Judging by the title of the book, I was expecting a lighthearted story of a time travelling woman. Boy was I in for a surprise. In just the first two or three pages we get references to drug use, prostitution, rape, domestic violence and abortion.

Woman on the Edge of Time (WOTEOT from now on) is very different from other works we have explored in class so far in many ways. Consuelo/Connie differs a lot from the usual science fiction protagonist. She is a poor, old (in her own eyes), fat, short, dark Mexican woman. What we know about her so far is that she has suffered a lot at the hands of the men in her life: her father, ex-husbands, lovers, to the point where she sees in her niece’s pimp, Geraldo, all those abusive men (34). Her mother’s attitude while she was growing up didn’t help, preferring her sons over her daughter (38). Luciente tells her she is a “catcher” and an exceptionally good one at that, while Connie herself admits to being strongly “receptive” and able to discern information from just looking at people, such as knowing her ex Eddie was cheating on her and that Dolly was preggo after her vacation. This leads me to think that she will end up being a “THE ONE” figure at some point.

The future presented in WOTEOT is also very different from what you would usually expect in a science fiction narrative. Little importance is given to technology; it’s more about every member of the society doing their part, working together in order to advance. In some ways it seems more realistic than the other versions of the future we have explored in class, it actually resembles some of the proposals seen in the Urban Landscapes exhibit at MOMA. Also worth noting is that gender roles are not clearly defined in this future, Luciente speaks about comothers, although it’s not clear if people are raised by two or more females, or if the biological father is considered a “mother” also, making both parents comothers. We’ll have to keep on reading for that one.

Something I found interesting about the story so far was the discontinuous narrative style, especially the first two chapters. After reading them both I realized the order of chapters 1 and 2 could be inverted and not alter the story in any way. Also worth noting is the use of Spanish words and phrases interspersed throughout the text. Being bilingual, I find that extra layer of information relevant, although I’m not sure if I would find it rather distracting and pointless if it were in another language I didn’t understand.

One thing that I dislike about the book is that it goes into too much unnecessary exposition. Every single detail in Connie’s background, past and present, is relayed to the reader. Also, the author uses a whole paragraph to say something that could have been expressed in a sentence, making the overall experience a somewhat tedious read in some parts.

From what I’ve read so far, I can tell that this story is more about human drama rather than man vs. machine and authentic vs. artificial we’ve been dealing with so far.