding a partner to you in a pathologic fashion was their conception of love. Intriguing and a great read.

A little big of everything: romance, mystery,self-discovery, 17 Jul 1998
I can be a fretful traveler, but with this book to read, I didn't mind an Amtrak train running an hour behind schedule. The web of lives and lies between Crystal and David, Judith and David, and David and himself kept me turning the pages. Arriving at my destination for a day of summer fun in San Diego,it was with a sigh that I put this book down to be finished the next day! The story speeds along, but not at such a pace that the reader misses the local color descriptions, the familial details, and the emotional tug of war the main characters engage in.

There was a single sentence I would have liked to have read at the very end that would have tied up one loose end---I will reread to make sure I didn't miss it.

Characters that draw you completely into their world., 24 May 1998
Read this now!! Piercy has always drawn powerful and interesting characters, especially those who grow out of the sixties spirit. The three around whom the story revolves are vivid, memorable, and, if not always loveable, certainly always compelling. The first person point of view of David's story gave an added intimacy to the relationship with his character, at least for this reader. The intrigue of the plot on both the personal and political levels was great! I love the way that Judiasm, food and respect for learning are woven into the plot. Now I will have to add Mr. Wood to my list of favorite authors, which has long been topped by his wife. Like many of her books, notably, for me, He, She and It and Vida, I couldn't decide whether to whip through in one or two sittings, or to savor for a while. Sadly, I really couldn't put it down, and wait eagerly for the next work, collaboration or otherwise. The notes about the art of collaboration at the end were also of great interest, and added to my appreciation of this terrific story.

Please read this book!, 31 Oct 2008
Woman on the Edge of Time
Please do read this book, I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it so much. I read this book about 10 years ago and it still stays with me because it's so well written and really different. This is a stay up all night read. I hope you love it as much as I did, and I know you'll want Connie to win through. x

Speculative politics and patriarchy, 12 Aug 2008
An important (if flawed) example of feminist SF, Women On The Edge Of Time escapes that old cliche that nothing dates so quickly as visions of the future, which really speak only to the time of their imagining. But this might have more to do with the persistence (or resurgence) of the patriarchy which it critiques than with any quality of the book itself. The alternation between worlds is nicely imagined and thankfully free from a certain kind of technical obsession that we think of as 'masculinist'. The future citizens manage to take on a life of their own but lack the contradictions that make a work like LeGuin's The Dispossessed superior in so many ways. The language is itself a little pedestrian and reads a little too much like a morality tale - despite her incarceration in a mental institution and her outbreaks of violence and drug-taking, Connie is not quite complicated (or multivalent) enough to break cover into believable autonomy. Many of Piercy's central concerns, and more than a few features of her utopian future, are reminiscent of Joanna Russ's The Female Man. That is a much better place to go for the pleasures of feminist speculative fictions. Nevertheless, this has something going for it, even if that says more about politics and patriarchy than about literature.

A 1970s vision of the future still fresh and relevant today, 15 Mar 2008
When I started reading Woman on the Edge of Time, I had forgotten that it was supposed to be sci-fi and I was really rather disappointed to be reading about the depressing plight of a socially and economically disadvantage woman caught in an insane asylum, seemingly innocent (at least this time). As Luciente started appearing and slowly coaxed her into her future world, however, I became much more interested.

Initially, the future world that Marge Piercy paints is at odds with our - and indeed Connie's - vision of the future. Instead of gleaming towers and hovercars, Luciente and her "mems" live in squat mud huts and seem to be farmers, "peasants" in Connie's disappointed words. Nevertheless, I'd contend that this future world is not wholly original, especially when considering that this novel was written in 1976. At the time, there were many who considered an agrarian, communal life with ultimate respect for the individual utopia.

Into this utopia enters the world of the "multies" - those who have not adopted the idyllic peacefulness of communities like Mattapoisett. For sure (or "fasure" as Luciente would say), this heavily contrasted world is an extrapolation of the readers' own and a warning of what we may become if we don't change our ways and become a little bit more like Luciente and her "sweetfriends".

While these thoughts are typical of the 1970s, they are not entirely unmodern and, throughout the book, I never felt as if I was reading a book as old as I am! Connie's present and Luciente's future seem equally fresh and relevant in today's world. For example, mobile phones and the internet aren't noticeably absent (and in the future the "kenner" is like portable, talking Wikipedia).

The only lingering doubt that the book leaves me with is this: is the future experienced by Connie real or is it all a figment of her, clinically diagnosed schizophrenia?



