Woman on the Edge of Time

Rating:
Summary: Why Me?
Review:
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Percy is a futuristic Science Fiction book that will be enjoyed many readers. I am not much of fan of the science fiction genre, but I found the book to be very appealing to the senses. The main character is a woman named Consuelo Camacho Ramos (Connie) who has lived a very hard life. Connie's is a Mexican American who spent most of her youth in Texas subsistence farming with the rest of her family. Life was hard and money was scarce, so Connie moved to Chicago and things looked as though they were changing for the better. Even though Connie attended a junior college for two-years she had to struggle through life. Many people messed over Connie through the years, but she still kept her composure for most of the story.
The story begins very dramatically with Connie's niece banging at her apartment door with her mouth covered in bloody rags. Dolly comes in talking about how her pimp/boyfriend Heraldo had beaten her severely knowing that she was pregnant. Heraldo came trying to beat Connie's door down looking for Dolly, and of course they opened the door. A fight broke out where Connie hits Heraldo across the face with a large wine bottle and he in turn beats her very severely and has her admitted to a mental institution for a supposed attack on Dolly and himself. Dolly is so afraid of Heraldo that she goes against the one person that is truly trying to help her.
This is the point in the book where we learn that Connie has been in an institution before and her friend from the future Luciente. Luciente is a woman (Connie thought that she was a man) from the future that is based on an agrarian life style where less is more. Connie is afraid of Luciente in the beginning, but comes to realize that Luciente or her people mean her no harm.


Rating:
Summary: The Good, the Bad, and the Crazy
Review: "Woman on the Edge of Time" is a science fiction novel about a Latino woman (Connie Ramos) who is struggling to support herself and has also been labeled as "crazy". Connie has been institutionalized in a mental hospital before and has also had her daughter taken away from her for abuse. Connie's whole life had basically gone downhill after her boyfriend died in prison. She started drinking all the time instead of taking care of her child which is what eventually led to her being taken away.

The story starts off with Connie's niece, Dolly, busting in the door of her house followed by her pimp, Geraldo, and another man who is there to give Dolly an abortion she doesn't want. Geraldo hits Dolly and Connie hits him and ends up being knocked out. She is then once again taken to a mental hospital for violent behavior. Dolly takes Geraldo's side because she is scared and Dolly's father, Connie's brother, has her committed. For the bulk of this story Connie is in the mental hospital.

The story then goes on to say that before the Dolly incident, Connie had been receiving visits from a man named Luciente who claims to be visiting her from the future. She tells Connie of the utopia that she lives in and how incredible it is. Connie receives frequent visits from Luciente but he always seems to disappear when other people are around. This leads Connie, and the readers as well, wondering whether or not she is really crazy. At this point in the story I was thinking that she was simply hallucinating but my thoughts changed later on.

Once in the hospital Connie learns how to visit Luciente's world and basically can do it anytime she wants. She visits often and learns their ways. They are a simple culture who lives off the land but still has amazing technology. Babies are no longer born from a mother but grown in tubes. Instead of a baby having a mother and a father, it has three "mothers" some of which are men. This is a world that is not sexist at all and many times it is hard to tell the difference between men and women. She figures out pretty soon that Luciente is in fact a woman. This world seems like a happy place but I don't think I would want to live in a world that has done away with marriage and having biological children. Connie visits this world frequently and grows very fond of it.

Back in the hospital the doctors have decided to perform a surgery on the patients that would involve them implanting something into the patients' heads that will allow the doctors to control the patients' emotions. Connie of course does not agree with this because she feels it is mind control. Connie has the surgery done and then tries to time travel again. Instead of ending up in Luciente's world she ends up in another world where women are bought and used for sex. This is a horrible world and is much polluted. After visiting this world Connie understands why Luciente said that their future was struggling to survive. This horrible world she ended up in was the other possible outcome of the future. She doesn't understand why she is so important in deciding which future will come to be.

After visiting this world once Connie continues to be able to visit Luciente's world and is trying to figure out a way to escape. She and Luciente come up with a plan for escape that almost works but she is caught and returned to the hospital. Now that she was back at the hospital she was spending a lot of time in Luciente's world. While she was in this world her body back at the hospital was in a coma for however long she was with Luciente. This worried the doctors and they decided to remove the implants from Connie but come up with another plan to remove part of her brain. This is of course something Connie wants to avoid.

