Woman on the Edge of Time: A Novel

Connie, a Hispanic woman, lives in New York and experiences many hardships in her life. Claud, her blind husband, dies which leads to Connie drinking and eventually abusing her daughter, Angelina.

Dolly, her niece, is associated with a pimp named Geraldo. He treats Dolly like a prostitute and Connie despises him. An altercation takes place in the apartment one day and Connie ends up putting Geraldo in the hospital. He in turn has Connie sent to a mental institution but this is not her first time. The doctors treat all of the patients like crap and Connie cannot stand them.

She experiences numerous run ins with the nurses and doctors, changing hospitals, medicine, etc. Connie's thoughts start wondering and she meets Luciente from the future. She thinks she is time traveling but this is all in her mind. Her consciousness goes back and forth from reality in the ward to Luciente's world.

Luciente's world is very different from life in New York. Persons, the all purpose pronoun for their world, live in separate self sufficient communities. Racism, sexism, crime, pollution, etc. are not issues in this future world. Early adolescents go on expeditions alone in the wilderness to find a good name and to learn self sufficiency. Connie originally thought Luciente was male but later discovered she was female. She was muscular and the rest of the community was physically fit. There is no pressure to go into any career and everyone does what they are good at. They often change jobs, spend a good amount of leisure time, and have long debates as a community as different issues arise.

Connie is often confused by these different customs, but Luciente's world grows on her and she eventually lets her mind into the world many times a day. It is an outlet for her. While in Luciente's world the nurses look at her and think she is passed out and other times hallucinating.

Connie thinks about escaping and she does but she is eventually caught while eating breakfast in a low scale restaurant. She gets put into a stricter and higher level mental institution.

The patients are often guinea pigs for new technological advances in medicine that the brilliant doctors come up with. The doctors shave the patient's heads, drill into their skulls and mess with their brains supposedly trying to help them. In some cases the amygdala would be removed. Connie is determined to avoid this procedure. She convinces her brother Luis, but he referred Lewis, that she was stable enough to visit for Thanksgiving and the doctors agree to let her out for the weekend.

Marge Piercy also introduces another future world where machines rule. This world or Luciente's world are the possible outcomes to the future. Luciente is basically manipulating Connie into believing she is a weapon. She is to fight against the doctors who are trying to destroy the mind. Luciente wants his world for the future and he has to use Connie to get what he wants. Connie is brainwashed by the thoughts from Luciente and she also feels as if she is fighting for her own life. She is at war with the doctors.

Suicide seems to be a logical way out so she can prevent her brain from being tampered with. Her Catholic background preaches against such activity. When she returns from Thanksgiving she poisons the doctor's coffee with some type of brown poison. I look at this act as self defense. She eventually winds up back in the mental hospital but she did what she had to do and she is a fighter.

A science fiction novel with a twist, "Woman on the Edge of Time," is a story of despair and unfortunate circumstances that allow the reader to really connect with the characters. Marge Piercy mixes in a utopian type world with the highly disturbing reality of life as we know it. Consuelo (Connie) Ramos, a 37 year-old Mexican-American, was submitted, for a second time, to the mental hospital after an unfortunate event where she tried to protect her niece from her pimp and ended up breaking his nose. Connie's life has been rough. Her lover dies, which causes her to misuse drugs (which causes her to hit her daughter and loose her to foster care). Trying to help the little family she has left causes her to be put back into the mental hospital. Each day for Connie is a struggle between living in the horrid conditions of the ward and drifting off into a utopian world of the future. Connie time travels to the future and becomes close friends with Luciente, a person from this futuristic world. Luciente's world has abolished gender roles, is completely un-materialistic, is highly advanced scientifically (although it doesn't seem so at first), and is based entirely on need, not want. Connie ends up spending more and more time in Luciente's world, and gets to know several of the people who live there.