An Important Historical Feminist Vision of the Future. , 15 Jan 2008
While, yes, certainly Piercy's work is dated, its theories of a feminist utopia are firmly set in the perhaps more `idealistic' 70's, this is still by no means a worthless read. In fact there is much to celebrate in her feminist, cum social critique, cum science fiction drama. The story of Connie's abuse at the hands of a pimp, the state and the resultant removal of her daughter, Angelina, into care creates an insight into a world of forced hysterectomies, unequal sexual relationships and discrimination of the poor and ethnic minorities. These are issues still affecting many women in American (where the book is set) and the rest of the world, today, and are therefore still relevant and worthy of analysis. Connie's resultant decent into so called `insanity' forces the reader to question just how mad Connie really is. Is she deserving of a lobotomy that will ultimately erase her memory and her ability to do what she believes is time travel into the future, or is the state interrupting and enforcing control over what they classify as a `dissident', a `rebel'? For insight into the plight of the poor and the often despicable treatment of the mentally ill this book stands alone as an extremely important late 20th century novel, up there with `The Bell Jar', `Girl, Interrupted' and `Prozac Nation.' The sub-plot, set in the future world of a so-called feminist `utopia' equally calls the reader to question just how utopian and improved the conditions really are. Certainly in comparison to Connie's existence in a sexist, discriminatory America were gender and class are definers of social standing, the future Connie finds herself exploring offers many improvements. Ultimately however, in a society today, were we are so forcefully defined by gender and sexuality (and not always in a belittling or derogatory manner - why shouldn't women after all celebrate what they believe is their innate womanliness - what ever that may be?), Piercy's utopia will certainly be found to be wanting by many of its readers. The sexless society she creates has its pros and its cons. It forces the inhabitants to define one another as human beings rather than as men and women. The birthing machine certainly frees women from the pains of childbirth, but ultimately robs them of the sometimes innate desire to bear children in a similar way to Connie's forced hysterectomy. Furthermore for want of a better expression the `free-love' community of the utopian future is problematic. In the 70's this concept represented to some the possibility of freedom from so-called `Compulsory Heterosexuality' i.e. man and wife partnerships, thus allowing women more sexual freedom and opportunities to explore their sexualities. However in practice these concepts are proved to not be without their flaws, as they are certainly no barrier to falling in love with someone who ultimately one cannot have a life long relationship with in a community where everyone belongs to everyone else. The guide Luciente painfully expresses this to Connie on one of her latter visits. Not without its flaws, but perhaps more thought provoking for them, Marge Piercy's novel will not leave you untouched, or unshaken, and there is much to think about in her richly dense analysis of society, feminism, gender, mental illness and technology.





What Might Be: A Worthwhile Fantasy in Time, 25 Jul 2007
I am a great fan of Marge Piercy's poetry - her skill at using simple and everyday language to capture everyday scenes and sensibilities in the inner and outer lives of strong women, and to shine upon them a sublime literary light - and so it was not difficult to convince me to break out of my usual reading, decidedly not science fiction, to spend time with this "time-traveling novel." That play on words, mind you, is quite intentional. I soon sensed, within the first pages, that this is the kind of story plotline (and the writing skill to make it succeed convincingly) that traverses time and retains meaning and interest, no matter the year. Some things change, some things never do.

Being familiar with Piercy's poetry and something of her own biography, I expected a feminist approach to the plot. Indeed, it was there, and this is why I was soon confident in my enjoyment of the novel, even if it did veer from my more typical reading choices. Whatever the genre, I like to read about strong and unique women. "Woman on the Edge of Time" has plenty, in the now and in the to be.

Consuelo (Connie) in the 1970s lives a life of poverty and abuse, when domestic violence is as common as air, and women survive all too often by selling themselves out as objectified beings, bodies without minds, without souls. A pimp beats up "his" women to maintain order, in this case, to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, and a scene of violence ensues, in which Connie is made the villain rather than the victim. She can say nothing to prevent herself from being institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital, called mad, whereas the male's voice, that of the pimp's, holds unquestioned weight. He has her out of his way to create more victims.

I couldn't help but draw parallels here with another literary classic, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, and even some undertones of Margaret Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale," but Piercy succeeds in making this story her own. Connie strives to maintain her sanity by traveling in time to another life in 2137, assisted by future person (Piercy uses "per" as pronoun, thus avoiding gender designation of she or he in this future), Luciente, a kind of almost andrygenous being. In that future, she explores a life much more pleasing, if not utopian, and in series of trips, explores this future world in its treatment of relationships, the interchange of genders and generations, the workings of community and government, the balance between work and play, spiritual evolvement, and even the occasional war. For it is not utopia, but a constant work in progress, however more evolved than our current day, with humankind in an ongoing mode of self-improvement.

No less fascinating is a shorter description of a darker parallel of life in the future, when Connie misses her usual destination and lands instead in a future that could just as easily, one fears, evolve from our current time. In this future, women are even more objectified than they are today, creatures resembling comic book and Barbie doll fantasy proportions, created by plastic surgery, produced specifically and only for the erotic pleasures of men, becoming sexual slaves. Mind reading allows for no privacy, no chance of escape. A woman might only think of the possibility of escape, and already she is reined in and punished. It is a world of callousness and cruelty, domination of gender over gender, power and greed ruling all, happiness for none.

In the hospital, woven through the story, Connie struggles for her sanity, as the doctors in power rule out any possibility of what they cannot understand, puzzled by her episodes of "unconsciousness," and many in the ward are forced to undergo brain-altering surgery. Connie, too, undergoes repeated surgeries. Her attempts at escape, sometimes in mind but sometimes also in body, can be heartrending, as she comes so close, so close...

This is a story worth reading, if not for intriguing storyline, than as a philosophical treatise on what could be, what might be, what a future for humankind might hold if we approach it with understanding. Whether Connie truly travels in time or only in fantasy is perhaps least important of all. Those who pick it up as science fiction fans might be disappointed if seeking high tech descriptions and complex alien worlds; this is not Piercy's intent. She is far more interested in exploring the evolvement of humankind if all are allowed to pursue their best, towards a world of harmony and a caring community that works on all practical levels.

While I still prefer Piercy's poetry to this sampling of her prose (my first, but probably not my last), her skill and imagination to produce worlds that intrigue as well as enlighten is worthwhile reading.

