Woman on the Edge of Time

Woman on the Edge of Time

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92  ·  rating details  ·  5,402 ratings  ·  385 reviews
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....
Paperback, 376 pages
Published November 12th 1985 by Fawcett (first published May 1st 1976)
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Max Gordon
Feb 10, 2013 Max Gordon rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: serious readers

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

...more
Jen
This book is very imaginative, although a bit dated at times. Marge Piercy is a unique writer, in that she is very good at writing complex characters with strengths and flaws. Similiarly, her Utopian Society of the future has had to sacrifice some things that are extremely important to Connie (or nearly any 20th/ 21st C person) in order to create a sustaining and egalitarian society.

This novel also has some nice poetic moments. In one of the more illustrative passages, Connie's friends from the...more
Lisa Vegan
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...more
Stephanie
Published in 1976, this book was remarkably prescient. The way that Piercy has structured her utopian community of the future is not too far off the direction that alternative communities have been moving since the '60s -- and which has only accelerated in recent years, with the greater focus on sustainability and alternate energy sources. She also does a nice job of contrasting the plausible future utopia with an equally plausible dystopia, in which everything is state-controlled, bio-engineere...more
Valerie
Apr 16, 2007 Valerie rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: feminists into science fiction
i read this book in a day because it was for college. it's really good though.

it's about this lady who sometimes travels into this utopian-egalitarian future. she lives in an insane asylum so you're not supposed to know if she's crazy or really time traveling. the end is a surprise.

i thought it was really interesting to read about what this author thought a feminist utopia would look like. i thought it was fun to agree or disagree with aspects of it and i unintentionally started designing my ow...more
sandra
Nov 16, 2007 sandra rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Jennifer K./people who are sometimes disappointed by Margaret Atwood
It's been a while, but I remember liking this book a lot. It has some fantastic notions and weird/interesting ideas within its future utopia (futuropia? femitopia?) that are fun to agree or disagree with.

Unlike other utopia novels, Piercy gives you room to agree or not. This is admirable and is as it should be; I can't stand force-feeding-shrill-polemic books (Ayn Rand, I'm looking at you). As John Stuart Mill said, "The worst offense that can be committed by a polemic is to stigmatize those wh...more
Mat
70's feminist tentative-utopia. As that genre goes, i really like this one. It comes more from the gender fluid/ androgyny positive side of things than the essentialist "women are more nurturing shit", which i liked. And i liked that the main character was a mad woman and that madness was well explored, if slightly simplistically at times. I don't like it's anti-cityness or certain aspects of uniformity that it espouses, but it's pretty tolerable for the traditions it adheres to. Those tradition...more
Ashley
Amazing if only for the introduction of 'per' as a gender neutral pronoun, Brilliant....and the social commentary is great as well..
Isis
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...more
Yona
Mar 10, 2012 Yona rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Revolutionaries
Recommended to Yona by: Mom
The book tells the story of a hispanic woman, Connie, who has the ability to communicate with a group of people from the future. The story cuts back and forth between her 1970's life in a mental institution (which has nothing to do with her ability to talk to people in the future) and the future community.

