Conscience Place

by Joyce Thompson

The Place, a colony of the deformed offspring of nuclear accident victims, flourishes peacefully--unknown to the outside world which is unknown to it--until the outside world threatens to invade this tranquility.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

225 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

In 1994, Joyce Thompson took a leave of absence from her literary career to work on high tech’s cutting edge. How to Greet Strangers, her sixth novel, marks her return to her first love, fiction.

She is the author of five previous novels, two collections of short stories and a memoir. Her work has been published in six languages and frequently optioned for film.

Reviews

[Ira (SF Words of Wonder)]

Check out my full, spoiler free, video review HERE.

This is a very well written, dystopian science fiction story with a lot of heart. A group of children and young adults are living in “The Place”, completely cut off from the rest of the world. Everyone has some sort of disability or deformity, yet they all work together to take care of the needs of their little community. Brother Alice seems to be different in that she is the only person that leaves and meets with the ‘Fathers’. There are hints on the back of the book as well as early hints in the narrative that these people are suffering from some sort of radioactive aliment. Thompson’s writing is beautiful and she slowly gives the reader information, keeping them engaged in the characters and setting. I think the themes in this story were well ahead of its time and I think more people should read this.

[Ann Harleman]

As the novel opens, we are in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic world. Its inhabitants are physically deformed: partly or wholly limbless, or with a flipper for a limb; one-eyed; lacking noses or external ears; covered with fur or with scales. Thompson’s intention, as she announces in the Foreword to this reprint of a work originally published in 1984, is “to make people identify, even love, beyond the furthest outposts of their aesthetic prejudices.”
Reader, she does.
She pulls us inside her imagined world--actually a colony within the world as we know it--and lays bare the flaws in the real one. The days I spent with Conscience Place made me homesick for what might exist, and heartsick for what does.
Could an alternative world ever exist? What will happen to the one in Conscience Place, in the clash between it and the larger world?
Read this bewitching, fiercely original novel and find out.

[Eduardo]

Chocante, visceral, com algumas cenas problemáticas (principalmente para dias atuais), ainda assim um livro diferente de tudo o que eu li em FC.

É uma pena que não seja mais conhecido e debatido. Descobri esse livro numa lista chamada "10 Great Reads From the Feminist Lesbian Sci-Fi Boom of the 1970s" (https://lithub.com/10-great-reads-fro...).

Recomendo aos fãs de ficção científica.

[Ann Harleman]

As the novel opens, we are in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic world. Its inhabitants are physically deformed: partly or wholly limbless, or with a flipper for a limb; one-eyed; lacking noses or external ears; covered with fur or with scales. Thompson’s intention, as she announces in the Foreword to this reprint of a work originally published in 1984, is “to make people identify, even love, beyond the furthest outposts of their aesthetic prejudices.”
Reader, she does.
She pulls us inside her imagined world--actually a colony within the world as we know it--and lays bare the flaws in the real one. The days I spent with Conscience Place made me homesick for what might exist, and heartsick for what does.
Could an alternative world ever exist? What will happen to the one in Conscience Place, in the clash between it and the larger world?
Read this bewitching, fiercely original novel and find out.

[Lisa]

This book is well written, but the subject matter is disturbing, making me feel sad. Since my reading is for enjoyment, I chose not to finish reading.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

I read this so long ago that all I remember about it was that it was excellent and that I recommended it to a bunch of people at the time. I should probably reread it.