A big fan somewhat confused!!, 16 Nov 2003
I read this book years ago and at that time it was called Body Of Glass!! It has remained one of my favourite books of all time using history and robotics to examine the question what is human it provides an original twist on one of SF's big themes.

Want to know the future? Sci-Fi authors tell us about it! by Rocio A. Chongtay, 31 Mar 2000
I have recently read "He, She and It", Marge has probably heard comments like this before, reading her book was not only a great pleasure but also a strange feeling of seeing many things of my life printed from somebody's imagination! , the similarities are quite amazing.

I've studied Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh as her character Shira, I've also faced a lot of difficulties on being acknowledged and allowed to apply my AI knowledge combined with the every day struggle of working in a male dominated environment. And similar to the Y-S multis, currently I work in a multinational company.

Shira represents my old dreams about self development, love, family and motherhood. Both Shira and Chava face the cost and troubles of wanting to have all that combined. Malkah, my biggest heroine, is a fascinating character that represents my current ambitions and feelings, as an independent individual with the mental freedom of choosing paths in life, and a self esteem that allows us to enjoy pleasure in all expressions bringing the best of us to the surface.

As a Science Fiction fan this is one of the best books I've read, I've worked with robots only during my education, Yod, is still a constantly developing AI dream-project but there are already other type of cyborgs facing many aspects of this complex character, e.g. identity and the ethics about control that can be applied in all types of relationships.

There are many elements described in the book that became a more solid reality soon after it was published, nowadays we can feel the power of telecommunications, information and advanced technologies making a constant impact in our every day lives. Marge Peircy's work and imagination give us a taste of how technology impacts social phenomena trends to a level that bring us to analyse our deepest thoughts and feelings.

Shall we create life to serve ourselves?-a woman's debate, 15 May 1999
I read Chapter 3 and was hooked("Malkah Tells Yod a Bedtime Story" - pure poetry)! I felt right at home. Rarely have I read a science fiction novel which explores inner life so well. Nor one which so successfully analyzes its moral issues from the intelligent woman's point of view. One is reminded of Golda Meir, holding informal cabinet meetings in her kitchen while making chicken soup. The book examines the high-tech net as a tool for a simple low-tech ethnic collective which can exist on its own apart from impersonal futurist worlds nearby seeking to invade. The characters debate the destiny of their advanced, powerful protective robot. One of the robot's creators is a (high-tech) grandmother who tells the robot the Yiddish fable of a Golem who was created to protect the Jews of Prague from pogroms in 1600. We keep returning to the fable - it creates just the intuitive symbolism we need to explore the novel's ethical concepts without losing track of the action. The book unfolds as a mystery, a love story, a question - I found myself reading to answer the unexplained, enjoying the beautifully crafted journey, and staying up all night to do so.

Highly Recommended, 10 May 1999
This is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever had. I enjoyed it so much that I feel to share with others. This novel has many interesting characters. This novel is about a mothers love for her beloved son and Yod who is a cyborg and also Golems tale. This novel at the end flashes light on Shira, about her love lost and found.

Complex, rich, thoughtful and thought-provoking., 26 Dec 1998
This is #1 on my all-time SF list. Piercy examines in minute detail the question of what a "perfect" artificial man might really be like, working mostly from the viewpoint of his lover. A deeply insightful book with excellent characterization and an all-too-believable, if somewhat depressing, picture of future society. While I am primarily an SF fan, I was so impressed with this that I have delved into a number of Piercy's other books, many of which are not SF. "Gone for Soldiers" is also highly satisfying and readable (and of course, her other SF novel, "Woman on the Edge of Time"). It's wonderful to have a writer of Piercy's talent using SF as a medium.

Absorbing; a fun read, 01 Oct 1998
I have enjoyed several of Piercy's other works and I am always intrigued by the way she takes "odd" relationships, turns them around til you, the reader, see them differently--as optimal. While I enjoyed the whole dynamic, the character of Crystal was truly well drawn. Unfortunately, I have known women like Crystal, for whom drawing and binding a partner to you in a pathologic fashion was their conception of love. Intriguing and a great read.

A little big of everything: romance, mystery,self-discovery, 17 Jul 1998
I can be a fretful traveler, but with this book to read, I didn't mind an Amtrak train running an hour behind schedule. The web of lives and lies between Crystal and David, Judith and David, and David and himself kept me turning the pages. Arriving at my destination for a day of summer fun in San Diego,it was with a sigh that I put this book down to be finished the next day! The story speeds along, but not at such a pace that the reader misses the local color descriptions, the familial details, and the emotional tug of war the main characters engage in.

There was a single sentence I would have liked to have read at the very end that would have tied up one loose end---I will reread to make sure I didn't miss it.

Characters that draw you completely into their world., 24 May 1998
Read this now!! Piercy has always drawn powerful and interesting characters, especially those who grow out of the sixties spirit. The three around whom the story revolves are vivid, memorable, and, if not always loveable, certainly always compelling. The first person point of view of David's story gave an added intimacy to the relationship with his character, at least for this reader. The intrigue of the plot on both the personal and political levels was great! I love the way that Judiasm, food and respect for learning are woven into the plot. Now I will have to add Mr. Wood to my list of favorite authors, which has long been topped by his wife. Like many of her books, notably, for me, He, She and It and Vida, I couldn't decide whether to whip through in one or two sittings, or to savor for a while. Sadly, I really couldn't put it down, and wait eagerly for the next work, collaboration or otherwise. The notes about the art of collaboration at the end were also of great interest, and added to my appreciation of this terrific story.

