Fiona Morgan
I was given this book 12 years ago by a very special woman friend because she thought I would like it. She was right I found myself caught up with Connie and her journey. Happy to be lost in that utopian dream and find myself smiling at the memory. Thank you Helen.
jackie ashley
i haven't read this book for many years but it is one of the few books that i have re-read because it moved me greatly. thank you for putting it on the list and reminding me of how powerful it is. i now work as a counsellor so perhaps this book has continued working on my sub-conscious.
carole brooks
this is one of the most memorable books for me. I loved it because there were so many issues under examination woven into a beautifully written story. It helped me to make some sense of the world in which i live, which wasn't making sense then, (and still doesn't now) Most of all, it gave me a measure of hope for a possible future society, (one which still feels unachievable, but we can dream, can't we?) and it was a great source of inspiration.
Julieanne Porter
I first read this book about 10 years ago, and its influence on my worldview and how I perceive a possible future is profound. The text and subject weaves its way through my thinking to this day, and I refer to it regularly as a tool for a vision for a possible future in discussions with others. The way it addressed class, race, sexuality, gender and humanity, though incredibly challenging within current cultural constructs (certainly from a 'western' position), gave and continues to give, hope that we can make the world a better place. I recently gave my copy to a friend moving overseas as I felt she would find it as moving and thought-provoking as I. But I couldn't bare to not have my own copy and tracked down one in a second-hand shop! Beautifully written, incredible vision, empowering.
Angela Stoner
In the Utopian society which Piercy interweaves in this story, a truly creative and equal society is evoked. For the first time, I began to see that so much was wrong with our sociey, and that individuals could change it.
Jennifer Bruce
It made me realise that my unease with traditional women's roles was not unusual and helped me to live my own life, not the life others expected of me.
Debbie Collins
I read this book when I was 25 and worried that the feelings I was having about my life, my marriage, my job and myself meant that I was going mad. Reading this book allowed me to look at mental health and the way it is dealt with in our society completely differently and began a lifelong journey for me into self discovery and health. I became an acupuncturist and then a counsellor.
Moira Hill
This book changed my life, along side a few important women to discuss with and love. After this I read Shulamith Firestone's dialectic of sex, joined a radical feminist group and gained a new world.
dawn fire
i grew up loving science fictio. it opened up my mind to the possibility that I could be anyone I wanted to be ( not something which was obvious in an aspiring middle class suburb in the 1960's, where all the women were housewives) this book in particular made me question my life, my sexuality and the boundaries we impose upon ourselves. and I became a scientist, a feminist and a mother!
Hazel Cheeseman
Like other people who have commented I find it difficult to choose just one of these books. But in terms of the impact it has had on my life, Woman on the Edge of Time has to get my vote. It is such a compelling text, beautifully written and entirely captivating, but it is something more than that. As an idea for the future it changed my whole perspective. When you look at the advances women have made in society in the last 50 years it is often breath taking but the areas of life that we are still excluded from is also shocking. The idea presented by Piercy of shifting our entire social system is profound. In one literary gesture she resolves these social conflicts and challenges our idea of womanhood. Peircy's novel is more than a text about women's rights it is a book about human rights and the way in which female rights, responsibilities and privileges can play a part in a new future. It is years since I read this book and it still comes back to me. I would read it again but I've forced this book on so many people, men and women, I have no idea where it is!
kate Forlong
This vision of the future is challanging but utterly compelling. the lack, in this future of sexual or any sort of possession of another person the most radical aspect. No families! troublesome for a mother to grasp but your gasp of shock floods you with such fresh air! My absolute favourite of all time. What even compared with The Color Purple? The Poisonwood Bible? Agony! Do I have to choose?!
Lyn Christine
I happened upon Marge Piercy's work as a teenager and found the sentiments both eye-opening and empowering. A "feminist" writer with depth and sensuality. Her work has lasting memorability in my life.
Jenni Johnson
Years ago I heard a British psychiatrist talking about this book on the BBC.To my alarm, he asserted that Marge Piercy's portrait of mental institutions and the treatment dealt out to their patients was broadly true of both the USA and the UK. Like Lessing's The Golden Notebook, this novel deals with the themes of the relative notions of "sanity" and "insanity" in a way that leads the reader to question the nature of power in society, male and female relationships and what it means to be a woman in our Western world. I found this a thought-provoking book that changed my view of what it means to be a woman and that opened my eyes to the experiences of the under-educated urban poor in the US. Some readers might find the science fiction slant of the blurb off-putting, but science fiction can sometimes be the most creative medium for politically aware writing. Once again, Lessing springs to mind.
