Wow so this is it our last blog, I can’t believe how quick this semester has moved, i remember like it was yesterday doing our very first blog. Now to the book, I can honestly say that the second half of the book was defiantly more enjoyable then the first half. I also enjoyed the ending because it just brought everything together and her report gave me some clarity with it.

When Connie first went to the Future New York i was a little lost, but when she started talking to Glidina I realized what was going on. “Time Traveling, Connie Smiled with Sophistication. it was almost fun. She imagined Luciente must have felt laying down the unbelievable truth to naive ears. Now she was the visitor from elsewhere.”(pg 283) This was an interesting to me because first of all she is comparing herself to Luciente and after reading the book i can look back and say that Luciente honestly could have been the futuristic version of Connie or just another personality she created that she wanted to strive to be. The other thing is how she has accepted time traveling as something she found to be fun compared to something she felt she had to do. After Connie decided to leave this version of a futuristic New York she says ” So that was the other world that might come to be. That was Luciente’s war and she was enlisted in it.”(pg 295) This just added to my belief that this world was in her head because she didn’t have a problem visiting Luciente until that thing was put in her head. I also found it interesting that we finally found out this war that people had been fighting was actually a war against time and its possible outcomes.

Now that Connie believed she was at war she did everything in her power to win and help Luciente’s time line. “It’s war Sybil … if i could get out and furlough, I know i could run for it. The city’s so close here. Once off this ward, we’d have it made! People come in and out of this building all day, outpatients, volunteers, if only i could make it to the elevators.” (pg 336) Since i Believe this whole future and time traveling was in her head this is where i would say Connie finally cracked. She has not only brought this in to the real world, but she honestly thinks she is at war and she is incorporating the help of other people who are not part of this, just because she thinks she can help Luciente from her time line. However i feel like since Luciente is just another personality of Connie she was strongly on trying to help herself. In the last chapter of the novel we see People leaving the Hospital, Connie and Sybil still try to plan there escape. ” I’m ready to try Consuelo. I cannot permit them to operate on me if i have anyway to stop them. it’s kind of death.” ( pg 360) The first thing i found really interesting about this was the name was chosen to use for Connie, they used Consuelo instead of Connie. I feel like this was used because Consuelo was the personality that went through so much and still some how fought through it, in other words Consuelo was a survivor or maybe even a fighter. The other thing that got me was how she talked about death and it being the same thing or even better in her mind then getting another surgery, i guess losing who you really are is like dying because you are being forced to be something you are not. The book ends on a hectic note, with everything happening with Connie and her helping Sybil and she still felt like this was a win for her and she got a victory in this war she had been fighting for a long time. However it was not really a war of time, but more of a war in Connie between her different personality’s and who she strived to be. It was a war of the mind of a woman who was a survivor and doing whatever she had to do to succeed was what she did.

This novel overall was literally split down the middle with me, but it defiantly brought science fiction and reality together in the struggle of a woman who was struggling to be the best she can be. This is why my title is the mind is a powerful tool because is can create stories, other people and worlds and we are the ones who are in control of them and its our job to draw the line between reality and whats our imagination.

Let me start by saying that these last four chapters really stood out to me, now that does not mean that I anatomically like the book, but that i just really enjoyed the story in these chapters. Maybe its because there was more talk about what is going on in the mental hospital and that it ma connect to the future with Luciente.

An overall theme i am seeing here is that there is a connection to science and the the doctors work at the hospital. In our last class Professor Belli asked us how do other people in the story look at Connie and i automatically thought of the doctors. I thought of how they look at Connie and the other patients as nothing more then a project or an experiment. ” We already have your brothers signature on the permission form.” Acker told her. “But we want your permission too. We want you to understand how we are going to help you.” (pg 209) This is where we first see the doctors are trying to get Connie to agree to the procedure that was done on Alice. I feel like this really shows how the doctors really feel that even if Connie said no they still had the OK to operate and that they were going to. “And a chance to get my brains scrambled like Alice”, ” In two months Alice will be home Connie, If you leave us you think you will be home in  two months?”(pg 209) This back and forth with Connie and Acker made me feel that the doctors may actually know what they are doing and that they might be able to help Connie, but i still have that feeling of an experiment because this surgery is brand new and it is still being tested. “Motherf***ker, you let me up! I ain’t no guinea pig!” (pg 195)This shows how wrong this is because they are treating these sick patients like nothing more then lab rats.