I thought this book spoke well to three broad topics:
-What it meant to be a mental patient in the 70's
-What the future could be like if we continue to pollute our planet and our bodies with syn...more
Dennis
Mar 25, 2008 Dennis rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes bad sci-fi or worse chick-lit
Recommended to Dennis by: Gladice (who will pay)
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jim
Aug 06, 2007 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: fiction
This is one of my favorite books and one that had a pretty profound influence on me. I guess you could call the future society she imagines a "feminist utopia" (as I've seen in reviews on this site). When I read it for a Comparative Literature class I was impressed by the way the family unit and community itself were structured and functioned. And its really stuck with me a long time and seems to have grown with me subconsciously. I've read it a couple times since and the "utopia" has seemed a l...more
Owen
I kind of hate Marge Piercy's idea of utopia, with its' androgynous people, birth machines, anomie, and cultural appropriation. I did not find her vision nearly radical enough. Yes, the people are now dedicated to restoring the planet, but they still see it as something to exploit for human interests. They still tamper with genetics, watch television, and domesticate rivers. They might not be greedy, but they're still basically self-centered and individualistic. The writing is also at its worst...more
Mquin Quintana
This book could be good. Could. I have to admit, I read it to page 150 and stopped. The main character is a beat-up and bruised 40 year old Chicana living in New York. She is dead broke poor, has been beaten on and mistreated by men numerous times, and disliked herself so much at one point that she beat her 4 year old daughter (whom she saw as part of herself). She was put in a mental institution numerous times; the second time for smashing in the nose of her niece's pimp after he had beat up he...more
Avital
May 16, 2013 Avital rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: usa
As in most utopian novels I've read, the utopic life seems rather naive. Consuelo, a Chicana called Connie in the US, is a poor, abused, impulsive and with occasional drinking and drug problems that make her aggressive. Once you get into her head, it's impossible not to sympathize and wish her an escape from her horrible present place. The medical establishment pronounces her mentally ill, a schizophrenic, but it's likely she's a prey and a guinea pig.
The other world she connects with exists in...more
Adam Clemente
I sort of consider myself a scholar of depictions of time travel, and will usually pick up a book/movie/etc.. that deals with this subject matter regardless of its other content (and whether or not I expect it to be any good.)

'Woman on the Edge of Time' is regarded as being dramatically liberal, ultra feminist in message, and even anti man- which at times, I certainly agree with. However, a lot of the book's fundamental interests in philosophy are pure. A return to nature. Emphasis on personal l...more
Cindy
I read this book back in college (when I took a "Science Fiction Utopian/Dystopian Novels" class) and didn't remember much of it. I carried the book around for a while, because I love Marge Piercy. I was about to donate it away when my cousin mentioned that it was one of her top 10 favorites, so I decided to re-read it. I'm glad I did!!

The book was written back in the early '70's, and its one of the few Piercy books I know of (which isn't really a lot) that tries to be so Sci Fi'ey... so I have...more
Emma Thompson
This is a rather strange book and while I read it and enjoyed it, I'm almost not sure what to think about it. Woman on the edge of time is about a woman who through a web of entirely eblievable circumstances ends up being sectioned in a mental hospital. What makes her different from any poor woman exploited in this way is that she's a 'receptive' woman, which means someone from the future is able to mentaly contact her, visiting her and at times bringing her into the future. It's never explored...more
Cyndy Aleo
I was first introduced to the novels and poetry of Marge Piercy when I was in college and very focused on the writings of women, especially feminist writings. In going through a bunch of books I had been keeping at my parents' house, I discovered boxes of books I probably haven't read in over ten years, one of which was Woman on the Edge of Time.

::: Edge of Time, Edge of Reason :::

Connie Ramos, the protagonist, is a middle-aged Hispanic woman living in poverty in New York City. Already committed...more
Robyn
This book took me back to my early 20's when I first read it. I didn't realize it then, but it is a really great period piece. The future embodies all the feminist, socialist ideals of the 60's and 70's.