This futuristic world seems strange to me, although I think it would definitely work, I don't think I would want to live there. Advanced science to the point where half of your memories are stored in a watch-like device that's on your wrist. Children are no longer conceived like we know it, but instead are produced in a tube. No different cultures, instead everyone pretty much has the same background. Worse of all there is no traditional families. Children have three mothers, no fathers, and at a young age are sent off on a mission to "find a name," and become an independent adult. It seems boring to point where I wouldn't know what to do with myself. It completely abolishes the fun of adolescence, which is an important period that everyone should be able to experience.

Connie is then faced with having to do experimental research at the hospital, and is faced with a choice of being mentally "killed" by the doctors, or killing the doctors herself. In a premeditated fit, Connie ends up killing several doctors, and in a funny yet disturbing way ends up being released from the hospital. In most circumstances, seeing a lunatic who has murdered would be disturbing, but in a way I was relieved that she was finally able to get her freedom after being put through all that she was.

This book is not the traditional "rough-life, kill myself" type of book. The rough life that Connie has had makes me have sympathy for her, and makes me want to help her. The fact that she was falsely admitted into the psychiatric hospital by her own family makes me angry, and I would probably go crazy if I was in her shoes. Her own family wants to get rid of her, and that alone makes me want to reach out and help her.

Connie Ramos has had a very rough life. Through her trials and tribulations she has had many low points, yet somehow she has still pulled through. She is the prime example of the woman who wants more in life. She tries hard not to become her mother, who was a typical Mexican housewife. She wants to be a working girl, to go to school and be educated. She also wants to start a family with a good man and to be happy. She tries to do this, but as in every life things happen to her that prevent her hopes and dreams.

At one point she loses her daughter for striking her. She was very distraught at the time after losing a man she considered to be her other half and did not do it intentionally. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She is then sent to a mental institution. Later on in the story she tries to save her niece from her horrible pimp, and hits him in the nose so she is sent to the hospital yet again because her neice, Dolly, allows her father,Luis, and her pimp,Geraldo,to say that she did it because she was insane. She begins seeing a person from another time named Luciente. I believe that time traveling is possible but not probable, and you have to remember that this is a science fiction novel in order to interpret it properly. I think she may have created this alternate reality in her mind in order to cope with what has happened to her. When reading the story though I try to believe that she really can go there because for me it just makes it more enjoyable to read.

The reason I believe that it is an alternate reality that she has created is because it is everything that is not in her life. Such as stability, a happy family atmosphere full of love, and all the education that these people's hearts desire. Connie never has really had any of this and so I think her brain made it up so that could be her so called happy place that helps to keep her sane.

In this world that Luciente is from they have made life more simple with not so much technology even though they have it. I think that I would like to live in this world because everything that means something to me in my life is in this world. A good family, friendship, and intimate relationship. They also get to peruse any line of work they want and never have to worry about money or possessions in my mind this would be the perfect world.

I do not think I would appreciate it if I had not gone through what I have in my life. If I were just brought into it as I was into this world I would probably take it for granted and that is the downfall. Another thing that I think I prefer about our world is being a mother. In this world you have to share that responsibility with two other people and only for twelve years. I want to experience it with only my husband because it is something you can never experience until you actually do. I want to see how my child will look and what their life will turn out like as a result of what I taught them.

Towards the end of the story Connie comes up with a plan that will ultimately save Luciente's world. I think that she is only acting in self defense against her brother so that she may have a chance to live. The actions that she took as I said save the other world and that is why I think that she can no longer contact it. Because really the other world is herself so she saves herself and doesn't have to save her future anymore.

Read this for the same "Utopia/Dystopia" class - and was captivated. After having picked through a half dozen other books - I'm amazed at how Marge Piercy is able to write cover so many genres - from historical fiction to contemporary fiction to science fiction.
I can say she's become one of my all time favorite writers - and personally most influential.
This - probably one of her best works (also read, Gone to Soldiers). I don't want to give away too much of the story line - as it might spoil some of the fun of exploring the unique and creative storyline.

