Customer Reviews

The Gate to Women's Country

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is controversial because it's accused of man-bashing. Even the author's publisher said he read it with some discomfort! But Gate to Women's Country doesn't bash men, it bashes human behavior that leads to war and destruction.

The time is post-nuclear apocalypse, several centuries afterward. The tattered remnants of society are isolated clusters of cities. One such cluster is Women's Country. Founded by Martha Evesdaughter, as she called herself, the society is a loose confederation of walled towns, each defended from bandits and each other by a garrison. The boys, at five, go to live with their warrior fathers in the garrison. At 15, they may choose to become a defender and stay in the garrison and take up the art of war, or they may return to become servitors and assist the women in the running of farms and the general economy. Life is not easy; electric power is limited by the wood that can be gathered and burned in the one remaining power plant in just one of the towns. Much knowledge has been lost in the apocalypse; each woman must take up a science, a craft, and an art and study and work her whole life, not only to provide food, medical services and the means of living, but to maintain and grow the knowledge that was once lost. The towns are run under strict ordinances, governed by councils of older women. Servitors have no say in the council, nor do the warriors. Women's Country is...women's country.

This is the backdrop for the story of Stavia Morgotsdaughter, daughter of a doctor and member of the town council of Marthatown. She struggles with adolescent emotions such as rebellion against the ordinances and stirrings of feeling towards a young man. Her sister Myra struggles as well, as teens do, against rules and for becoming independent. Myra eventually moves out of the house and begins her life as a young woman and mother, as many young women do today. Stavia's questioning, mixed-up feelings and growing-up lead her to an adventure, a disastrous decision, and discovering much that was kept hidden about the society.

The surprises and twists of this story unfold as Stavia discovers secret after secret. Her adventure is exciting, and we tremble for her as she takes important steps to her maturity.

This is one of my top ten favorite science fiction books, and my favorite of Sheri Tepper's. Despite what you may hear about this novel, if you love science fiction, especially the kind of sci-fi that creates an entire world with customs, language, and myths, you will love this book. Do not miss it.

This is a fantastic book! I read it in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down.

It is not an anti-male, if-only-women-were-in-charge-there-would-be-no-war book. It's a lot deeper than that, so try thinking beyond the surface when you read it. Through the seemingly-innocent dialogue, Tepper cleverly reveals not only the properties of the world she has created, but also the properties of our own world. Her neat reversal of which gender is perceived as the "normal," "default" human points out all the invisible places where women are seen as different, deviant, and non-standard in today's society.

Most significantly, Tepper does not create a utopia where women are in charge, and everyone is happy (can't you just picture the birds singing, the flowers growing...?-- there is none of this). This is *not* a perfect world, nor is it completely stable. It is fascinating to get a glimpse of a *well-thought-out* world in which women play a much more powerful role. It's much better than the unrealistic and wishful creations of other feminist authors.

I highly recommend this book, especially to young women and men of all ages, the two groups that benefit the most from seeing powerful women.

After reading the other reviews for this book, I realized that the point of the book was lost on some of the readers, especially the person who thinks Tepper is offering eugenics as a "solution." This book is not putting forth a utopian society that Tepper is saying is the "way to go." The whole point is that what is happening in the book is bad. The men's society is bad, and the women's answer to it is just as bad. The women are denying the men an education and thus a means to better themselves, and they are manipulating the men into fighting with each other. What Tepper is showing is not the way to make a male-bashing world that angry women would love -- what she is showing is the very real problem of governing, of deciding what truly is "the lesser of the evils," of the terrible choices at stake in this particular society. She is not holding up the women as heroes and the men as villains. It is much more complex and rich than that. It's an incredible story about being human, about government, and about what sort of mistakes a female government might make, and how those might differ from men's mistakes (but be just as bad in the long run).

