Woman on the Edge of Time

A Novel

By: Marge Piercy

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Hailed as a classic of speculative fiction, Marge Piercy's landmark novel is a transformative vision of two futures - and what it takes to will one or the other into reality. Harrowing and prescient, Woman on the Edge of Time speaks to a new generation on whom these choices weigh more heavily than ever before.

Connie Ramos is a Mexican American woman living on the streets of New York. Once ambitious and proud, she has lost her child, her husband, her dignity - and now they want to take her sanity. After being unjustly committed to a mental institution, Connie is contacted by an envoy from the year 2137, who shows her a time of sexual and racial equality, environmental purity, and unprecedented self-actualization. But Connie also bears witness to another potential outcome: a society of grotesque exploitation, in which the barrier between person and commodity has finally been eroded. One will become our world. And Connie herself may strike the decisive blow.

©1976 Marge Piercy (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Absorbing and exciting." ( New York Times)

It's Alright We Told You What to Dream!

What a great concept piece especially since I work in the mental health profession and love this genre which got turned on it's back with the dystopian present. I look around the rooms and streets and stores, work, home and libraries and there is no one left to talk to because everyone is distracted by the augmented reality of their iPhones and the million other distractions that take us away from the ugly reality that skating on the thin ice of modern life can be almost unbearable at times. I hate to criticize but I have a real long queue of books which I might have to pause entirely for a year if all goes well, so I would appreciate a hint of concision and editing.

Sci-fi dystopia; fantasy utopia

Woman on the Edge of Time is ostensibly a time travel tale where a woman from the 1970’s is periodically transported to the future (sometime in the 2100s). In her present life, she is a hard luck case. Of Mexican descent, she has moved from Texas to New York City. With a rap sheet (due to a previous husband), drug problems, and a mark of child abuse, she has little going for her. She ends up in a men-tal hospital, eventually being subjected to a medical experiment. She is considered special by the fu-ture and has the ability to connect with individuals from that time where she experiences a utopia like existence that she finds hard to believe and understand.

Piercy creates a present day (for her time) scenario that is downright dystopian. Everyone this woman meets either ignores her, abuses her, or is in a similar boat as she. The medical experiments are a bit over the top. The utopian future on the other hand is perfect in every way that a 70’s radical and activist would have imagined. The difficulty with this future world is that it’s mostly fantasy, rather than sci-fi envisioned. The world is pastoral in nature with an egalitarian flavor. Things just work. There are computers to run things, but no sign of chip manufacturers or people learning to program. Instead, children are taught one on one about nature. People fly planes without the need for training or an infrastructure to manage the airways. People can become medical genetic engineers while still putting in their obligatory months of farm work for food production.

The narration is good with decent character distinction. Pacing is smooth, although a bit slow.

Dense & Abstract

Woman on the Edge of Time is ambitious, challenging, prophetic, and chilling.

As a Hispanic first-generation male born and raised in Manhattan, it was often difficult for me to read; partly due to my own biases and social hardening. Themes I would have agreed with much more easily during my youth, were suddenly tough for me to consume and invited introspection and self-reflection on my end.

Marge Piercy demonstrates a remarkable feat of foresight and sensibility. Juggling challenging beliefs on feminism, mental health, social constructs, and race with poise and nobility.

Audiobook:
The story would have benefited greatly had the narrator been of Hispanic descent, regardless of this the narrator avails.

Great story, needed a narrator who actually speaks Spanish

I loved the story. Made me think about and re-evaluate a lot about how and why we do things as humans. Would have benefitted greatly from a narrator who actually speaks Spanish, as the narrators horrible pronunciation was very distracting. Saying this as a fluent Spanish speaker

If your main character is a Chicana

Then please, for the love of God, get a reader who can speak Mexican Spanish.

Exceptional

Well-written, believable and compassionate. I highly enjoyed the Utopia created by the author. I love the word "person" as a non-binary way to characters and "per" as a possessive noun or adjective. Would read again.

awesome story!

I loved the story. As a Latina woman, it kinda bothered me that the narrator could not properly pronounce the Spanish sayings. Connie very clearly identified with her hispanic culture and it would have been nice if the sayings weren't butchered.

read it seriously

I was forced to read this book for class. I am glad! well written, great story and beautifully narrated. you won't regret getting it. I'm excited to re read this!

Excellent, great voices, compelling story

Loved it, narration was great. Each character had their own voice. Engaging and important story.

Didn’t have a Hispanic for main character

We are frequently told that Connie, the main character, is a poor hispanic woman. Yet the performer has no accent and reads the part as if Connie were well educated. Its insulting.