I believe that Marge Piercy is certainly overlooked, and it sounds like, underrated. I'm 52 yrs old and I'd never heard of her until a friend's 70-something mother turned me on to "He, She, It" about 2 yrs ago. I immediately feel in love with that book.
Lately I found Woman on the Edge of Time at a thrift store. I wasn't able to put it down until I finished it. Of course it was unrealistic. Of course things were exaggerated, but that was a device she used to tell the story. She didn't let herself become overly bogged down in details. Almost anyone can do enough research to make a SciFi book sound realistic, but not everyone can write an intelligent, far-thinking, sensitive, suspenceful, and yet hopeful story. I can't believe that she developed the idea of people using "kenners" on their wrists to communicate with others. She wrote about this at a time when we hadn't even thought up personal computers or popularized cell phones. It's amazing! Now I've just gotta go out and find all of her other writings. I found a new favorite writer. And, like others have said, I don't think of her as a "feminist writer." That's the way we devalue people and their stories. Calling their work: feminist, American-American, Lesbian/Gay, etc. I'm a long-time feminist and yet when I write, I write as a writer, human being, not as I think someone who fits in my little box would want me to write. This writer is awesome. Give her her due. And certainly read "She, He, It" if you haven't already done so. It's a marvelous book.

Woman on the Edge of time was overwhelming, suspenseful, and exciting. Marge Percy did a wonderful job creating the characters of this novel and the elements that surround them. This is a story about a woman who is wrongly accused for a crime. When really she was trying to protect her niece..

Connie Ramos has had rough life. She had an abortion at an early age and she has even been through some mental and physical abuse. She had a boyfriend but he died when an experiment went wrong. This then lead to her heavy drinking and marijuana usage. .T o make matters worse, she was taken to a psychiatric hospital. There she meets Alice and Skip. They were probably the only "real" friends she had. The doctors were rude and treated the patients unfairly. The food was repulsive and the medicine always seemed to put Connie in a deep trance. On top of that she had to participate in experimental activities. She was slowly dying. One day however she heard a voice that would change her thoughts forever.

Luciente was the person whose voice Connie heard. Somehow he used time travel to leap from the future back into the past. He asked Connie to come with him from the dreadful asylum and she agreed. Luciente's world was different for Connie's reality. It seemed like their world was trying to fix its entire problem so there wouldn't be any. This sort of reminded me of the Utopian society.

One thing that I like about the book was Connie's intelligence and her "ill will" to survive. The book tells us that she had some kind of college and was trying to pursue some type of career. What bothers me is that no one seemed to care or even notice her accomplishments. I believe that everyone overlooked her and did not give her the love and support than a woman needs. Also, during this time New York had a lot of people. Some were loosing jobs because of the terrorist's attacks of that period. This could have lead to depression and her drug addiction.

Marge Percy is an sensational writer. I still cannot tell whether Luceinte's world was a part of the future or was this just a figment of Connie's imagination. The way she kept going in and out of consciousness suggests that she was in some sort of dream state. There is even the possibility that the medicine given to her could have caused these hallucinations. Luciente's world could have been created from Connie's fatigued body.
Another point that left me puzzled was the fact that after all the pain and turmoil she wnt through, Luciente would not let he revisit. This left an enigma of thought in my mind. Maybe she was being manipulated? Now that I think about it, Connie could have created these images and people to find a sense of freedom. This could have been her way of escape.

This is a magnificent book. At first, one may feel objected to giving up on it , but time is of the essence. The characters and images of this book is what make it come alive. People young and old can read this book an actually feel touched. This maybe a great book for people dealing with depression because it shows even when darkness falls one can still get a glimpse of light. Another thing that makes this book so great is Connie. I know I have mentioned her time and time again in this review but this is a very courageous woman. In fact, most women go through this in some aspect very year. Abuse is one of the main topics that need to be stressed, This book will not only show you two different worlds with many levels of difference but it will also show you that with faith and determination one can live to see the brighter side of the gloom.

