I know Woman on the Edge of Time is a popular book on various university courses, and I can see why. As a subject of study, it has a lot going for it-- political theory, feminist thought, speculative futures. But as a reader looking for a compelling story, I found it not my type of book. It contains more concept than character, more ideology than nuance.It was a difficult book to enjoy. One of those weird reading experiences where a lot is happening, but it still feels dull-- largely because the...

Real Rating: 3.5* of five, rounded down because oh no, not really, was the affect of the whole read.

My #1976Club review: https://expendablemudge.blogspot.com/...

How disappointing.

“We can only know what we can truly imagine. Finally what we see comes from ourselves.”So What’s It About?Connie Ramos, a woman in her mid-thirties, has been declared insane. But Connie is overwhelmingly sane, merely tuned to the future, and able to communicate with the year 2137. As her doctors persuade her to agree to an operation, Connie struggles to force herself to listen to the future and its lessons for today….What I Thought- The F WordBefore I dive into the minutiae of this review, I do ...

TL;DR: I see where others may appreciate the work, but the stuff I have listed in my spoiler section killed it for me.I want to like this book. It’s one of those rare science fiction books that contains many great ideas in action, and it represents segments of the population that rarely get a say in the genre. After reading a lot of science fiction that panders to white people, I felt like this was a great change of pace. I was primed to enjoy it, to hear new perspectives on distant horizons.Wit...

Disclaimer: The fact that I have to throw another time travel novel into my abandoned book locker may prompt me to be even more harsh in my comments than I should. I want to travel back in time to stop Marge Piercy from publishing this novel. There would be plenty of enjoyable things to see and do in 1976 New York -- experience the Bicentennial celebrations, watch the Cincinnati Reds sweep the Yankees in the World Series, check out Blondie perform at CBGB -- but erasing this novel from history w...

There were times when I was so frustrated with the main character. She was driving me crazy. She was walking through an entirely different world and assuming everything was the same. I realized why this was bothering me - I was wanting and expecting her to react more like a science fiction reader. (And many science fiction characters.)Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.In the meant...

Hands down one of my all time favorite books - I'm certain some of that has to do with the point in my life during which I read it, however it shall always remain an ultimate favorite. The issues the Ms Piercy so deftly addresses are both the main focus of the story and completely secondary, almost an after thought. . . I never got the feeling of being preached at, yet so many important, and delicate, subjects were addressed throughout this novel. Mental illness, racism, gender equality (or rath...

It’s interesting how the lens of three decades of life experience can sharpen the focus of certain stories—and even parts of stories. When I first read Woman on the Edge of Time not long after it was published (1976), I was barely into my 20s and already a reliable cog in the corporate machine. At that time, I enjoyed Marge Piercy’s story of a 37-year-old Chicana woman in New York whose already-complicated life takes a twist for the bizarre when she begins to communicate with an ambassador from ...

The most important thing to know about this book is that it was first published in 1976. This is such a late 1960s-early-mid 1970s story! It’s funny because part of it takes place in the mid 70s and part takes place in the 22nd century. The 22nd century appears as though imagined in the 1970s. So, the future seems dated somehow. I suspect I would have thought it was brilliant if I’d read it over three decades ago. Now, I cringed quite a bit and thought it was unintentionally humorous at times.Th...

I'm ambivalent about this book. The best way to describe my reservation with Woman on the Edge of Time is that I was never comfortable suspending my disbelief. I tried to make myself willing to go where Marge Piercy was taking me but never quite got there. Although the book steadily improved from its chaotic but very dull beginning, it never involved me in the way I require to get much satisfaction from reading. In the end, I was reading the book to finish it instead of because I was eager to fi...