Great read, 15 Mar 2005
I have never read a Marge Piercy book before, and not really a great lover of politically themed books. Consequently I had no pre-conceived ideas about how this book would be, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It really is a page-turner. It has a good story which keeps you guessing throughout, with lots of little surprises. It's a great book to curl up with on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The political theme is what the story is based around, but don't let this put you off. It merely is the backdrop for a really good story.

Disappointing, 06 Jan 2005
I'm a fan of Marge Piercy's novels, and although this one has the customary broad scope, I found it a bit disappointing and lacking the usual detailed observation that gives you a clear picture of the societies you write about. She doesn't often write about the lives of the rich and privileged, and it feels as if it interests her less than middle-class or working-class lives.

If you like her other novels it's definitely worth a look, but if you haven't read any of her novels before, start with Braided Lives or Vida instead, which I'd happily give five stars.

A fabulous, sexy melodrama about politics, lies and betrayal, 25 Jan 2004
The Third child is an absolutely riveting and sensational melodrama. I just loved this book. Nothing about this story can be taken seriously, but this doesn’t really matter because you will be enormously entertained by the over-the-top scenario. Yes – The Third Child is a literary thriller, a love story and a saga of espionage, but the novel also offers us some insights into political corruption and the ramifications of family lies and betrayal.

Melissa Dickinson is the neglected, needy third child of Republican senator Dick Dickinson and his cold, scheming wife, Rosemary. In her first year at Wesleyan College, she meets Blake Ackerman, a classmate who is both dark-skinned and Jewish, qualities sure to distress her parents. They fall into an intensely symbiotic relationship fueled by sexual compatibility as well as by Melissa's resentment of her emotionally inaccessible family who are “over-the-top” in their conservatism and their efforts to keep up appearances. Blake's desire for vengeance for his dead father, which includes hacking into Melissa's parents' computer to find evidence that might destroy her father’s career, has ramifications that destroy almost everyone in the novel.

As the narrative is told from Melissa’s view, we get an emotional roller coaster of thoughts and views, as she shifts alliances and realizes that her family are stifling her and not giving her the emotional support that she wants. Rosemary the archetypal control freak, never bothers to give Melissa affection; “ she monitors Melissa - “she puts up fence posts and strings barbed wire.” And as the story progresses we get a feeling of inevitable doom as Blake and her start to meddle in political cover-ups that spiral out of their control. The effects of lies, deceit and betrayal are at the thematic core of this novel. Melissa lies to her mother and father, her best friend Emily, her lover Blake, and her siblings. And Blake, in turn, lies to Emily and his family, the consequences of this are that no one is ever as they seem, as loyalties of friends and family shift and blur. This is a terrific piece of work, and is almost reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s A Secret History, in tone and content. You won’t be able to put The Third Child down.

Michael

Disappointingly predictable, 23 Jan 2004
I've read most, if not all of the author's works and generally found her books enjoyable. However, this latest novel becomes fairly - almost unbelievably - transparent just a few chapters in. The family of the main character are hideously two-dimensional and a significant employee is loyal to the point of lobotomy. The plot make much use of hacked computer information, the technicalities of which seeming rather far-fetched. If you are a fan, you'll probably want to read it anyway but don't be in a hurry. If you're not a fan. don't even bother.

"Our path is together. Don't you know that yet?", 26 Nov 2003
It is difficult to characterize this novel. It's certainly a coming-of-age novel, tracing, as it does, Melissa Dickinson's life from age 17 - 19, and it's certainly a political novel in the sense that it focuses on her relationship with her father, a conservative senator from Pennsylvania and former two-term governor, a proponent of the death penalty who oversaw several executions. It's also a "suspense" novel in that it involves research into possible corruption, with a grand climax in the last ten pages. Thin on character, it is also more theatrical than subtle--easy to imagine as a film or TV program.

The third child in a political family which does not have enough time for her, Melissa Dickinson is a bright student who goes off to a fine university in Connecticut. There she immediately meets a handsome young man who, for reasons she cannot fathom (but which the reader will immediately guess), sweeps her off her feet and engages her in an overwhelming, passionate affair. She soon discovers that he is the son of a lawyer who represented a convicted murderer executed during her father's term. He wants to "research" her father and collect data about him, and she, resenting the family dynamics, which do not recognize her as an individual, agrees to help her lover.

Romantic and melodramatic, the novel depends on the reader's belief that the daughter of a two-term governor who is now a senator and friend of the President really could be as naive as Melissa is. Though she is seventeen, supposedly has scored 1460 on her SATs, and has attended fine schools, she apparently has no curiosity whatever about government or education in basic civics, referring, at one point, to the Secretary of the Interior--"whatever that meant." Her point of view is reflected in short, simple sentences, like that of a much younger teenager, until she begins her relationship with Blake Ackerman, when her sentences get longer, though she continues to think in cliches: "She felt as if he were the only person she had ever known who saw what she needed."