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A woman who has already been through so much, holding on to almost nothing only evaluates the predicament Connie Ramos enters the novel with. Connie Ramos is the main character in the novel, who lives a demeaning lifestyle of being on welfare and unfortunately having her daughter(Angelina) taken away from her, right after her husband Claud was killed. These tragic incidents only left Connie with her family to turn to, but even her family seemed at a distance, not quite as consoling and understanding as one would hope.

Connie's only motivation was her niece Dolly, and she lived a life that was only a mere version of the life Connie once lived, in that both of there life styles over all were looked down upon. Dolly was a prostitute who followed orders by her pimp Geraldo. Like any other pimp Geraldo could care less about Dolly or any of her family.

Later in the novel Dolly was beaten so badly by Geraldo she had to escape and went straight to her Aunt Connie's house. Connie like any other good aunt let Dolly in, but Connie wasn't aware that after this unexpected visit she would be trapped in a situation that would change the rest of her life.

Geraldo later busted through Connie's door, Connie on defense tries to keep Geraldo from beating her niece again. Except Connie couldn't maintain him, Geraldo was cruel and impatient. Connie still tried desperately to keep Geraldo away from Dolly. Geraldo aggravated and furious with Dolly as well as Connie takes both of them down to the hospital (Bellevue) and schemes Dolly into helping him check Connie into Bellevue. The next morning Connie wakes up to total bewilderment.Geraldo had brought Connie back to a place she had once been to before and undoubtedly knew she didn't belong to. She was also frustrated with Dolly for being so naïve and actually helping Geraldo check her in Bellevue.
Connie was also mad with herself, the fact of being on welfare and then being submitted into an insane institute for the second time was pitiful. Living in Bellevue was distressing, and made Connie feel as though she had been sucked into an unpromising life style. At Bellevue know one was respected or projected any type of opinion that mattered except the staff that worked there.
Connie spent most of her time at Bellevue being drugged up off of drugs like thorazizne, or talking with some of the other patients , desperately trying to scheme a way out.
Connie also had a friend by the name of Luciente, which she met at her house one day while sitting in the kitchen. Luciente was from the future, year 2137. She often talked to Connie and tried to explain to her exactly how important Connie is to her year and time. Connie's confused through out the novel,but with the little strentgh and sanity she has, she desperately tries to fight an on going battle between her friend Luciente's world and her own. Connie fights in hope that she can return to a normal life with some sanity.

At some time or another, everybody tries to escape reality. Some people play video games, or drink alcohol; others escape reality by closing their eyes and picturing themselves in another place. In the book Woman on the Edge of Time, Connie does precisely that. This 37 year old Mexican American lives a life full of pain and disappointment. After being accused of violence against her niece and others, Connie is sent to a psychiatric ward and held against her will, Connie begins to escape reality the only way she knows how; time travel. In the new world that Connie sees. it is the year 2137 and she meets a per name Luciente. Connie is shown that in the future, the people are trying to clean up the mess that the people of Connie's time made.

Realizing what a mess that her life really is, Connie decides to do something about it. She must get out of a brain operating experiment before it is too late. Connie begins to visit the future more often. The doctors think that something may be wrong with the experiment and Connie. This concern causes her operation to be pushed back, giving Connie more time to think of a way out of the mess that she is in. Connie becomes a strong willed woman, relying on no one and strong to her convictions. Luciente's world is not as futuristic as I expected. Instead of moving forward and having plenty of technology, they are peasants working in the field. There is more than one mother per child. This future has no gender barriers and therefore there are no marriages. It is a future that I defiantly did not see coming. But for Luciente and her people, it is a better and brighter future. Everybody is working to make the world a more pure and enjoyable nature experience. I do not believe that I could be completely happy living in this future. Instead of taking a step forward, I see Luciente's world as a step back.

