The Jigsaw Woman [Paperback]

Kim Antieau (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1997

Created from the bodies of three different women as a mistress for her evil doctor, Keelie sets out on a quest to find her true self and the earth's primordial truths, journeying to the paradise of the Amazons. Reprint."

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Antieau's amorphous debut, having no truck with orthodox novelistic ambitions, takes the form of an extended feminist polemic. Keelie, still healing and unable to talk yet, awakens to the realization that she's a composite of three distinct individuals, surgically fused together. Her head once belonged to drowned Anna, her body is that of poor murdered Bella, while her dancer's legs derive from suicide Lee. Keelie has been created by Victor to be his lover, and she's attended by timid medic Griffin, psychiatrist Hart, and Lilith, Victor's deformed wife. All of these people, as the young woman's experiences unfold, are shown to be related by blood or marriage, through space and time. Indeed, Keelie relives something of the miserable lives and sad deaths of the women whose hybrid she is. But before long she's seized by the death-goddess, Eriskegal, and commanded to remember everything. Soon Keelie recalls a time in the South American rain forests around the advent of Columbus, where she and the others live in idyllic circumstances--until a ship bringing Victor's brutal and domineering father arrives to kill or enslave them all. Later, in a prehistorical matriarchy beset by vicious patriarchal invaders, Keelie must persuade her warrior lover, Victor, to reject his father and his horrific conquests. Finally, as she remembers all the reincarnations of her composites, Keelie becomes Eriskegal. A powerful and impressive statement, with lots of complicated scenarios, relationships, and symbols, though descriptive rather than prescriptive. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Kim Antieau lives in the Pacific Northwest, along with Bigfoot, coyotes, bears, salmon, snakes, cougars, and her husband, poet Mario Milosevic. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Roc; Reprint edition (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451456068
• ISBN-13: 978-0451456069
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,409,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was a wild child, and I spent as much time outdoors as I could. The rest of the time I spent reading and writing'and running around in my imagination. When I was in elementary school, I "discovered" that my friends and I were really from another planet, sent here as Earth girls to observe the local fauna: i.e., humans. We came from a planet where girls and women had all the power, politically and magically. Men and boys didn't do much! So during recess, my friends and I often went on adventures to save the world. I wrote some of these adventures down, but I was a writer even before then. I used to draw pictures and staple them into books before I could read. And my parents bought me a small printing press, so I created my own books, too. And now I'm all grown up and still writing stories. I love my job.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight into the history of women?, March 1, 2006

By 

Stephanie Marie Baweja - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Jigsaw Woman (Mass Market Paperback)

Admittedly, it has been a few years since I last read this book, but I don't believe I will ever forget it. My sister(now deceased) bought me a copy from a discount book store, and it's been one of my favorites ever since.

This book definitely gives an interesting perspective on the history of women, and history in general. The main character, Keelie, is a science project(one of several) to Victor, a man of questionable sanity. She stars a bubbly, empty-headed blonde, and goes through a journey of self-discovery that many women partake in... just a much more in-depth, reincarnated one.

We see the character go through changes in personality and physical appearance, and we see the way she interacts with the other characters that play in the book. How each life is altered, and each one brings her to the person she ends up at the end of the book.

It is very hard to describe this book without giving away many of the plot points, other than saying that it's a book about self-discovery, love, and sex. Lots, and lots of sex. I agree with one of the other reviewers in that there was an awful lot of profanity, but profanity is real. That's the way a lot of people talk, and I think that reflected, in part, how raw Keelie's personality was.

So if you're looking for a bizarre plot, likeable and very real characters, read this book. I can garuntee you'll never forget it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and outlook-changing., January 25, 2000

By 

Meredd (Upstate NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jigsaw Woman (Mass Market Paperback)

It's been a long time since I have read a book that so changed my outlook on life. The concept of this book was very unique, and it portrayed women's issues in a very different light than they are usually portrayed. It is a healing, self-sustaining light, not a "pity me, i'm a poor abused woman" light. I reccommend this book to everyone that I know, and have given several copies to friends. I strongly reccommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful Self-Indulgence, January 3, 2000

By 

Tea Schook (Denver CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jigsaw Woman (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked up the book because the author's name was familiar. The book is powerful; both the use of language and the story itself reminded me of The Female Man by Joanna Russ. Had this book been written in the early 70's, it likely would have received the same notoriety and generated the same debates regarding the nature of science fiction. The interleaving of the previous incarnations with the current "reality" is sometimes too abrupt. The only true criticism I have is that it needs a better editor. I found the writing sometimes self-indulgent, and that indulgence interfered with the storytelling. Again, the same criticism I have of Joanna Russ's work.