The Gate to Women's Country

by Sheri S. Tepper

Book Overview

For all those who enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale comes a captivating novel set in a frightening future. Human civilization has evolved into a dual so ciety where walls enclose the peaceful women and keep... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553280643
• ISBN13: 9780553280647
• Release Date: February 1993
• Publisher: Spectra Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.3" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Gate to Tepper's Universe.

For all those who are unaware: Sheri Tepper has very strong view points. She is a feminist militant and a pacifist. Her books express parables of her sights. Even if I do not agree with Ms. Tepper I've enjoyed her work very much. Her imaginary universes always cast lights and shadows to our own world, allowing the reader to take a different perspective, to think, to argue. Never to be indifferent. Her prose is strong, her imagination fertile and her ability to write interesting stories is outstanding. The present tale is set in a post-apocalyptic world. After devastation, a new civilization is struggling to give humankind another chance. Nothing is easy. The new organization is composed by fortified city-states, where women rule inside cultivating the arts, sciences and agriculture aided by a small group of male servitors. Men are deployed outside as protecting warriors, centered in martial arts, wrestling and having sports competences. In the surface this arrangement is working sustained on complex rules and ceremonies. There are strong undercurrents and rivalries between both groups. The main character is Stavia, a Councilwoman of Marthastown, and her life is shown in three critical moments, allowing the reader to have an inkling of what's going on, at the same time that Stavia does. Even if these the three periods are not sequentially described. One more feature in this provoking book: Ms Tepper rewrite and retranslate the Greek tragedy The Trojan Women as a central myth of this civilization. A book to enjoy and draw independent conclusions. Reviewed by Max Yofre.

A controversial classic! Thought-provoking and fun to read

This book is controversial because it's accused of man-bashing. Even the author's publisher said he read it with some discomfort! But Gate to Women's Country doesn't bash men, it bashes human behavior that leads to war and destruction.The time is post-nuclear apocalypse, several centuries afterward. The tattered remnants of society are isolated clusters of cities. One such cluster is Women's Country. Founded by Martha Evesdaughter, as she called herself, the society is a loose confederation of walled towns, each defended from bandits and each other by a garrison. The boys, at five, go to live with their warrior fathers in the garrison. At 15, they may choose to become a defender and stay in the garrison and take up the art of war, or they may return to become servitors and assist the women in the running of farms and the general economy. Life is not easy; electric power is limited by the wood that can be gathered and burned in the one remaining power plant in just one of the towns. Much knowledge has been lost in the apocalypse; each woman must take up a science, a craft, and an art and study and work her whole life, not only to provide food, medical services and the means of living, but to maintain and grow the knowledge that was once lost. The towns are run under strict ordinances, governed by councils of older women. Servitors have no say in the council, nor do the warriors. Women's Country is...women's country.This is the backdrop for the story of Stavia Morgotsdaughter, daughter of a doctor and member of the town council of Marthatown. She struggles with adolescent emotions such as rebellion against the ordinances and stirrings of feeling towards a young man. Her sister Myra struggles as well, as teens do, against rules and for becoming independent. Myra eventually moves out of the house and begins her life as a young woman and mother, as many young women do today. Stavia's questioning, mixed-up feelings and growing-up lead her to an adventure, a disastrous decision, and discovering much that was kept hidden about the society. The surprises and twists of this story unfold as Stavia discovers secret after secret. Her adventure is exciting, and we tremble for her as she takes important steps to her maturity.This is one of my top ten favorite science fiction books, and my favorite of Sheri Tepper's. Despite what you may hear about this novel, if you love science fiction, especially the kind of sci-fi that creates an entire world with customs, language, and myths, you will love this book. Do not miss it.

Most people just don't get it....

After reading the other reviews for this book, I realized that the point of the book was lost on some of the readers, especially the person who thinks Tepper is offering eugenics as a "solution." This book is not putting forth a utopian society that Tepper is saying is the "way to go." The whole point is that what is happening in the book is bad. The men's society is bad, and the women's answer to it is just as bad. The women are denying the men an education and thus a means to better themselves, and they are manipulating the men into fighting with each other. What Tepper is showing is not the way to make a male-bashing world that angry women would love -- what she is showing is the very real problem of governing, of deciding what truly is "the lesser of the evils," of the terrible choices at stake in this particular society. She is not holding up the women as heroes and the men as villains. It is much more complex and rich than that. It's an incredible story about being human, about government, and about what sort of mistakes a female government might make, and how those might differ from men's mistakes (but be just as bad in the long run).

A vision that works on many levels

This is a fantastic book! I read it in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. It is not an anti-male, if-only-women-were-in-charge-there-would-be-no-war book. It's a lot deeper than that, so try thinking beyond the surface when you read it. Through the seemingly-innocent dialogue, Tepper cleverly reveals not only the properties of the world she has created, but also the properties of our own world. Her neat reversal of which gender is perceived as the "normal," "default" human points out all the invisible places where women are seen as different, deviant, and non-standard in today's society.Most significantly, Tepper does not create a utopia where women are in charge, and everyone is happy (can't you just picture the birds singing, the flowers growing...?-- there is none of this). This is *not* a perfect world, nor is it completely stable. It is fascinating to get a glimpse of a *well-thought-out* world in which women play a much more powerful role. It's much better than the unrealistic and wishful creations of other feminist authors.I highly recommend this book, especially to young women and men of all ages, the two groups that benefit the most from seeing powerful women.

Tepper; Destined for Timeless Greatness

Sheri S. Tepper is, without a doubt, one of the finest science speculation writers of our century. Her crisp, innovative writing style gives plenty of exercise to the mind as she poses timeless questions to readers. The catch? She poses these questions from different perspectives. The Gate to Women's Country is a story which invites the reader to explore what our society might be headed toward. As she masterfully weaves her tale, the reader becomes part of the community of the book and cannot help but be in shock when the story ends. Tepper's world is vibrant and alive. The development of her characters is rich and deep. It is a book to be read time and time again because with each passing year, the questions Tepper asks become more pertinent to our lives. I have read nearly all of Tepper's novels and highly recommend them to all readers of science speculation. Her work is not for the faint of heart. If you are looking for a fluff piece of literature, go read a Star Trek novel. However, if you are looking for a piece of work that intelligently and relevantly speaks toward the general human condition, this book is for you. The reader will find the story fascinating and impossible to put down. If the reader has never read a Tepper novel, prepare for a delightful experience. The best part for a new reader is that once The Gate to Women's Country is finished, you can go right out and purchase Grass or Broken Stones or Sideshow. For those of us who have read everything we can get our hands on, it is a torturous wait for each new novel; but ALWAYS worth it. Take the Tepper plunge. You'll never regret it.