As Connie tries figure out what to do to stay off of the operating table, Luciente and her lovers try to make her believe that Connie is the one that must save the future. With that knowledge Connie becomes desperate to escape. After visiting her brother and niece for Thanksgiving, she steals a bottle of poison. Still debating on how to escape, Connie knows that there is only one way of the hell that she has been put in. Since she can not escape the ward, she must kill the doctors. With the scene of 3 stretchers going in and out of the doctors' office, carrying victims, the book comes to a close. In Connie's eyes, her life is war. Many people see their lives as the same. Even though this tilts on the science fiction genre, it also has a dramatic and almost real life feel.

For many people time travel is unachievable even to imagine. For others, it may be a reality. There is no murder in this book, except for the killings of the patients' brains. Many people may be able to relate in some sort of way to this book; from the escaping reality by time traveling to the feeling of being kept from the real world against your will. Although I am not a science fiction book reader, I did enjoy reading and discussing this book with my colleagues. If you love time travel, or even if you just enjoy reading books that don't quite fit into a specific category, you will enjoy this book.

Leonard W. Caver Jr.

February 11, 2005

Lynn Hamilton

English 1102

Woman on The Edge of Time is a science fiction novel which navigates it audience through a mind boggling tunnel of mental twist and turns. The main character of the book, Connie Ramos, is a young Latina woman who has the ability to be contacted by individuals in her future. In Connie's "world" she treated horribly. She was molested by her older brother when she was a child, which may be a direct reflection of her multiple failing attempts to stay married. Her only daughter was taken from her because she could not afford to take care of her. She lived through immense poverty and in turn was a struggling member of her society. The novel depicts Connie's credibility as a woman, mother, and wife as one that was in shambles through their descriptions her past actions. After returning to the mental institution, for the second time, Connie begins to make contact from an individual who claims to be from the future. The ironic part about it all is that the only reason that she was in the asylum for a second time was because her closest family member Dolly, her niece, told authorities that she beat her up. Little did the police know was that Connie's niece was a prostitute who really just got beat up by her pimp.

Connie begins to travel to the "future" with her appointed guide, Luciente. In this futuristic world Connie is exposed to a completely human created utopia. I wouldn't even go as far as to say a utopia; I would say a half way decent attempt at equality. I would not want to live in Luciente's world because the freedoms that they enjoy all come at a price. Their entire society is revolved around thought, and not action. In her future world Connie is exposed to life where the "old meets the new". Old in the since that everyone lives in villages, grow their own food, and use non polluting forms of transportation to get around. Luciente's world is also "new" because they create children; there are few rules, and robots to a lot of the manual work that humans used to do. Luciente's world is also at war with an army of cyborg's and robots for the balance of the world. Connie is eventually told that the reason that they have allowed her to come to the future was because she was the deciding factor of their future war. I do believe that she was truly time traveling in her mind. When she time traveled she went into deep trances which would last for a couple hours. The ironic thing about it all was the time traveling only took place in her head; her physical body remained in her room at the mental hospital. While imprisoned in a New York mental facility, Connie is hand selected by famous doctors to be apart of a new medical breakthrough in science. In the novel, the major breakthrough has human mind control. This would eventually foreshadow the war against humans and cyborgs (mechanically advanced humans).

This story resonates with anyone who enjoyed the message in Egalia's Daughter's or even the YA book, The Giver. It is not for the casual reader, as the time travel takes a bit to follow, but the emotive content is so superior, and the societal messages so clear, I think everyone should read this book at some point in his/her life. It is now one of my favorites, and the craft is so excellent, even a creative writer would love to examine its construction. A wonderful classic.

Jonathan Thurston

At the Cross Roads of Time

Woman on the Edge of Time is a good Sci-Fi novel full of twists and turns that keep you close to the book until a bitter-sweet end. Connie, a poor Hispanic woman becomes the essential link to control how the future turns out. What she chooses will make one world live on and kill off the other.

Connie is held against her will in a mental institute under false charges. Her rights are not given to her and she is held without trial. These are the first steps of many that lead into the war of the futures.