“lots of talent in your field are working to retrain sexual inversion with electroshock keyed to slides and films” Redding was saying to Acker.  ” but the recidivism rate isn’t promising. if we could cure inversion surgically, we’d open up a whole new area” (pg 258) While i was reading this i felt like this really showed the doctors true colors and that it really shows how they look at patients, they almost see them as a less then an a experiment but more like a disease or a sickness on our society and that they had to be cure in some way to be normal. It also felt like the doctors wanted to do this to be remembered as people who changed the world in some way or made it a better place for the future society’s. I feel like in some way they were playing god as they were taking what was wrong and redesigning it in a better image.  Later on in the story we see what is happening to Skip and Connie says ” He moved differently: Clumsily. It was as if he had finally agreed to imitate the doctor’s course, clumsy masculinity for a time, but it was mastery with them and humility with him. He moved like a robot not expertly welded.” This description of Skip is a perfect example of how they tested on a lab rat and they are getting the results they wanted, however it also reminded me of people in the future for some reason and how they are are so perfect and on task its almost like this experiment was eventually mastered to make society in there definition of better. It also in my mind somewhat explains why scientist are so important in the future society.

We learn that Skip had been doing so good that they let him go home to his parents for a weekend to see how he did in real society. “Sunday morning early, Skip had slit his throat with an electric knife in the kitchen of his parents home.” When i read this i thought immediately about the doctors reaction to the news and that they would not feel anything but disappointment that one of there experiments had failed. Instead of feeling responsible for the death of a patient they would feel anger for not finding the cure for the problems of the society in the patients. That Skip was nothing more to them now then just a failed experiment.

These four chapters made me realize that a lot of this book is based on science. I guess it was harder to realize since the previous chapters did not interest me that much, but science is a very important overall theme is this book and it all connects with the doctors trying fix people all the way to 2137 where people are all united as one and scientist play a big role in society. So maybe just maybe Connie isn’t crazy and the future she visits really exists.

So Woman on the edge of time is still not there a 100 percent. I will say that the story is some what intriguing, but im still not sold on this story yet and i feel like that since im this deep in the story that might not change. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Also after reading Chris’s blog i just now realized that people in the people are like people from Connie’s past which does have a clarity to the story now and how I understand it.

Chapter 5 was pretty short compared to the rest of the chapters in this section. We see Connie in the new ward in G 2, she is sitting on a porch enjoying the weather and just thinking. That peaceful time brings luciente to her and she goes with him to his time again. We learn here that cats in this time can talk and Connie talks to one which is kind of bizarre if i says so myself. However the only other big thing that happened was that we met Bee. Bee is a very strong man who used to be in the army and had just returned. However when Connie met him she was immediately reminded of Claud her former lover who had died. He was the only man she truly loved. However seeing him brought on thoughts of her daughter Angelina and the emotional connection with luciente was disconnected and she ended up back on the porch inn tears. This is the first real time we see someone from Connie’s past in this time, which makes me think is this future really there or not.

The next chapter we see what it is like in the new ward G 2. Though it is not that bad there were certain things that bothered Connie like she felt as if they were treating her like a child in school. Also she felt like the drugs they were giving her were making her feel drowsy and weak. We also get a better understanding of the love Connie had with Claud, we learn  how in love they were and how he went to jail and died. Still he was the love of her life. While drugged Connie finds her way to luciente again. She spends more time with her and Bee. Being with Bee made her love for Claud feel even stronger then ever. We also meet there child Innocente. We get a better understanding of this society when we learn that Innocente is getting ready to go and perform  the naming ceremony. This was explained that the child goes out to the woods and stays there for a couple of days fending for itself and surviving on its own. Then upon return they choose there name that they want. Connie was a little shocked to learn about this because she could not believe they were leaving a child out there by itself. Where if you think about it for a peaceful society that is kind of savage. Especially for the horrible things that could happen. We also learn that children here have three mothers and Connie says that is how she feels like she is three people in one. She looks at herself as Consuelo the Mexican servant woman, a woman who bears and endures pain and then there is Connie who had two years of college until Consuelo got pregnant and Connie had decent jobs and fought for welfare to support her daughter(Piercy 114). I find it really interesting how she looks at her self in that moment as three different women who seem to have three different objectives and even though they are part of the same person they are three different people all together. At the end of the chapter Connie gets disconnected from luciente all of a sudden and for a few moments ends up no where lost in time or maybe lost in her own mind.

