Woman on the Edge of Time

By Marge Piercy

Book Overview

Hailed as a classic of speculative fiction, Marge Piercy's landmark novel is a transformative vision of two futures--and what it takes to will one or the other into reality. Harrowing and prescient, Woman on the Edge of Time speaks to a new generation on whom these choices weigh more heavily than ever before. Connie Ramos is a Mexican American woman living on the streets of New York. Once ambitious and proud, she has lost her child, her husband, her dignity--and now they want to take her sanity. After being unjustly committed to a mental institution, Connie is contacted by an envoy from the year 2137, who shows her a time of sexual and racial equality, environmental purity, and unprecedented self-actualization. But Connie also bears witness to another potential outcome: a society of grotesque exploitation in which the barrier between person and commodity has finally been eroded. One will become our world. And Connie herself may strike the decisive blow. Praise for Woman on the Edge of Time "This is one of those rare novels that leave us different people at the end than we were at the beginning. Whether you are reading Marge Piercy's great work again or for the first time, it will remind you that we are creating the future with every choice we make." --Gloria Steinem "An ambitious, unusual novel about the possibilities for moral courage in contemporary society." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer "A stunning, even astonishing novel . . . marvelous and compelling." -- Publishers Weekly "Connie Ramos's world is cuttingly real." --Newsweek "Absorbing and exciting." -- The New York Times Book Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044900094X
• ISBN13: 9780449000946
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Woman On the Edge Of Time

I was saddened to read negative reviews of this wonderful novel. Especially as most the negative reviews were based on how "feminist" this book is. If you consider feminism females being superior to males then no, you won't like this book. However if you feel that people should be judged on their abilities and achievements and that equality for all is a goal this is a book for you. Connie a poor woman in the 1970's is our hero. Able to recieve a sort of psychic impression of the future she travels back and forth seeing how events in her time affect the future. Labeled insane and put away in an asylum she reaches to the future to keep hold of her sanity. This book is a testament to how society's labels can steer your life's course. Also found in this book are examples of possible futures, one to strive for and one to fear. The "utopian" future is especially wonderful to me for it shows a society that is not perfect but strives to overcome its imperfections, a world dealing with its problems not a world without problems. If you enjoy time travel and social issues in science fiction you may very well enjoy this book.

Brilliant, fasure...

I originally was given this book to read for a college course called "Utopia/Dystopia" and I must say I was skeptical when I started, but a fan by the time I finished. Everyone seems to refer to this work as a "Feminist" book, but I find it more Humanist than anything else. Both futures presented here are a little two dimensional, the Utopia is all squeaky clean and bright while the Dystopia is plastic evil through and through, but it's the ideas and the characters which make this novel shine. The concepts presented are very attractive and (in my opinion) very advanced for the period in which this was written (1976! Doesn't show a bit.). I'm a big fan of HG Wells and David Gerrold, and this novel fits in nicely with the former's Utopian visions and the laters complex character development. Piercy's mid 70's world is spot on; dirty, brown, and paranoid. Her treatment of the insane is both sensitive and compelling, it's hard to think of a more desperate character than poor Connie. And the ending is sweet (ohhhh so sweet!) and pleasantly vague at the same time.I'm a guy. I like guy things. But I'm also very fond of this book (I'd put it in my top ten) and the views of social equality it presents. This book will age nicely, I can see it as a classic in another few decades. Our society is on the cusp of the genetic revolution, who's side are you on?