She was trying to figure out a way to avoid the surgery and was asking Luciente for help but they couldn't come up with a plan. She manages to get a pass home for Thanksgiving where she helped out her brother around the house as well as his nursery. This is where she devises her plan. While at the nursery she steals some poisonous spray and puts it in a small plastic bottle which she smuggles back in to the hospital. She has a meeting with all the doctors about her surgery and they are planning to perform the surgery soon. After the meeting she goes to the doctor's coffee pot and pours the poison in it. Minutes later she hears that four of the doctor's have died. She has completed her mission and avoided the operation but in turn has murdered four people. I feel though that it wasn't murder but merely self defense. However, it is never discovered she did it. After that she is unable to visit the future probably because she has already done what needed to be done to save Luciente's world.

This is a great story for anyone who likes science fiction and I definitely enjoyed it.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: "Woman on the Edge of Time" is an excellent read. Marge Piercy did an outstanding job with this book; it was written in the 1970s, and does not appear dated. The themes are universal; how does anyone live with hopelessness and despair when their back is against the wall? And, can love win out over hate?

I'm not doing Ms. Piercy's book justice; there aren't any words to describe how profoundly meaningful this book is about those universal themes.

As for the plot, Connie Ramos is in her mid-30s, has had mental problems in the past, had her daughter taken away from her due to Connie's having gone through a rough patch in her life (her partner died and no one cared about it but her; she acted out and did drugs, which caused her to mistreat her daughter). No one seems to care about Connie; she's lost her looks, she has no money, and even her favorite people mostly just ignore her.

What astonishes me about Connie and her plight is that she is intelligent. She had some college, yet no one that deals with her ever considers her intelligent _or_ educated. And that's stupid; really, why didn't her welfare caseworker say, "Oh, Connie, you have a year or two of college. Would you like to be re-trained?" In real life, this might have happened.

However, this _is_ a fable; that can be overlooked. Besides, the social services in the 1970s in New York were terrible; they rivaled the situation that New York faces today after the terrorist attacks. There are too many people; it's very easy to get lost in the cracks. So this isn't a plot hole at all; it's a statement about how good people often get downtrodden through no fault of their own.

Anyway, Connie isn't listened to about anything, so when her niece comes in and begs for sanctuary, Connie probably should have sent her away. But Connie's kindhearted; she doesn't. That kind act gets Connie beaten and thrown into a mental hospital; while trying to defend her niece (who then promptly goes back with her abusive partner, a pimp), she broke the pimp's nose. He gets Connie committed, as she has a previous history of mental problems.

From there, things go from bad to worse; Connie is forced to participate in experimental treatments in order to ever go home, because no one really wants her anywhere. The state doesn't care, her family doesn't care, and the one man who loved her is dead. (Her daughter is either in foster care or has been adopted out.)

She makes contact with the future and manages to use those brief glimpses to continue to hope and fight her situation. She pretends to acquiesce, but is in actuality looking for a way out -- if it'll only present itself.

The subplot about the evil future, to me at least, is a metaphor. There are always choices. Even the best choice can lead to ill; you can only minimize the consequences.

At any rate, Connie's situation is appalling. Her only true friends are those in her head -- those from the future. Yet she continues to care about the present, despite having almost nobody or nothing care about her except as an object.

Anyway, Ms. Piercy does not normally write s/f. Her world-building skills, compared to contemporary s/f authors, are not what most s/f readers look for. There aren't elaborate scenes sketched; there aren't large amounts of technology lavishly explained.

I feel that is irrelevant. Ms. Piercy has enough detail of the future, both good and bad, to explain what's going on, and that's enough for me. I liked her additional words (per for a personal pronoun, rather than he or she, for example), and I enjoyed her descriptions of how things were done in the various encampments/towns. And really, this is a highly personal novel; it's psychological, and can be read on many levels. That level of minutiae would only distract, not add.

Those who want more conventionality need to look elsewhere.

As it stands, I think "Woman on the Edge of Time" is about love, and how it can conquer anything. Granted, the love I'm talking about isn't about love for another -- or even self-love, although Connie does have those (especially for her daughter, who was taken away from her during her dark period). It's about love for humanity, which is what makes it so unique in science fiction. Ms. Piercy tackled a huge theme, and made it work.

There aren't anywhere near enough stars to give this work, so I'll just say five stars plus, with the highest recommendation possible.

