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....
Woman on the Edge of Time
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Review
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. Luciente lives in a non-sexist, communal country where people's survival is ensured based on need, not money. A sense of freedom, choice, and safety are part of Luciente's world; Connie's world is the complete opposite. Though Connie struggles to stand up for herself and others in the treatment centers, she knows that the drugs she is forced to take weaken her in every way. She knows she shouldn't be there, knows how to play the game, and tells herself "You want to stop acting out. Speak up in Tuesday group therapy (but not too much and never about staff or how lousy this place was) and volunteer to clean up after the others." But she knows she is stuck. Connie spends more time "away" with Luciente, trying to develop a way out of her hell. Ultimately Connie makes her plan of action, and the book leaves us with our own questions about Connie's insanity and decisions. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Holly Smith
From the Inside Flap
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....
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
59 of 62 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I could NOT put this one down from page one. "Woman on the Edge of Time" is a heartrending novel, written with exceptional skill by Marge Piercy, a celebrated American author who wrote this so-called utopian novel and was a major literary figure in the 70's.
In this novel, Consuelo (Connie) has an abusive family who imprison her in a mental hospital. She is treated with incredible brutality, her life is discounted to the level of dumpster garbage. But Connie is far from insane--despite the fact she finds out she can time-travel.
Connie visits Massapoisset, Massachusetts in the future via a kind of mental holographic sending-receiving abilities of a local resident there, Luciente. Life in the future is idyllic, though not perfect, and Connie develops relationships with people in the Cape Cod village. But life in the mental ward becomes increasingly dangerous. Connie has to make some difficult choices to survive.
What I like best about this novel, in addition to the style which is nearly perfect, is that there are levels to the story. If you look at the events in one light, you could come to an entirely different conclusion about Connie's sanity.
I absolutely recommend you read this book--and I am putting it on my "100 best American Novels" list. If you like Margaret Atwood ("Handmaid's Tale) you be likely enjoy "Woman on the Edge of Time." HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I was saddened to read negative reviews of this wonderful novel. Especially as most the negative reviews were based on how "feminist" this book is. If you consider feminism females being superior to males then no, you won't like this book. However if you feel that people should be judged on their abilities and achievements and that equality for all is a goal this is a book for you. Connie a poor woman in the 1970's is our hero. Able to recieve a sort of psychic impression of the future she travels back and forth seeing how events in her time affect the future. Labeled insane and put away in an asylum she reaches to the future to keep hold of her sanity. This book is a testament to how society's labels can steer your life's course.
Also found in this book are examples of possible futures, one to strive for and one to fear. The "utopian" future is especially wonderful to me for it shows a society that is not perfect but strives to overcome its imperfections, a world dealing with its problems not a world without problems. If you enjoy time travel and social issues in science fiction you may very well enjoy this book.
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Woman on the Edge of Time" is an excellent read. Marge Piercy did an outstanding job with this book; it was written in the 1970s, and does not appear dated. The themes are universal; how does anyone live with hopelessness and despair when their back is against the wall? And, can love win out over hate?
I'm not doing Ms. Piercy's book justice; there aren't any words to describe how profoundly meaningful this book is about those universal themes.
As for the plot, Connie Ramos is in her mid-30s, has had mental problems in the past, had her daughter taken away from her due to Connie's having gone through a rough patch in her life (her partner died and no one cared about it but her; she acted out and did drugs, which caused her to mistreat her daughter). No one seems to care about Connie; she's lost her looks, she has no money, and even her favorite people mostly just ignore her.
What astonishes me about Connie and her plight is that she is intelligent. She had some college, yet no one that deals with her ever considers her intelligent _or_ educated. And that's stupid; really, why didn't her welfare caseworker say, "Oh, Connie, you have a year or two of college. Would you like to be re-trained?" In real life, this might have happened.
However, this _is_ a fable; that can be overlooked. Besides, the social services in the 1970s in New York were terrible; they rivaled the situation that New York faces today after the terrorist attacks. There are too many people; it's very easy to get lost in the cracks. So this isn't a plot hole at all; it's a statement about how good people often get downtrodden through no fault of their own.
