Longings of Women [Unknown Binding]

Marge Piercy (Author)

Product Details

• Unknown Binding
• Publisher: 1994 Fawcett Columbine, NY, 1st edition; 1St Edition edition (1994)
• ASIN: B00292NW7A
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,492,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I will never look at a homeless woman the same way again..., December 10, 2003

By A Customer

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

This is not a perfect book. But, again, as always with Marge Piercy, she has a way of putting you right inside the characters. Especially Mary, the homeless woman. Fascinating to read about a woman who lives like a mouse, hidden inside the homes of the people for whom she cleans! And so gut-wrenching to feel what Mary has to go through. Leila, of course, is supposed to be the one most readers can relate to, the one "most like me." And Becky - I can't get with her program - and I am sure we are not supposed to.
The longings of women - obviously Piercy presents what we want as a home of our own. And she writes so well about how easily we can lose "our" homes. Married women - husbands die or we split up with them. Working women - we lose a job and are out on the street. As long as we are dependent on the men in our lives, we are vulnerable. This is not "man-hating", this is reality. Though I am married, and happily, this book makes me want to make sure I have money put away and my name on the deed of the house. And a way to make a living and keep my home if my husband is suddenly gone one day...this could happen to any of us.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Assured and Entertaining, April 22, 2005

By 

M. G Jackson (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Longings of Women (Mass Market Paperback)

Marge Piercy's compassion and understanding of our human nature is at the forefront of this novel and is its greatest strength. Anyone who defines this generous writer as a Feminist based on "The Longings of Women" has given it a most superficial reading. Three women's stories, each spotlighting a male cad who defines the arc of the women's lives, yet the book is so thoroughly the stories of those women that the men function to move the plot but not to provide easy scapegoats. Piercy doesn't stack the deck for either Leila or Becky as they maneuver their lives' choices around their loutish husbands, so as the book neared its conclusion I found it very exciting. The way Piercy reveals the character of Becky in particular is masterful. Of course, the story of Mary Burke is quite a singular exploration of the homeless, very specific and hard to shake.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars obviously written by a feminist!, November 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Longings of Women (Hardcover)

And I am a feminist (so, I can be critical!) Marge Piercy's books are too pat. The women are all serious and dedicated, the men are all bad, and no one has a sense of humor. She makes her point, albiet in a very preachy manner. Her best books consist of her vision of the future. Read the book, He, She and It for her best.