Woman on the Edge of Time
Ratings18
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings18
Average rating3.8
Hailed as a classic of speculative science fiction, Marge Piercy's landmark novel is a transformative vision of two futures. Harrowing and prescient, Woman on the Edge of Time will speak to a new generation on whom these choices weigh more heavily than ever before. After being unjustly committed to a mental institution, Connie Ramos is contacted by an envoy from the year 2137, who shows her a utopian future of sexual and racial equality and environmental harmony. But Connie also bears witness to another potential outcome: a dystopian society of grotesque exploitation. One will become our world. And Connie herself may strike the decisive blow... The classic feminist science fiction novel - reissued on its 40th anniversary with a new introduction by the author. Harrowing and prescient - and often compared to The Handmaid's Tale - Woman on the Edge of Time will speak to a new generation of readers.
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Great world building. Particularly like how Piercy develops the vernacular for different groups and how that reflects the underlying forces and most importantly principles that those groups shift around. Sometimes I feel points are repeated and whilst there has been a lot of work to flesh out this world, sometimes the pages are busy with description and dialogue rather than momentum. The presumably expected crescendo toward the end therefore doesn't land so loudly for me. Protagonist is great, love her passion and inner world, felt fresh to be placed alongside her in a sci fi context.
This book presents an interesting problem. It is a great book filled with fantastic writing, engaging characters, discussions of things that matter, and so many parts that lead to a great work of speculative fiction - if not the most cheerful (parts of this book are tough reads and intentionally so). It is from 1976 and this is first time I have read it so many of the themes of the book I have run into elsewhere and may well have become tropes based on this book - what came first right? That made it hard for me to evaluate. I recommend it, highly but it also seemed so familiar that at times that familiarity took me out of the story, frustrating. My problems aside this is a great book.