Barb Caffrey

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: "Woman on the Edge of Time" is an excellent read. Marge Piercy did an outstanding job with this book; it was written in the 1970s, and does not appear dated. The themes are universal; how does anyone live with hopelessness and despair when their back is against the wall? And, can love win out over hate?

I'm not doing Ms. Piercy's book justice; there aren't any words to describe how profoundly meaningful this book is about those universal themes.

As for the plot, Connie Ramos is in her mid-30s, has had mental problems in the past, had her daughter taken away from her due to Connie's having gone through a rough patch in her life (her partner died and no one cared about it but her; she acted out and did drugs, which caused her to mistreat her daughter). No one seems to care about Connie; she's lost her looks, she has no money, and even her favorite people mostly just ignore her.

What astonishes me about Connie and her plight is that she is intelligent. She had some college, yet no one that deals with her ever considers her intelligent _or_ educated. And that's stupid; really, why didn't her welfare caseworker say, "Oh, Connie, you have a year or two of college. Would you like to be re-trained?" In real life, this might have happened.

However, this _is_ a fable; that can be overlooked. Besides, the social services in the 1970s in New York were terrible; they rivaled the situation that New York faces today after the terrorist attacks. There are too many people; it's very easy to get lost in the cracks. So this isn't a plot hole at all; it's a statement about how good people often get downtrodden through no fault of their own.

Anyway, Connie isn't listened to about anything, so when her niece comes in and begs for sanctuary, Connie probably should have sent her away. But Connie's kindhearted; she doesn't. That kind act gets Connie beaten and thrown into a mental hospital; while trying to defend her niece (who then promptly goes back with her abusive partner, a pimp), she broke the pimp's nose. He gets Connie committed, as she has a previous history of mental problems.

From there, things go from bad to worse; Connie is forced to participate in experimental treatments in order to ever go home, because no one really wants her anywhere. The state doesn't care, her family doesn't care, and the one man who loved her is dead. (Her daughter is either in foster care or has been adopted out.)

She makes contact with the future and manages to use those brief glimpses to continue to hope and fight her situation. She pretends to acquiesce, but is in actuality looking for a way out -- if it'll only present itself.

The subplot about the evil future, to me at least, is a metaphor. There are always choices. Even the best choice can lead to ill; you can only minimize the consequences.

At any rate, Connie's situation is appalling. Her only true friends are those in her head -- those from the future. Yet she continues to care about the present, despite having almost nobody or nothing care about her except as an object.

Anyway, Ms. Piercy does not normally write s/f. Her world-building skills, compared to contemporary s/f authors, are not what most s/f readers look for. There aren't elaborate scenes sketched; there aren't large amounts of technology lavishly explained.

I feel that is irrelevant. Ms. Piercy has enough detail of the future, both good and bad, to explain what's going on, and that's enough for me. I liked her additional words (per for a personal pronoun, rather than he or she, for example), and I enjoyed her descriptions of how things were done in the various encampments/towns. And really, this is a highly personal novel; it's psychological, and can be read on many levels. That level of minutiae would only distract, not add.

Those who want more conventionality need to look elsewhere.

As it stands, I think "Woman on the Edge of Time" is about love, and how it can conquer anything. Granted, the love I'm talking about isn't about love for another -- or even self-love, although Connie does have those (especially for her daughter, who was taken away from her during her dark period). It's about love for humanity, which is what makes it so unique in science fiction. Ms. Piercy tackled a huge theme, and made it work.

There aren't anywhere near enough stars to give this work, so I'll just say five stars plus, with the highest recommendation possible.

Barb Caffrey

Rating:
Summary: Twaddle
Review: A friend of mine whose opinion I absolutely trust recommended this book to me. What I found fascinating was not the book, but the way two serious readers can view a book so differently. I guess I just must have missed something, because for me, this book was poorly conceived, poorly written, derivative twaddle. But everyone else seems to feel differently so maybe I'll give it another try. I cannot recommend this book however.

Rating:
Summary: Marge Piercy as Connie Ramos with Women On th Edge of Time
Review: A woman who has already been through so much, holding on to almost nothing only evaluates the predicament Connie Ramos enters the novel with. .The demeaning lifestyle of being on welfare and unfortunately having her daughter(Angelina) taken away from her, right after her husband Claud was killed, only left Connie with family. Even family seemed far away, at least relationship wise

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.