For all those who are unaware: Sheri Tepper has very strong view points. She is a feminist militant and a pacifist. Her books express parables of her sights. Even if I do not agree with Ms. Tepper I've enjoyed her work very much. Her imaginary universes always cast lights and shadows to our own world, allowing the reader to take a different perspective, to think, to argue. Never to be indifferent.

Her prose is strong, her imagination fertile and her ability to write interesting stories is outstanding.
The present tale is set in a post-apocalyptic world. After devastation, a new civilization is struggling to give humankind another chance. Nothing is easy. The new organization is composed by fortified city-states, where women rule inside cultivating the arts, sciences and agriculture aided by a small group of male servitors. Men are deployed outside as protecting warriors, centered in martial arts, wrestling and having sports competences. In the surface this arrangement is working sustained on complex rules and ceremonies. There are strong undercurrents and rivalries between both groups.

The main character is Stavia, a Councilwoman of Marthastown, and her life is shown in three critical moments, allowing the reader to have an inkling of what's going on, at the same time that Stavia does. Even if these the three periods are not sequentially described.
One more feature in this provoking book: Ms Tepper rewrite and retranslate the Greek tragedy The Trojan Women as a central myth of this civilization.
A book to enjoy and draw independent conclusions.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Book Review by C. Douglas Baker

Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country has been a lightening rod of criticism for its frank, some would say, unfair treatment of males. Having read and heard many negative comments about the feminist agenda pursued by this novel, I fully expected a diatribe against males and a utopian society ran by women to the be the centerpiece of the story. Little did I expect the unfavorable assessment of both sexes found here. Males are depicted as being violent but easily manipulated by symbolism and perceived threats to of their "manhood". Women are depicted as weak-willed and inclined toward poor judgement. The Gate to Women's Country is not "hard science" fiction, nor is there much action or plot to engage the reader's interest. Nevertheless, it is a compelling work that explores, sometimes stereotypically, male and female behavior.

The Gate to Women's Country is set in a post-holocaust Earth, segments of which have been settled and ruled by women. Inside walled enclaves women have established a system whereby males are forced to live outside the society of women in armed encampments unless, at specified ages, they expressly desire to live in "Women's Country" and abide by the rules established therein. The rigid military caste set up by males on the outside, however, puts an unrelenting amount of pressure on males to reject Women's Country and remain warriors. A cabal of women, through a variety of measures, including espionage and violence, effectively subjugate the male population or warrior caste. The socio-political nature of Women's Country vis a vis its male subjects is intricately woven into the plot.

The story centers around Stavia who grows up accepting the social institutions around her but questioning their utility. She falls in love with a young warrior, Chernon, who is depicted as the typical male. Tepper uses their relationship, especially once free from Women's Country, as an especially poignant commentary on the relationship between males and females generally. Tepper paints a dismal future for both relationships.

Tepper is equally scornful to women as to men here. Women's Country is an undemocratic society ruled by a self-selected group of councilwomen. These councilwomen are secretive and deceitful toward the remaining population of Women's Country. They feel this necessary because women take foolish actions based on "infatuation" (with particular males of course) and cannot be trusted with the secrets of Women's Country. The council looks, with some disdain, upon the rest of the women, who are easily manipulated using the same symbolic rhetoric and gestures used to control and manipulate the male population. Indeed, the women seem very compliant and unquestioning of the prerogative of the council to rule. The compliant nature of the women and the cyclical revolts of the men are implicit comments on the basic nature of the sexes.

The society set up by Tepper is really a "negative utopia" along the lines of George Orwell's 1984 or Adolus Huxley's A Brave New World. Stavia's eventual acquiescence in the methods used by the council in Women's Country to maintain its dominance over males and its own female subjects is defeatist. Through Stavia's eyes the reader realizes the emotionally barren and socially dysfunctional result of the rift between males and females. Through this example, one can see parallels to our own society.

My Aunt gave me a copy of this book a few years ago. I read it, liked it and forgot it. As I was going through some boxes after a recent move, I discovered my paperback and immediately began reading it again.