Anyway, Connie isn't listened to about anything, so when her niece comes in and begs for sanctuary, Connie probably should have sent her away. But Connie's kindhearted; she doesn't. That kind act gets Connie beaten and thrown into a mental hospital; while trying to defend her niece (who then promptly goes back with her abusive partner, a pimp), she broke the pimp's nose. He gets Connie committed, as she has a previous history of mental problems.
From there, things go from bad to worse; Connie is forced to participate in experimental treatments in order to ever go home, because no one really wants her anywhere. The state doesn't care, her family doesn't care, and the one man who loved her is dead. (Her daughter is either in foster care or has been adopted out.)
She makes contact with the future and manages to use those brief glimpses to continue to hope and fight her situation. She pretends to acquiesce, but is in actuality looking for a way out -- if it'll only present itself.
The subplot about the evil future, to me at least, is a metaphor. There are always choices. Even the best choice can lead to ill; you can only minimize the consequences.
At any rate, Connie's situation is appalling. Her only true friends are those in her head -- those from the future. Yet she continues to care about the present, despite having almost nobody or nothing care about her except as an object.
Anyway, Ms. Piercy does not normally write s/f. Her world-building skills, compared to contemporary s/f authors, are not what most s/f readers look for. There aren't elaborate scenes sketched; there aren't large amounts of technology lavishly explained.
I feel that is irrelevant. Ms. Piercy has enough detail of the future, both good and bad, to explain what's going on, and that's enough for me. I liked her additional words (per for a personal pronoun, rather than he or she, for example), and I enjoyed her descriptions of how things were done in the various encampments/towns. And really, this is a highly personal novel; it's psychological, and can be read on many levels. That level of minutiae would only distract, not add.
Those who want more conventionality need to look elsewhere.
As it stands, I think "Woman on the Edge of Time" is about love, and how it can conquer anything. Granted, the love I'm talking about isn't about love for another -- or even self-love, although Connie does have those (especially for her daughter, who was taken away from her during her dark period). It's about love for humanity, which is what makes it so unique in science fiction. Ms. Piercy tackled a huge theme, and made it work.
There aren't anywhere near enough stars to give this work, so I'll just say five stars plus, with the highest recommendation possible.
Barb Caffrey
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read Classic
I read Piercy's novel, Woman on the Edge of Time, as required reading in one of my college classes some time ago, and reordered it, as it did a "Sure I'll loan you the book,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Beth B.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed feelings
I've always enjoyed Marge Piercy's work, but this may have been a little over the top as far as expressing political viewpoints with regard to mental illness and environmentalism. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jess J.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eye opening
I was given this book 20 years ago to read. I loved it then and loaned it to a friend to read. She proptly lost it. I spent the next 20 years trying to find it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by MavinHV
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautifully Written, Thought-Provoking Novel
Although Woman on the Edge of Time was originally written in the 1970s, its themes continue to resonate decades later. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Laura
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hey, surely things will get better....
Connie Ramos has absolutely nothing going for her--she is female, Hispanic, poor, and overweight. She has been declared an unfit mother, and her child has been taken away from her... Read more
Published 3 months ago by gammyraye
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horrendous Book.
Horrific. A ridiculous liberal propaganda piece. This book was used in a sociology course I was taking this last semester and did not work at all.
Published 5 months ago by D. S. Harris
5.0 out of 5 stars
interesting utopia/dsytopia
Very creative ideas about what a utopians society would look like. Even though the book was written in the seventies, her ideas about the future are still incredibly insightful
Published 5 months ago by L. Markowitz
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book changed my perspective on life
This book may be a fiction novel, but it changed my entire perspective on life. Particularly in how I view possibilities for the future, either utopian or dystopian. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Melissa
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not my cup of Tea
This book is so depressing that I could not finish it. I rarely give up on a book, but this one was one that I had to stop reading. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Deborah M. Rodriguez
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must read
This story is engaging and inspiring. I feel like I am living in yet another world and am travelling into their world each time I sit down to read. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jenn Vrieze