Connie can time travel with the help of a woman of the future named Luciente. Luciente's world is one like a hippy commune. People study what they want and relax most of the days. Machines are there but are well hidden and do most of the manual labor. There is a constant war being fought but not very clear until the end.

Later in the novel Connie time travels to another world in the future. This world is the other crossroad of her decisions. She meets up with a woman there by the name of Guildina. Guildina is a contract hooker. This is a one of the many weird twists of the novel. Here is where Connie sees what she must do to preserve those who live in the world of Luciente.

Connie while in the mental institute is made to undergo a series of surgeries that she doesn't want or need but due to the false testimony she has no choice. The war in the present is gearing up and the final decisions are made to see what the future will bring to us. Will we become a world of machines or hippy lifestyles?

Connie fights at first without violence then later changes to a lethal fight that no one knows about except those of Luciente's world and herself. Connie becomes the hero of mattiposette. But a bigger question still lingers in the end. Is Connie a murderer or is she fighting a war or is she just acting in self defence?

After she "wins the war", why can she not talk to Luciente anymore? Could she have been used or was this whole series of events a figment in the insane mind? Just a few of the many twists you will see as you read Woman on the Edge of Time.

This book left me feeling robbed. I'm annoyed that I didn't trust my instinct to abandon it and not waste time. Instead I slogged through to the ambiguous ending and was very unsatisfied. Given the high average rating and the way the book was "Hailed as a classic of speculative fiction", I expected so much more.

Daniel Johnson
2/11/05
Dr. Hamilton

Crazy or Not?

Woman on the Edge of Time is a Sci-phi novel by Marge Piercy. The story is about a thirty-five year old woman named Connie Ramos. Connie comes from a large poor family and struggles to get by. Under the stress of her life, Coonie develops a drinking problem and loses her daughter Angelina to child services. Once Connie loses her child she goes into a severe state of depression and is placed in a mental hospital.
While in the institution, Connie starts making contact with a woman that's suppose to be from the year 2137. The woman's name is Luciente and she shows Connie how to time travel into the future. Throughout the novel Luciente and Connie make contact with one another and move back and forth between the two worlds. Connie tells Luciente about her life and daughter and Luciente tells Connie about her life in the future. Luciente shows Connie how people can have sexual relations with different people, how babies are no longer birthed through the natural means but instead they are genetically prepared and stored until someone dies, and how they use solar energy in the future. Luciente shows Connie how people have three mothers and how people don't have personal property.
Throughout the novel Connie has to struggle with the doctors in the institution because the want to put electrodes in her brain. Connie also has to stuggle with the fact that she might be losing her sanity. She discovers that the fate of the future rest on her actions and whether the doctors can control her or not.
Overall the story is pretty interesting because it shows how the action of people can affect the future. In my opinion I believe Connie is engaged in a war with herself and the doctors. She is fighting with herself to keep her sanity while at the same time she is fighting with the doctors to keep them from controlling her. I believe Connies stuggle for sanity and expeiences in both worlds keeps the novel alive. Overall I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good sci-phi book.

Marge Piercy a great writer is responsible for the futuristic science fiction thriller Woman on the edge of time. Which is a story centered around a poor woman living off welfare, and labeled insane by the society she lives in. Connie Ramos the main character in the book has led a troubled life. Out of the few family she has left, her nice is the only one she is close to. However her niece turned on her. Connie tried to save her niece Dolly from her pimp/boyfriend Geraldo. Connie broke Geraldo's nose before Geraldo and his friend beat her up and took her to Belleview hospital claming that Connie attacked dolly and himself and that she was crazy. Dolly was too frightened of Geraldo to tell the truth and no one in the hospital would listen to Connie because this was infact her second time being in an institution.

While in the institution Connie came into contact with a person named Luciente. It turned out that luciente was infact a time traveler from the year 2137, and had chosen to make contact with Connie Ramos. Through out that main part of the book Connie travels to the future and discovers a world of dreams. In the world all people are treated equal as is the earth. There is no social standing based of race, wealth or gender. In this world Mankind is not ruled by machines because the people rarely ever use them. In this world both men and women take on the mother by taking care of and raising their children to be their selves. The people in this world live in three person households and identify themselves as per instead of she or him.