After we have managed to drop enough atom bombs to cover the earth in desolate sretches of radioactive wasteland, the survivors have seeked out a patch of earth that is livable - Women's Country. In women's country, a society governed by women lives inside the city walls, while the men who choose to be warriors live outside the walls, protecting the city. A fascinating entanglement of secret activities led by the all-women council weave a web of amazing strength and ultimately, the perfect society and culture without war. The Gate to Women's Country is complex, jumping between two different times, chronicling the life of a woman and the people around her while at the same time dropping hints about the secrets held by the council. The end of the book reveals all and leaves you with some very deep thoughts to ponder... Definitely a wonderful way to spend three hours.

This story does not "bash" men, as some reviewers have suggested; it reveres gentle men. The males have a choice between maintaining the status quo of untold centuries, (which hasn't worked to the benefit of society), or crossing through the gate to an entirely different and, for them, unknown reality.

The women, too, are torn by indecision, and the women who are charged with making the hardest decisions, (for others as well as themselves), recognize their responsibility, and proceed with courage no matter the difficulties.

I have given this book to all five of my (very strong) daughters and have recommended it to many others, male as well as female. It is always well-regarded, and I have re-read it a dozen times,... always finding something new. The several surprises in the story continue to be a delight, even though they are now familiar to this reader.

Everything Sheri Tepper writes is engaging but The Gate to Women's Country is her best work.

Okay, maybe I just love a feminist novel... but this story with its twists and turns, is just wonderful and goes far beyond that. I love a fun story, with a strong female character and some deeper insight into growing up, growing older, or confronting change, and Gate meets all my crieria. Not only that, but Tepper's encyclopedic mythological knowlege (as even better represented in her later novels) contributes interesting twists. Parallels between the outlanders and various charismatic survivalist cults -- wow! There's all sorts of interesting stuff here. My guess is that Tepper was building this novel for years. It has depth and character not quite as present in her later novels (except perhaps Sleeping Beauty)...and it isn't as much a candidate for the horror genre, either.

This is on my list of the top five SF novels ever. It is another pivotal novel in the literary challenge to the SF status quo. As some of the newer threads of SF develop, it may start to seem dated...but look closer; it's the real thing.

I read this book for the first time at the tender age of 16. Eight years later, I have probably read it at least eight more times, and each time, it is more disturbing, more absorbing, more amazing. Tepper has a canny ability to create worlds that are completely real when we are submerged in them, and completely bizarre when we emerge.

Some of your reviewers are horrified at the ideas that are expressed as commonplaces in Tepper's world: genetic selection, emotional manipulation, government secrecy. What is more horrifying to me is the idea that these ideas would be ignored or banned. Although I, too, am disturbed by the prevailing ethos of Women's Country, as a woman, I can feel an eerie attraction to it. That fact, in itself, says a lot about the "real world" and its attitudes toward women.

I find it curious that other reviewers have leveled the accusation of man-bashing or soldier-hating at Ms. Tepper because of the society she depicts in this book. It's not as simple as "woman good, man evil." There are female characters (most notably Myra) who are selfish, whiny, and stupid. The female Gypsy prostitutes, for example, also demonstrate short-sighted behavior--indulging in unprotected sex, drinking, and smoking. There are male characters (most notably Joshua and Corrig) who are calm, thoughtful, considerate, and quite capable of defending themselves physically, who are citizen-soldiers in the best sense of the word. Most veterans I know are more like Joshua and Corrig, in fact, and not like Chernon, Michael, or the other garrison warriors--not the kind of soldiers who brag about their uniform giving them a "license to kill," but the kind of soldiers who take their oath to protect our Constitution seriously, who continue to honor the spirit of their service oaths even after they have been discharged. If I have to choose between defenders, I'll take the second kind, thank you very much.

What is often ignored is how skilfully Ms. Tepper controls her revelations about the society of Women's Country. Bit by bit the clues are laid before you, until the final disclosure. Definitely a book that deserves more than one reading.