As the data-gathering on her father continues, Melissa still remains completely naive, suspecting neither motives nor actions, even when they involve computers, hidden keys, floor plans, and vows of secrecy. Most readers, however, will guess the plot complications before they happen. Though some sympathy may be generated for Melissa, she and the other characters are stereotypical, rather than unique, and they behave according to form. The grand climax, when it happens, may be less grand for some readers than they had hoped. Mary Whipple

Please read this book!, 31 Oct 2008
Woman on the Edge of Time
Please do read this book, I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it so much. I read this book about 10 years ago and it still stays with me because it's so well written and really different. This is a stay up all night read. I hope you love it as much as I did, and I know you'll want Connie to win through. x

Speculative politics and patriarchy, 12 Aug 2008
An important (if flawed) example of feminist SF, Women On The Edge Of Time escapes that old cliche that nothing dates so quickly as visions of the future, which really speak only to the time of their imagining. But this might have more to do with the persistence (or resurgence) of the patriarchy which it critiques than with any quality of the book itself. The alternation between worlds is nicely imagined and thankfully free from a certain kind of technical obsession that we think of as 'masculinist'. The future citizens manage to take on a life of their own but lack the contradictions that make a work like LeGuin's The Dispossessed superior in so many ways. The language is itself a little pedestrian and reads a little too much like a morality tale - despite her incarceration in a mental institution and her outbreaks of violence and drug-taking, Connie is not quite complicated (or multivalent) enough to break cover into believable autonomy. Many of Piercy's central concerns, and more than a few features of her utopian future, are reminiscent of Joanna Russ's The Female Man. That is a much better place to go for the pleasures of feminist speculative fictions. Nevertheless, this has something going for it, even if that says more about politics and patriarchy than about literature.

A 1970s vision of the future still fresh and relevant today, 15 Mar 2008
When I started reading Woman on the Edge of Time, I had forgotten that it was supposed to be sci-fi and I was really rather disappointed to be reading about the depressing plight of a socially and economically disadvantage woman caught in an insane asylum, seemingly innocent (at least this time). As Luciente started appearing and slowly coaxed her into her future world, however, I became much more interested.

Initially, the future world that Marge Piercy paints is at odds with our - and indeed Connie's - vision of the future. Instead of gleaming towers and hovercars, Luciente and her "mems" live in squat mud huts and seem to be farmers, "peasants" in Connie's disappointed words. Nevertheless, I'd contend that this future world is not wholly original, especially when considering that this novel was written in 1976. At the time, there were many who considered an agrarian, communal life with ultimate respect for the individual utopia.

Into this utopia enters the world of the "multies" - those who have not adopted the idyllic peacefulness of communities like Mattapoisett. For sure (or "fasure" as Luciente would say), this heavily contrasted world is an extrapolation of the readers' own and a warning of what we may become if we don't change our ways and become a little bit more like Luciente and her "sweetfriends".

While these thoughts are typical of the 1970s, they are not entirely unmodern and, throughout the book, I never felt as if I was reading a book as old as I am! Connie's present and Luciente's future seem equally fresh and relevant in today's world. For example, mobile phones and the internet aren't noticeably absent (and in the future the "kenner" is like portable, talking Wikipedia).

The only lingering doubt that the book leaves me with is this: is the future experienced by Connie real or is it all a figment of her, clinically diagnosed schizophrenia?



An Important Historical Feminist Vision of the Future. , 15 Jan 2008
While, yes, certainly Piercy's work is dated, its theories of a feminist utopia are firmly set in the perhaps more `idealistic' 70's, this is still by no means a worthless read. In fact there is much to celebrate in her feminist, cum social critique, cum science fiction drama. The story of Connie's abuse at the hands of a pimp, the state and the resultant removal of her daughter, Angelina, into care creates an insight into a world of forced hysterectomies, unequal sexual relationships and discrimination of the poor and ethnic minorities. These are issues still affecting many women in American (where the book is set) and the rest of the world, today, and are therefore still relevant and worthy of analysis. Connie's resultant decent into so called `insanity' forces the reader to question just how mad Connie really is. Is she deserving of a lobotomy that will ultimately erase her memory and her ability to do what she believes is time travel into the future, or is the state interrupting and enforcing control over what they classify as a `dissident', a `rebel'? For insight into the plight of the poor and the often despicable treatment of the mentally ill this book stands alone as an extremely important late 20th century novel, up there with `The Bell Jar', `Girl, Interrupted' and `Prozac Nation.' The sub-plot, set in the future world of a so-called feminist `utopia' equally calls the reader to question just how utopian and improved the conditions really are. Certainly in comparison to Connie's existence in a sexist, discriminatory America were gender and class are definers of social standing, the future Connie finds herself exploring offers many improvements. Ultimately however, in a society today, were we are so forcefully defined by gender and sexuality (and not always in a belittling or derogatory manner - why shouldn't women after all celebrate what they believe is their innate womanliness - what ever that may be?), Piercy's utopia will certainly be found to be wanting by many of its readers. The sexless society she creates has its pros and its cons. It forces the inhabitants to define one another as human beings rather than as men and women. The birthing machine certainly frees women from the pains of childbirth, but ultimately robs them of the sometimes innate desire to bear children in a similar way to Connie's forced hysterectomy. Furthermore for want of a better expression the `free-love' community of the utopian future is problematic. In the 70's this concept represented to some the possibility of freedom from so-called `Compulsory Heterosexuality' i.e. man and wife partnerships, thus allowing women more sexual freedom and opportunities to explore their sexualities. However in practice these concepts are proved to not be without their flaws, as they are certainly no barrier to falling in love with someone who ultimately one cannot have a life long relationship with in a community where everyone belongs to everyone else. The guide Luciente painfully expresses this to Connie on one of her latter visits. Not without its flaws, but perhaps more thought provoking for them, Marge Piercy's novel will not leave you untouched, or unshaken, and there is much to think about in her richly dense analysis of society, feminism, gender, mental illness and technology.