However as Connie soon discovers that the world she has been traveling to is but one of many possible futures. She travels to one to discover an almost opposite world of the one she traveled to with luciente. In this world few rule the many and live long at the expense of the very poor. The people in this world are slaves to the machines they use for they surly cannot live with out them. Connie is discussed by this world. Soon she finds out that it is up to her and her actions to choose what future humanity will live in. She must do something very bad for the good of all. At the end of the book Marge Piercy leaves the reader with a question. Did this really happen to Connie?

Consuelo Ramos, the main character in this novel is the strangest character I've ever been introduced to. I find her sneaky strength to be very clever. She's able to outwit people at her weakest moments.

There were times I questioned "what will this woman do next?" Then, out of nowhere, she comes up with some wild plot to escape her present state of mind.

When she was first introduced to the character Luciente I thought "Oh my God, what is about to happen?" But it turns out that Luciente and her people are very bright and actually helped Connie out as much as she helped them.

I was very impressed by Woman on the Edge of Time and I recommend it to readers of people who like suspense and adventure.

To answer the questiion as to whether Connie is a murderer or was just defending herself I would say that she was just defending herself because I certainly would not just sit around like a bump on a log and let someone try to alter my behavior, especially knowing that I was perfectly sane. I would probably actually go crazy for real.

I picked up this book because of a great interest in Utopian/Dystopian literature. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in this particular piece. While I enjoy a good deal of Piercy's poetry, I spent most of my time reading this book shaking my head and laughing at the unrealistic and awkward use of language, as well as the plot. How did Connie get into the future? It would have been nice if there had been some kind of explanation. Her very brief visit into the horrible alternative future was just as unbeleivable as the feminist utopia that we are, I assume, to see as not only desirable but as an attainable and very worthy goal. As a woman, I feel that certain elements of our biology (as well as men's) is what makes us special. To make everyone essentially the same would only destroy our uniqueness and the qualities that make us who we are. I truly feel that Piercy missed the mark on this one.

Marge Piercy's wonderful novel, "Woman on the Edge of Time" is a classic glimpse of a utopian future. An ordinary working-class woman, struggling to stay afloat amid poverty and mental illness, falls in and out of an idyllic tomorrow. The characterizations of her, her sister, and other persona of the "real" world are drawn very well. So are the characters of the people who inhabit the future which she keeps visiting. I found the book a little hard to get into at first, but I recommend that folks give it a chance. Once you've waded in a ways, the warmth of the water (and of Piercy's humanity) will entice you to stay. Marge Piercy is a very good writer, as amply demonstrated by "Vida," "Gone to Soldiers" and "City of Light; City of Darkness." "Woman on the Edge of Time," is in the fine tradition of Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" or William Golding's "Lord of the Flies."

This book was like a snowball rolling down hill to me. In the beginning, the book felt slow and small to me. I didn't know any of the characters or cared about the little bit of story I had read. As the snowball rolled further down the hill it got bigger. I got pulled into the story. The characters and their personalities gave me something to care for. The conflict intrigued me enough, keeping me turning the pages to see what would happen next. Would the main character, Connie, do what needed to be done? Was it all real? I had to know so I kept reading. In the end, the little snowball had morphed into a massive ball of sub-zero temperature destruction, steam rolling its' way towards the engrossing and gripping end. I suggest this book to anyone looking for a good sci-fi type read.

This particular book written by Marge Piercy was definetely worth reading. The book starts off with a Womn by the name of Connie. She is not your average woman, she is considered to be a minority, and has faced several bad times within her life. She also has a niece, by the name of Dolly, who has a job as a prostitute and works for a pimp by the name of Geraldo. One night Dolly got into a fight with her pimp and ended up dragging Connie into the whole ordeal. Geraldo decided to send Connie to a mental Hospital, but Connie wasn't particularly willing. I'm not really sure, but at this point in the story it's all a guess as to whether or not Connie actually crazy or not.