Eventually 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. 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 tried to keep Geraldo from beating her niece again. Except Connie couldn't maintain him, Geraldo was cruel and impatient. He wanted to make sure that night, Dolly would get an abortion. 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 Dolly into Bellevue. The next morning Connie woke up to total bewilderment. Connie was angry with Geraldo for bringing her back to a place she had once been to before and undoubtedly know 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 though she had been sucked into an unpromising life. At Bellevue know one was respected or projected any type of opinion that mattered except the staff 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 hr year and time.



Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: A wonderful read! I was told that this book fell into the genre of "feminist science fiction". Well, I'm not a sci-fi fan but I wanted to see what this could really be about. I loved this book. Piercy illustrates what a feminist utopia would look like, something I've never been able to envision. Anyone studying feminism should read it!

Rating:
Summary: Woman on the Edge of Time
Review: After having read this book and having tried to put myself in Connie's shoes, I cannot, in any way, see how her attempt to poison hospital personnel was anything but a sane action/reaction to devastating circumstances which bordered on Frank's (1959) description of psychiatric methods being similar to those of Chinese Thought Reform. Abducted from her home by her niece's pimp and taken to a psychiatric hospital, Connie's freedom of action was completely limited by the pimp and his manpower, only to be followed by the limitation of her freedom of speech by the attending doctor in the emergency ward, who took no account of her side of the story. The labelling process had already done its job since it was noted in her file that she was schizophrenic. Anything she had to say was discounted in favor of the diagnosis, and everyone knows that schizophrenics are prone to anger and physical violence!!! Had she not beaten her child, Angelina, and broken her arm once before. Hence, she must have beaten her niece and broken her boyfriend's nose. Once a schizophrenic, always a schozophrenic as the saying goes.
From hereon, only hospitalization, medication and surgery, in the mind of the professionals, could bring relief from whatever illness the doctors thought Connie had. She was powerless and was quickly depersonalized by the hospital garb that she was forced to wear. Her "persecution" continued in that any attempt she made to explain herself to the psychiatrist was viewed as a refusal to participate in her treatment and coercion became the name of the game when she tried to refuse the electrode implants so that she could be "stimulated" from afar. A state of terror was maintained by her lack of cooperation with the treatment offered. Coercion by the psychiatrist continued by his telling her that if she did not sign for the treatment, she would have to remain hospitalized for the rest of her life. Her state of helplessness and terror was thus maintained since any hope for release depended upon her cooperation.
Although I do not wish to discount Connie's supposed flight from reality, it is important to note that her subjective experiences "out of the body" were her reality and, as such, a means of coping with her imprisonment/hospitalization. Rather than grapple with paranoia, Connie was able to sublimate her fear of lifelong hnospitalization. Despite the mortification which intensified the depersonalization process, Connie survived for months. She was not crushed by the ordeal. To the contrary, her sanity came to the rescue. She took hold of herself and decided that she wanted to live, that she was on the battle field, and that if she was to survive, she would have to act in self-defence against the many enemies, who were trying to strip her of her identity as a woman, as a person, as Connie.
To my estimation, Connie was quite sane in her assessment of her situation, knowing she must do something. She continuously plotted to obtain the arms needed while she visited with her brother, so that she could be equipped to fight the battle once it was forced upon her again.
Ingenuity marked Connie's attempt to poison the doctors, and the courage that strengthens many of our heros kept her going, despite the odds,in her desire to fight and to win. Despite the environment's attempt to depersonalize her, Connie was sane enough to know that she existed as an individual and that she had rights that were being destroyed. Moreso, her very sanity is exemplified by her care and concern for her fellow patients since her action, ultimately, was in order to set them all free of their torturers...and torturers they were, albeit unwittingly. We do not dare classify escaped prisoners as insane; therefore, how dare we label Connie's action of poisoning her jailers as an insane one? Unlike the escapee, she had no embassy to come to her aid, or a church to provide sanctuary. To the contrary, Connie had to depend only upon herself for survival...

Rating:
Summary: Changed my life forever
Review: heard the first many chapters read over the Radio and it was about five years later that I got ahold of a copy. I loved the men and it changed forever my feeling on love and loving. Gave me new focus on "lifes work" and the needs of criminals. It changed me...all hail pacifica !

Rating:
Summary: Good idea, but not compelling
Review: I absolutely love Marge Piercy's writing - both her poetry and her novels, but this one didn't do it for me. I liked the feminist utopian vision. On the other hand, it was very easy to put this book down for a couple of days (or weeks). In addition, some of the future-lingo was irritating at times. For a great futuristic novel, I'd strongly recommend HE, SHE AND IT.