I still love this book because the protagonist, Connie Ramos, is raw and her life is so rough around the edges. Too often, authors produce sanitized characters (but I think their readers want this). But Marge Piercy really makes you feel how difficult every day life is for Connie - even the smal...more
Angela
With honest and compelling prose, Marge Piercy delves into the mind of thirty-seven-year-old Consuelo (Connie) Ramos, a woman who exists on the fringes of life in contemporary New York City. Early in the novel Connie beats up her niece's pimp and is committed - again - to the psychiatric ward in Bellevue Hospital. The novel shifts between the horrible conditions in psychiatric wards and the year 2137, as Connie at first talks to, then time travels with Luciente, a person from that future time. L...more
Andrea Blythe
fter smashing her niece's pimp in the face with a bottle, Connie Ramos is declared violently insane. Trapped in the terrible tedium of the asylum ward, Connie, as a receiver, is able to escapes via her connection with Luciente to the year 2137. She sees first hand a utopian society, in which division of gender and race is nonexistent and people live in peace and connection with the earth and its animals. Meanwhile, in her own time, the doctors have signed her up for a dangerous experiment that c...more
Gina
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy is one of those books whose story imprints in your mind, leaving a lasting impression that will change your view of your ordinary world. The book tells the story of a Mexican woman named Consuelo (Connie) Ramos who has been committed for the second time to a psychiatric ward in Bellevue Hospital, which is in 1970’s New York City. Connie suffers a mental breakdown after being severely beaten by her niece’s pimp and admitted to the miserable hospital wher...more
Daniela
Summary: Living in the late sixties, thirty-seven year old Connie Ramos is an average, oppressed lower class citizen, except for her ability to make contact with the future through Luciente. In Luciente's utopic future society, people work together to raise children, all food is grown naturally, distinction between the sexes doesn't exist and technology is finally used for the good of all. Connie's joy in discovering the future world of Mattapoisett is constantly contrasted with her brutal exist...more
Mary
Apr 21, 2009 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anwyone
Recommended to Mary by: life
Shelves: fiction
I have gained a lot from utopian novels, and this book is partly that. It is also an intense "showing" of what it's like to be in a mental hospital, the horrific details of which we probably assume, but it's always good to be reminded. When you finish this book, you realize that it's like one of those pictures where looking from one set of eyes, it's a lampshade, but another set of eyes, it's two people. This book is like that. Either the heroine is a violent mental case who should be locked up...more
Pige
I read this one awhile ago, but in thinking about "Is there no place for me" I thought of this one. It's similar only in that it's a woman placed in a mental hospital against her will. But this woman's story is more of a fantasy story. She mentally moves back and forth between two worlds, neither seeming overly attractive at times, both having their dark moments. I won't give away too many more plot details, but the more I think about this book, the more I'd like to go back and re-read it.
Ms.Lanham
Connie Ramos has been institutionalized by her family again for her schizophrenic acts. But Connie isn't schizophrenic. She can see and communicate with people from the future. The future shows Connie beautiful and terrible things. Connie is also witnessing terrible things inside of the psychiatric ward. Doctors are experimenting with a way to control Connie's 'behavior' forever. But what about the future? What about free-will?
I read this book for a gender and science fiction class and loved it!...more
cheryl
I'm not quite sure how I stumbled on this book. It was written in the 70s and the present-day of the novel is the same era. The protagonist is Connie, a woman who has had a rough life and has bounced in and out of the psychiatric ward for a while...a situation that started when she did harm her daughter while on drugs but that seems prolonged by the failures of that system and by the trials of her life.

Early on in the book, she discovers the ability to commune with the future through Luciente. T...more
Amy
What happens when you can't tell if you are crazy or sane? When you can't tell if it's you or everyone else? What would life be like if you could just be yourself and not have to worry about the basics of day to day survival? On the other hand, what would life be like if people in power offered you your freedom but at a ridiculously high price?

This was the first Marge Piercy book I read. It had been recommended to me eight or nine years ago. Why I didn't read it, I don't know but I should have....more
Cindy
I'm wavering between 4 and 5 stars. I really, really enjoyed the story and the writing, and I was totally absorbed. So, even though the book has flaws, I rounded up to 5.

Books I couldn't help think of while reading Woman on the Edge of Time:
*The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Treatment of poor minority women, and issues of consent)
*One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Who's crazy in the loony bin?)
*My Lobotomy (Memoir from a former patient who had a forced lobotomy when he was a child)
*To Say Not...more
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Woman on the Edge of Time (Paperback)
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Marge Piercy is an American poet, novelist, and social activist.
More about Marge Piercy...
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“We can only know what we can truly imagine. Finally what we see comes from ourselves.” 7 people liked it
“Never in your life have you been helpless—under somebody’s heel. You never lived where your enemies held power over you, power to run your life or wipe it out. You can’t understand. That’s how come you stand there feeding me empty slogans!” Luciente bowed her head. “You crit me justly, Connie. Forgive me. I’ll try to see your situation more clearly and make less loud noises in your ears.” 2 people liked it
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