Reviews with content warning for Death - Woman on the Edge of Time

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Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

7 reviews

steveatwaywords's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is my first novel of Piercy's after many years of loving her poetry. And for many reasons, I was rewarded for this sustained immersion into her thinking.

While this book falls into the category of science fiction, it is better understood as speculative fiction (and social commentary). A woman who is forced into mental institutions (in the early 1970s) is able to time travel to a future utopic society. To be sure, the utopia has come about only following the worst practices of apocalyptic consumption-capitalism: it struggles in the aftermath; but its people have learned an ethic (and matched morality) about sustainability and life which--for its time, especially--is hugely forward-looking, especially in terms of gender, sexuality, and child development. These sections, coupled with a future language which is at once as familiar as it is paradigm-shifting, make the book a valuable experience.

Where Piercy has more trouble is in sustaining the story and its significance across past and future. There are some tempting discussions about the malleability of time, of the power of "responders" like our protagonist Connie, and of the responsibility we have to ourselves. Implementing these future-thinking ideas into the 1970s, however, was often forced and at times neglected or forgotten. The resolution to the novel feels equally . . . irresolute in this way. Yes, our Connie grows into her moment, but its nature is quickly narrated and left unexamined. One wonders if she needed "the future" at all to enact it and what might we have said had she done so. (And this is not because the novel is brief; its nearly 400 pages with long asides into the descriptions of meals, bandages, and the biographies of minor characters.)

It is, in part, the nature of a lot of science fiction from this era to offer its themes through "heady" trips into other-spaces; and readers are often left to make of the experiences what they will. I'm thinking of almost all of Huxley, a lot of Heinlein, Daniel Keyes, Harlan Ellison, and even some of LeGuin. In this sense, Piercy's novel has like company. But I could not help thinking that its resolution fell somewhat short of the author's future vision.

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arlaubscher's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

abmochapman's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Gloria Steinem says about this book that “whether you are reading … again or for the first time, it will remind you that we are creating the future with every choice we make”. And the future that Marge Piercy offers within these pages is incredibly rich and imaginative.

Consuelo Ramos is a Mexican American woman who was unjustly committed to a mental institution in 1970s New York. While she faces institutional ableism and abuse, she finds herself making contact with the year 2137. A time of radical equality, horizontal decision-making, and environmental sustainability, it stands in stark contrast to the present. But it is not guaranteed. The fate of the future rests on the struggle of people like Consuelo.

Woman on the Edge of Time is not a perfect work. Another review named Charlotte Kersten on Goodreads points out some of the more problematic aspects of the book’s discussions of sex work and relationships. Yet, within the novel, I found so much meaning. To me, both utopianism and organizing are about dreaming of something better. And I really felt like Piercy’s dreams for the future reflected this. 2137 seems like a time where I and so many others could thrive.

I fully anticipate returning to (and lending out) this novel again and again. I hope you’ll consider adding it to your list!

Content Warnings