What Might Be: A Worthwhile Fantasy in Time, 25 Jul 2007
I am a great fan of Marge Piercy's poetry - her skill at using simple and everyday language to capture everyday scenes and sensibilities in the inner and outer lives of strong women, and to shine upon them a sublime literary light - and so it was not difficult to convince me to break out of my usual reading, decidedly not science fiction, to spend time with this "time-traveling novel." That play on words, mind you, is quite intentional. I soon sensed, within the first pages, that this is the kind of story plotline (and the writing skill to make it succeed convincingly) that traverses time and retains meaning and interest, no matter the year. Some things change, some things never do.

Being familiar with Piercy's poetry and something of her own biography, I expected a feminist approach to the plot. Indeed, it was there, and this is why I was soon confident in my enjoyment of the novel, even if it did veer from my more typical reading choices. Whatever the genre, I like to read about strong and unique women. "Woman on the Edge of Time" has plenty, in the now and in the to be.

Consuelo (Connie) in the 1970s lives a life of poverty and abuse, when domestic violence is as common as air, and women survive all too often by selling themselves out as objectified beings, bodies without minds, without souls. A pimp beats up "his" women to maintain order, in this case, to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, and a scene of violence ensues, in which Connie is made the villain rather than the victim. She can say nothing to prevent herself from being institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital, called mad, whereas the male's voice, that of the pimp's, holds unquestioned weight. He has her out of his way to create more victims.

I couldn't help but draw parallels here with another literary classic, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, and even some undertones of Margaret Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale," but Piercy succeeds in making this story her own. Connie strives to maintain her sanity by traveling in time to another life in 2137, assisted by future person (Piercy uses "per" as pronoun, thus avoiding gender designation of she or he in this future), Luciente, a kind of almost andrygenous being. In that future, she explores a life much more pleasing, if not utopian, and in series of trips, explores this future world in its treatment of relationships, the interchange of genders and generations, the workings of community and government, the balance between work and play, spiritual evolvement, and even the occasional war. For it is not utopia, but a constant work in progress, however more evolved than our current day, with humankind in an ongoing mode of self-improvement.

No less fascinating is a shorter description of a darker parallel of life in the future, when Connie misses her usual destination and lands instead in a future that could just as easily, one fears, evolve from our current time. In this future, women are even more objectified than they are today, creatures resembling comic book and Barbie doll fantasy proportions, created by plastic surgery, produced specifically and only for the erotic pleasures of men, becoming sexual slaves. Mind reading allows for no privacy, no chance of escape. A woman might only think of the possibility of escape, and already she is reined in and punished. It is a world of callousness and cruelty, domination of gender over gender, power and greed ruling all, happiness for none.

In the hospital, woven through the story, Connie struggles for her sanity, as the doctors in power rule out any possibility of what they cannot understand, puzzled by her episodes of "unconsciousness," and many in the ward are forced to undergo brain-altering surgery. Connie, too, undergoes repeated surgeries. Her attempts at escape, sometimes in mind but sometimes also in body, can be heartrending, as she comes so close, so close...

This is a story worth reading, if not for intriguing storyline, than as a philosophical treatise on what could be, what might be, what a future for humankind might hold if we approach it with understanding. Whether Connie truly travels in time or only in fantasy is perhaps least important of all. Those who pick it up as science fiction fans might be disappointed if seeking high tech descriptions and complex alien worlds; this is not Piercy's intent. She is far more interested in exploring the evolvement of humankind if all are allowed to pursue their best, towards a world of harmony and a caring community that works on all practical levels.

While I still prefer Piercy's poetry to this sampling of her prose (my first, but probably not my last), her skill and imagination to produce worlds that intrigue as well as enlighten is worthwhile reading.

A big fan somewhat confused!!, 16 Nov 2003
I read this book years ago and at that time it was called Body Of Glass!! It has remained one of my favourite books of all time using history and robotics to examine the question what is human it provides an original twist on one of SF's big themes.

Want to know the future? Sci-Fi authors tell us about it! by Rocio A. Chongtay, 31 Mar 2000
I have recently read "He, She and It", Marge has probably heard comments like this before, reading her book was not only a great pleasure but also a strange feeling of seeing many things of my life printed from somebody's imagination! , the similarities are quite amazing.

I've studied Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh as her character Shira, I've also faced a lot of difficulties on being acknowledged and allowed to apply my AI knowledge combined with the every day struggle of working in a male dominated environment. And similar to the Y-S multis, currently I work in a multinational company.

Shira represents my old dreams about self development, love, family and motherhood. Both Shira and Chava face the cost and troubles of wanting to have all that combined. Malkah, my biggest heroine, is a fascinating character that represents my current ambitions and feelings, as an independent individual with the mental freedom of choosing paths in life, and a self esteem that allows us to enjoy pleasure in all expressions bringing the best of us to the surface.

As a Science Fiction fan this is one of the best books I've read, I've worked with robots only during my education, Yod, is still a constantly developing AI dream-project but there are already other type of cyborgs facing many aspects of this complex character, e.g. identity and the ethics about control that can be applied in all types of relationships.

There are many elements described in the book that became a more solid reality soon after it was published, nowadays we can feel the power of telecommunications, information and advanced technologies making a constant impact in our every day lives. Marge Peircy's work and imagination give us a taste of how technology impacts social phenomena trends to a level that bring us to analyse our deepest thoughts and feelings.