There's another part to this book it's about a woman named Luciente. Connie sincerely believes that Luciente is trying to contact her from the future. Connie ends up interacting with Luciente, and the two of them share the pleasure of visiting each others worlds. After being on the edge of your seat throughout the entire novel, it ends up being that Connie is faced with a very serious decision and she may have to live with for the rest of her life. I'm sure you're wondering what the big decision was, but you'll have to read the book in order to find out.

Marge Piercy's story is something like psychobabble science fiction without the explanation. Interestingly, she chooses a woman protagonist that isn't your typical hero. Instead, she is a poverty-stricken older woman, subject to the many dangers of the town she lives in. She has been committed to an institution by a pimp who wants her out of the way so he can take advantage of her niece. In the clinic, she sees a vision that appears very real to her, and claims to be from the future. It tells her that she must stay alive despite the circumstances, because she is important. Readers, along with the woman, Connie, are left wondering if her seemingly meaningless life is actually quite pertinent, or if she is simply too far gone to turn back. As my title says, it lacks depth. There is not much explanation as far as time-travel, theories, and whatnot. I'm not sure that's too important, but for me it left a lot of small holes in the story.

I am delighted to have stumbled upon a feminist novelist who can portray a woman's view without resorting to continual male-bashing. Her skill with English is a wonderful breath of air in a time when writers are churning out a semi-lierate cloud.

This is one my favorite feminist tentative-utopia books I have ever read. I also think it is better read then then feminist tentative-dystopia The Handmaid's Tale. The story follows Connie Ramos, a thirty-seven year old Chicana living in New York. She is declared to be insane, but in actually she is sane and can pass to and from her world of the 1960s to the future world of 2137. There she experiences a world free of sexism, racism and classism.

What a huge disappointment. I love time travel books of almost any style. Thus, the description for this intrigued me and I purchased it in the Audible format.

The prologue consisted of endless liberal ranting which seemed to go on forever! I bought the book for the story, not the author's political vomit! Enough with your personal agenda and let's hear the story!

I finally fast forwarded enough times to get to chapter 1.

I almost made it through chapter 2 before I stopped. I have never read anything so depressing in my life. I understand that there are a lot of people who live terribly depressing lives. Unfairness in the world abounds. I do what I can financially, politically, religiously, and personally to support changes.

This is the last thing I expect when I listen to a book for "pleasure." I care for my elderly parents and drive alone about 6 hours per week. I use audible books to pass the time

So, thanks for ruining my day. There should be a warning of some sort.

I loved this book for its futuristic visionary images of what the world could be like if we choose it. Although I was a little disappointed with the ending, one such as that keeps you thinking about and questioning the way things are. Happy endings don't do that. In any case, it was enjoyable, full of suspense, & funny. Of course I loved it for its feminist and environmental grounding & visions....I wish there was a sequel.

I'm surprised to read so many reviewers calling this a feminist novel. Why is a vision of the future where men and women are treated equally a feminist vision? Anyway, I loved this book, especially the way she illustrates how actions in the present will affect outcomes of the future.

Future society tour.

This is just a fairly average science fiction novel, and in a few ways, it could have been done (and was done) in the 19th century, among others. e.g. Spence, etc.

A woman gets transported to a future and experiences a female dominated society, and a bad one. Plenty of others you could read before this one.

I'm surprised to read so many reviewers calling this a feminist novel. Why is a vision of the future where men and women are treated equally a feminist vision? Anyway, I loved this book, especially the way she illustrates how actions in the present will affect outcomes of the future.

Future society tour.

This is just a fairly average science fiction novel, and in a few ways, it could have been done (and was done) in the 19th century, among others. e.g. Spence, etc.

A woman gets transported to a future and experiences a female dominated society, and a bad one. Plenty of others you could read before this one.