Yes, yes. What a way to end a book with the most overused cliché of our time; that it was all a delusion set in the main character’s mind. Since the beginning I kind of sort of had an inkling that the main character, Connie, had schizophrenia. And in order to escape what she had done to herself in her past life, in order to make it seem (in herself) that she was right and everyone else was wrong, she created this illusion of Luciente and this entire future (without herself truly knowing this) in the confines of her mind in order to make herself to move on with her life. If that makes any sense at all. Well, it makes sense in my head.

But moving back to these last six chapters, we first enter into a world that is the opposite of Luciente’s future, which can be found mainly on page 284 or so. This is what terrifies Connie; the very thought of not staying the course, which will render Luciente and everyone that she has come to know and love in Matt… Mitt… Massapot… oh god damn it, future-Massachusetts, inexistent. Since she doesn’t know what she is seeing is real or not real (which is the very definition of schizophrenia), she stays on her course of action, which is doing whatever possible to achieving Luciente’s future. Because apparently, it’s all “war” to Connie.

Oh, and how about those characters? These are the chapters in where we finally get to see Connie’s present family and to finally conclude something that we have probably all known since the beginning of the book: they’re a bunch of assholes. We meet Luis, Lewis, damn what is his real name? I have never met a brother that is such a total douchebag to his sister, and not have the ability to sign off and let Connie out of a mental institution, which is practically jail, and take care of her himself. Seriously what kind of a world is this place, this is the same Earth we live in today? Eh, probably true. Then we have Dolly, who is still a jerk and a doped up prostitute, who still can’t seem to remember anything she says five seconds ago. Oh, and then there is Adele, Luis-Lewis’ wife, which in no way is related to the singer, because she is also a jerk. Doesn’t she know that Connie has been in a mental institution for quite a while? And she really cares more about a couple of plates? And how fast Connie can clean up? Wow, what kind of family is this?

Alright, hey, hey, going a little off topic there, but overall, the ending was alright. Schizophrenia or not, she was a brave woman, and she fought for what she thought (or didn’t think?) what was right, and for anyone, that takes some serious cojones.

So as for a final rating of the novel, I’d give it a 7/10. I think that’s fair. Some parts were great, some parts were “eh”, and some parts were downright “wtf”. 7/10 then.

After reading the four chapters, I get that ‘technology versus humanity’ feeling and its connection with control. Something that is considered a huge theme in science fiction. It’s also gradually becoming more to the truth that technology is taking over, which can correspond to Alice’s “treatment” in Chapter Ten. This even gave me a comparison to something we’ve previously read, “Do Android’s Dream Of Electric Sheep?”, where most people own a mood organ that effectively changes what a person wants to feel. In that reality, however, the owner of the mood organ was in control. In this story, these so called “doctors” are in control. As Dr. Argent says, “We can control the violent” (Piercy 197). What seriously irks me is the irony of that quote. In its entirety, it is actually the opposite. Those in charge are the violent ones while the patients are the actual victims. It’s as if they possess no human rights at all. Is it the fact that they are women? Does this point to Piercy’s determination of feminism? Of course.

I also have come to realize something about one of the characters in particular; Dolly. I’ve had my suspicions about her from the beginning but now, in the conversation between her and Connie, it is confirmed that Dolly is an asshole. I do not understand why Connie continues to ask for her help. In her place, I would completely notice that Dolly will not help. $5, $10? I’m in a prison for Christ’s sake, in what thrift shop do you think I’m going to spend it? Why don’t you do something practical like getting me the hell out of here? She is always high, always on drugs, in what world do you think she is going to do anything? Connie keeps thinking she is going to do something to help her because she’s “blood”. What’s funny is that Luciente is from another time, far into the future, and she/he is practically family. She/he has done more for Connie than Dolly will ever do.

Connecting back to technology and humanity, we hear something that Luciente says in the scene where she/he is with Dawn and Connie next to the highway during Connie’s timeline. As cars are driving by, Luciente says, “All those people in metal boxes, alone and cut off” (240)! Key words in that quote: “alone” and “cut off”. This can pertain to where humanity is headed presently, in our current time. We are getting cut off from our own lives, and in doing so, what makes an individual an individual is getting lost through time, piece by piece.

When Connie is sent forward into Luciente’s time frame, we learn something new about the legislative and judicial branches of her/his society (if any). Apparently, having a disagreement between one another, such as in the case of Luciente and Bolivar, it is almost a sort of crime, and what happens is that the two opposing individuals have to pretty much make nice: Parra says, “Luciente and Bolivar, sit down face to face inside the ring. Look at each other… You must set aside time to speak” (206). So it may be entirely possible that ironically, this utopia is a dystopia because of its noticeable downsides.

So much drama. So much.

To start with, I hate time travel, because it really confuses the hell out of me, it’s been overused to death, but seeing how this book is way before all that, I’ll try my best.

In the first chapter, the introduction of the characters is a little unorthodox; we get a shot of one person then almost immediately a shot of another without much description of said characters. Then after that, we go through some weird time loop that sends us back an hour or two before the abusive scene we come across in the beginning. A sort-of keystone that made me conclude that this was happening was the “ballpoint pen” she picked up on the subway car (she mentioned it in chapter one before the abuse scene).

Throughout the first chapter through a little more than half of the second, we don’t get the sense that this is really a science fiction novel. But then, as we get introduced to Luciete, a mysterious figure in which we first meet in Connie’s dreams, the science begins to tie in with the fiction. And as we read on, we begin to realize or form a conclusion using the bits and pieces acquired about Luciete, that she is a time traveler (and also because she tells Connie) from the year 2137.

For a future, unlike we see in most science fiction, it’s probably not what we were expecting to visualize. When Connie gets pulled into 2137 with Luciete, there are no skyscrapers, no ships, nothing what we expected of a year far out of reach than where we are today. What we really changed through the eons was the society; the people.

From what I can gather during the third chapter when Connie goes with Luciete to her time, Government is virtually nonexistent and there is no registry of people. When born, a name (no last name, just one name) is given to you, and in time, whenever, that person is allowed to change his or her name freely at the cost of people forgetting who you are. That being said, having an individual  almost isn’t possible, because it seems that everybody is connected to each other by some means; a sort of hive mind without a “queen” or governing body or individual.

To add, we get a sense that the future totally differs from that of the past (Connie’s present). In Connie’s present time, there is a huge line between male and female while this kind of utopian future of Luciete’s completely erases that line.

I apologize if this was short, this is all that really clicked into my head. I’m sorry to say that it was a really slow four chapters.