Shall we create life to serve ourselves?-a woman's debate, 15 May 1999
I read Chapter 3 and was hooked("Malkah Tells Yod a Bedtime Story" - pure poetry)! I felt right at home. Rarely have I read a science fiction novel which explores inner life so well. Nor one which so successfully analyzes its moral issues from the intelligent woman's point of view. One is reminded of Golda Meir, holding informal cabinet meetings in her kitchen while making chicken soup. The book examines the high-tech net as a tool for a simple low-tech ethnic collective which can exist on its own apart from impersonal futurist worlds nearby seeking to invade. The characters debate the destiny of their advanced, powerful protective robot. One of the robot's creators is a (high-tech) grandmother who tells the robot the Yiddish fable of a Golem who was created to protect the Jews of Prague from pogroms in 1600. We keep returning to the fable - it creates just the intuitive symbolism we need to explore the novel's ethical concepts without losing track of the action. The book unfolds as a mystery, a love story, a question - I found myself reading to answer the unexplained, enjoying the beautifully crafted journey, and staying up all night to do so.

Highly Recommended, 10 May 1999
This is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever had. I enjoyed it so much that I feel to share with others. This novel has many interesting characters. This novel is about a mothers love for her beloved son and Yod who is a cyborg and also Golems tale. This novel at the end flashes light on Shira, about her love lost and found.

Complex, rich, thoughtful and thought-provoking., 26 Dec 1998
This is #1 on my all-time SF list. Piercy examines in minute detail the question of what a "perfect" artificial man might really be like, working mostly from the viewpoint of his lover. A deeply insightful book with excellent characterization and an all-too-believable, if somewhat depressing, picture of future society. While I am primarily an SF fan, I was so impressed with this that I have delved into a number of Piercy's other books, many of which are not SF. "Gone for Soldiers" is also highly satisfying and readable (and of course, her other SF novel, "Woman on the Edge of Time"). It's wonderful to have a writer of Piercy's talent using SF as a medium.

Absorbing; a fun read, 01 Oct 1998
I have enjoyed several of Piercy's other works and I am always intrigued by the way she takes "odd" relationships, turns them around til you, the reader, see them differently--as optimal. While I enjoyed the whole dynamic, the character of Crystal was truly well drawn. Unfortunately, I have known women like Crystal, for whom drawing and binding a partner to you in a pathologic fashion was their conception of love. Intriguing and a great read.

A little big of everything: romance, mystery,self-discovery, 17 Jul 1998
I can be a fretful traveler, but with this book to read, I didn't mind an Amtrak train running an hour behind schedule. The web of lives and lies between Crystal and David, Judith and David, and David and himself kept me turning the pages. Arriving at my destination for a day of summer fun in San Diego,it was with a sigh that I put this book down to be finished the next day! The story speeds along, but not at such a pace that the reader misses the local color descriptions, the familial details, and the emotional tug of war the main characters engage in.

There was a single sentence I would have liked to have read at the very end that would have tied up one loose end---I will reread to make sure I didn't miss it.

Characters that draw you completely into their world., 24 May 1998
Read this now!! Piercy has always drawn powerful and interesting characters, especially those who grow out of the sixties spirit. The three around whom the story revolves are vivid, memorable, and, if not always loveable, certainly always compelling. The first person point of view of David's story gave an added intimacy to the relationship with his character, at least for this reader. The intrigue of the plot on both the personal and political levels was great! I love the way that Judiasm, food and respect for learning are woven into the plot. Now I will have to add Mr. Wood to my list of favorite authors, which has long been topped by his wife. Like many of her books, notably, for me, He, She and It and Vida, I couldn't decide whether to whip through in one or two sittings, or to savor for a while. Sadly, I really couldn't put it down, and wait eagerly for the next work, collaboration or otherwise. The notes about the art of collaboration at the end were also of great interest, and added to my appreciation of this terrific story.

Great read, 15 Mar 2005
I have never read a Marge Piercy book before, and not really a great lover of politically themed books. Consequently I had no pre-conceived ideas about how this book would be, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It really is a page-turner. It has a good story which keeps you guessing throughout, with lots of little surprises. It's a great book to curl up with on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The political theme is what the story is based around, but don't let this put you off. It merely is the backdrop for a really good story.

Disappointing, 06 Jan 2005
I'm a fan of Marge Piercy's novels, and although this one has the customary broad scope, I found it a bit disappointing and lacking the usual detailed observation that gives you a clear picture of the societies you write about. She doesn't often write about the lives of the rich and privileged, and it feels as if it interests her less than middle-class or working-class lives.

If you like her other novels it's definitely worth a look, but if you haven't read any of her novels before, start with Braided Lives or Vida instead, which I'd happily give five stars.

A fabulous, sexy melodrama about politics, lies and betrayal, 25 Jan 2004
The Third child is an absolutely riveting and sensational melodrama. I just loved this book. Nothing about this story can be taken seriously, but this doesn’t really matter because you will be enormously entertained by the over-the-top scenario. Yes – The Third Child is a literary thriller, a love story and a saga of espionage, but the novel also offers us some insights into political corruption and the ramifications of family lies and betrayal.

Melissa Dickinson is the neglected, needy third child of Republican senator Dick Dickinson and his cold, scheming wife, Rosemary. In her first year at Wesleyan College, she meets Blake Ackerman, a classmate who is both dark-skinned and Jewish, qualities sure to distress her parents. They fall into an intensely symbiotic relationship fueled by sexual compatibility as well as by Melissa's resentment of her emotionally inaccessible family who are “over-the-top” in their conservatism and their efforts to keep up appearances. Blake's desire for vengeance for his dead father, which includes hacking into Melissa's parents' computer to find evidence that might destroy her father’s career, has ramifications that destroy almost everyone in the novel.

