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Product Description
Product Description
First published in 1979, Marge Piercy's novel is both a drama of survival and a Utopian epic. Connie Ramos, 37, Mexican-American and unfairly incarcerated in a mental hospital, is the enduring central character in a book about differing visions of the future.
From the Publisher
A timeless classic!
Ask any woman born pre-1970 to name the books which she found life altering and you can bet that Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy appears among them. Woman on the Edge of Time is the moving story of Connie Ramos, a thirty-seven-year-old Mexican-American, unfairly incarcerated in a mental hospital, whose survival instinct is greatly tested. On a larger scale it is a Utopian epic that makes you question the system that institutionalises her. Although originally published in 1975, this Women’s Press classic has endured the test of time and is greatly relevant to the 21st century reader interested in the idea of the position of women in the world.
Ask any woman born pre-1970 to name the books which she found life altering and you can bet that Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy appears among them. Woman on the Edge of Time is the moving story of Connie Ramos, a thirty-seven-year-old Mexican-American, unfairly incarcerated in a mental hospital, whose survival instinct is greatly tested. On a larger scale it is a Utopian epic that makes you question the system that institutionalises her. Although originally published in 1975, this Women’s Press classic has endured the test of time and is greatly relevant to the 21st century reader interested in the idea of the position of women in the world.
Erica Jong ‘One of the most important novelists of our time.’
Thomas Pynchon ‘Here is somebody with the guts to go into the deepest core of herself, her time, her history, and risk far more than anybody else has so far, just out of a love of the truth and a need to tell it.’
Time ‘Anyone who wants to learn what the revolution against the fat society is all about should read Marge Piercy’s novel.’
New Internationalist ‘Marge Piercy succeeds brilliantly in pitting the imagined idealism of the future against the poisoned and despoiled present – each illuminating the other- and the book stands as one of the classic feminist utopias, alongside Ursula LeGuin’s Dispossessed and Always Coming Home and Joanna Russ’s The Female Man. In Connie and Luciente we have two wonderfully rounded characters, fallible, often wrong-headed but brave, full of spirit and immensely life affirming.’
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
You won't believe this book is over 20 years old. There are many themes - the role of women and men, the position of minorities, an examination of whether human nature can ever change, society's definition of mental illness. Boy am I making this sound a dull book - but it isn't! The story itself is terrific, with warmly-drawn characters, and the pace varies nicely. For each passage to make you stop and think, there is a passage that will have you turning the pages as fast as you can.
This book changed the way I thought about the world as well as being a cracking read. There aren't any other books I can say that about.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A truly depressing read.....
I read this book as part of my book club. I forced myself to finish it, I found it almost torturous. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mrs. S. Heynes
classic of feminist science fiction
piercy presciently offers two possible futures; one an ecologically balanced utopia, where life is simple and gender distinctions are blurred; one a technologically superior... Read more
Published 18 months ago by pen name
Women's wrighting at its best
Woman on the edge of Time is an excellent read. Well written it compels the reader to turn the page. A thought provoking glimpse of human nature.
Published 19 months ago by Amanda
Please read this book!
Woman on the Edge of Time
Please do read this book, I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it so much. Read more
Please do read this book, I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it so much. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2008 by Ms. Michelle Ives
A 1970s vision of the future still fresh and relevant today
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... Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2008 by Retired
What Might Be: A Worthwhile Fantasy in Time
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... Read more
Published on 25 July 2007 by Zinta Aistars
Truely depressing stuff
I found the characters, particularly in Connie's time, to be rounded, and the story to be compelling (which gets it 3 stars). Read more
Published on 12 July 2007 by Melquiades
One of my all time favourite books
I read this as an undergraduate at university as part of a module on Utopian fiction and loved it. It sticks in my mind as a great book 20 years later. Read more
Published on 7 May 2007 by lilysmum
crys from the voiceless
Following the story of Connie Ramos, a poor Mexican woman as she struggles through the everyday rigours of her life to the very edge of sanity. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2003 by "annehuggettuk"
An amazing book that shakes you into questioning everything
This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read - Marge Piercy's savage story of Connie Ramos is the kind that gets you nice and hooked and then throws in alternatives,... Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2002
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