Woman on the Edge of Time [MM0038]

1991 MMPB printing of the 1976 feminist/SciFi classic, with some wear, including foxing on the top edge (see photo). 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 now 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.

From recent and definitely mixed Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Despite the fact it took me a long time to get through this, I actually did really enjoy it. Very different and perhaps slightly of its time but gripping and thought provoking. An unsatisfying ending, though I think rather intentionally so."; "This is a powerful utopian/dystopian novel with a lot of nuance. We see Connie's current reality - a poor Latina woman institutionalized against her will - juxtaposed against a possible utopian future which centers community and sustainability, with care for everyone. But even this utopia isn't without cost - necessities are plentiful and high-quality, but luxuries are scarce, and shared."; "I think I read this soon after it came out in 1976. To read it again, 50 years later, after years working in the mental health field and knowing what happens in that system to women who may have been institutionalized to keep them quiet, it was a powerful read. This year I may choose to read other feminist classics."; "Keeping one foot in each time, the book asks the real questions about utopia-not the philosophies and struggles of people born to such a different, kinder world, but how we in a world that builds us up from scars can face the complicated challenge of imagining and fighting for a better one. It's heavy and heartbreaking and beautiful."; "Phenomenal book, 50 years later it is more relevant than ever - because our present day is the dystopia. The future here is an incredibly well thought out feminist-communist utopia complete with non-hierarchical ethical non-monogamy and queerness to boot. One of the best future utopias I have ever read."; "This is a reread for me and it's just as startling, upsetting, and excellent as it was the first time! A reminder of all the things we need to work on in our society. It's a super thought provoking somewhat depressing book and very well written."