As the narrative is told from Melissa’s view, we get an emotional roller coaster of thoughts and views, as she shifts alliances and realizes that her family are stifling her and not giving her the emotional support that she wants. Rosemary the archetypal control freak, never bothers to give Melissa affection; “ she monitors Melissa - “she puts up fence posts and strings barbed wire.” And as the story progresses we get a feeling of inevitable doom as Blake and her start to meddle in political cover-ups that spiral out of their control. The effects of lies, deceit and betrayal are at the thematic core of this novel. Melissa lies to her mother and father, her best friend Emily, her lover Blake, and her siblings. And Blake, in turn, lies to Emily and his family, the consequences of this are that no one is ever as they seem, as loyalties of friends and family shift and blur. This is a terrific piece of work, and is almost reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s A Secret History, in tone and content. You won’t be able to put The Third Child down.

Michael

Disappointingly predictable, 23 Jan 2004
I've read most, if not all of the author's works and generally found her books enjoyable. However, this latest novel becomes fairly - almost unbelievably - transparent just a few chapters in. The family of the main character are hideously two-dimensional and a significant employee is loyal to the point of lobotomy. The plot make much use of hacked computer information, the technicalities of which seeming rather far-fetched. If you are a fan, you'll probably want to read it anyway but don't be in a hurry. If you're not a fan. don't even bother.

"Our path is together. Don't you know that yet?", 26 Nov 2003
It is difficult to characterize this novel. It's certainly a coming-of-age novel, tracing, as it does, Melissa Dickinson's life from age 17 - 19, and it's certainly a political novel in the sense that it focuses on her relationship with her father, a conservative senator from Pennsylvania and former two-term governor, a proponent of the death penalty who oversaw several executions. It's also a "suspense" novel in that it involves research into possible corruption, with a grand climax in the last ten pages. Thin on character, it is also more theatrical than subtle--easy to imagine as a film or TV program.

The third child in a political family which does not have enough time for her, Melissa Dickinson is a bright student who goes off to a fine university in Connecticut. There she immediately meets a handsome young man who, for reasons she cannot fathom (but which the reader will immediately guess), sweeps her off her feet and engages her in an overwhelming, passionate affair. She soon discovers that he is the son of a lawyer who represented a convicted murderer executed during her father's term. He wants to "research" her father and collect data about him, and she, resenting the family dynamics, which do not recognize her as an individual, agrees to help her lover.

Romantic and melodramatic, the novel depends on the reader's belief that the daughter of a two-term governor who is now a senator and friend of the President really could be as naive as Melissa is. Though she is seventeen, supposedly has scored 1460 on her SATs, and has attended fine schools, she apparently has no curiosity whatever about government or education in basic civics, referring, at one point, to the Secretary of the Interior--"whatever that meant." Her point of view is reflected in short, simple sentences, like that of a much younger teenager, until she begins her relationship with Blake Ackerman, when her sentences get longer, though she continues to think in cliches: "She felt as if he were the only person she had ever known who saw what she needed."

As the data-gathering on her father continues, Melissa still remains completely naive, suspecting neither motives nor actions, even when they involve computers, hidden keys, floor plans, and vows of secrecy. Most readers, however, will guess the plot complications before they happen. Though some sympathy may be generated for Melissa, she and the other characters are stereotypical, rather than unique, and they behave according to form. The grand climax, when it happens, may be less grand for some readers than they had hoped. Mary Whipple

Natural imagery mixed with pure, rough emotions, 18 Mar 2004
I like poetry with imagery that resolves into a shift in vantage point; this is something of which Marge Piercy is a master. The poems are in some aspects raw and gutsy, others are lyrical and meditative. I read "The Doughty Oaks" out loud to someone who also admired its tight imagery of an oak tree holding its leaves dried on the branches, far into Spring, like miser in rags. The contradiction at the end of the poem makes the entire verse twist pleasantly and thoughtfully.

The last set of poems in the book are based on the Celtic Lunar calendar as a device for Piercy to celebrate the lunar calendar of the body and of the Jewish religion as well--whose festivals fall on lunar dates and account for our shifting Easter holiday. Well worth reading if you like poetry. This is one book I will be pulling off the shelf from time to time, to find new aspects of meaning.

An amazing toast to women, nature, and love. Pefectly worded, 02 Mar 1999
This book was exactly what I wanted. The poems are all unique, but all share a wonderful thread or womanly pride and celebration. I read it from cover to cover, laughing and crying all the way through. I loved it and would recommend any of her books...especially this one.

Beautiful, Powerful, A joy to Read!!!!, 03 Aug 1998
If I were to pick a favorite book of poetry this would be it! I stumbled across a copy while on vacation in Maine and spent hours on the beach reading these poems out loud. While some are extremely political and touch on very painful topics, I feel strongly that Marge Piercy has allowed her readers to tap into her inner beliefs, and feelings. It is a very special person who is able to do this, and this collection of poems is wonderful in allowing us to see the many facets of this poet. Imagery, analogy, whatever you connect with, you'll find it in this book. I lent my copy to a friend and it was never returned so I'm back here buying a second!!!! If you're considering this book, don't hesitate a second longer, you'll love it!