This chapter with Connie being found by luciente and ends up back in his time. Connie is a little startled by being lost but is comforted by jackrabbit and she is shown around more and taught more about there society. However the biggest part of this chapter is the end where Connie sees a child who looks exactly like Angelina. This makes Connie very emotional because she had not seen her daughter for a couple of years since she had been taken away form her. This emotional outburst causes the connection with luciente to be broken and she starts to fade, but as she is leaving she is telling them that she wants her daughter to stay with them in that time because that is the perfect world to her, that is the world she imagined for her daughter. This is another reason that makes me believe that this world is all in her head because all of these people who she is seeing is becoming to much of a coincidence.

The next chapter we are in the present a lot. We learn that one of Connie’s friends Sybil has been getting some type of shock therapy. Connie is very shocked by this news. We get  feel of G 2 a little more and they type of nurses that are working there. Some of them are nice but some a just really nasty. While sitting and waiting Connie fades out to luciente. When she arrives we learn that it was government day and luciente takes her to see how there government works. We learn it is a big meeting of different representatives and they all talk an discuss with the people of that area. We learn that they all discuss until a an agreement is made in the middle that satisfy s everyone. In the meeting they are talking about a bridge and what to do with it and how fix it. They mention that it has been around for 300 years which means it was around in Connie’s time as well and i was trying to think of which bridge it might have been. Towards the end of the chapter the disconnecting between Connie and luciente is different this time because Connie is woken up by one of the nurses. The nurse mentions that Connie looked like she had with drawled and that she was out of it. This adds to my reason that show that this could all possibly all be in her head.

This chapter starts with Connie finding out that she is being moved with a couple of other people who were also observed by the new doctor. We also hear about dolly since she left Connie in there. We learn that she left Geraldo and is with a new man who takes care of her and her daughter Nita. She tells Connie that she would come visit that weekend. This made me think t why did Dolly just leave Connie there especially since she left Geraldo. Connie also goes back to luciente and finds out he is having a party of some kind. We learn more about how this society is kind of united as one and how they all give back to each other. For example Sappho one of the elders dies and that’s her way of giving back. Connie has a moment with Dawn who looks like Angelina and Connie feels great to be with her in that moment. Connie also ends up having sex with Bee and she says that it made her feel free in those moments and she says how that word means so much, that freedom is the best thing someone could get. The chapter ends with her back at the asylum and Dolly never comes to visit.

This book is very interesting but im still struggling to find something that catches me and holds my attention. Other then that i also have to say that i believe to that none of this is real and that the future she is visiting is just in her head and its all part of her fantasy for a perfect world.

Woman on the edge of time is an interesting novel to say the least, I don’t know how I feel about the novel yet and im not saying it is bad, but so far i have seen just bits and pieces of science fiction here and there. Which makes me think if the rest of the novel is just bits and pieces of science fiction is the novel itself really a science fiction book. We will talk more about this as we get closer to finishing the book.

The novel starts with us meeting Connie a 37 Spanish woman  living in NYC in what seems to  be the 1970’s. We meet her niece Dolly who comes rushing to Connie because Dolly’s lover/pimp Geraldo has beaten Dolly again and Connie was worried because Dolly is pregnant with Geraldo’s baby. One way I could tell that this is 1970’s NYC is how they talk about pimps and prostitutes because that is what NY was known for in the 70’s, it was a very dirty and dangerous place. While at Connie’s house Geraldo comes looking for Dolly because he believes that she is not carrying his baby. Geraldo brings his right hand man slick with him to help out and he also brings a butcher who is also supposed to be a doctor. Geraldo brings him to help get rid of the baby, which is described as really gruesome part of the novel. Connie tries to stop this so she smashes a wine bottle in Geraldo’s face breaking his nose and all this gets Connie is a beating from Geraldo and his helper Slick. They then driver her to Bellevue hospital and while going there is still getting beaten. Once at the hospital a story is made up that Connie attacked Geraldo and Dolly supported the story because she had no choice, this leads to them committing Connie to Rockover State which was a mental institution. She said this made her feel like garbage being brought to the dump to rot. This first chapter did not have any science fiction to it, but i loved the realism that is portrayed especially because it takes place in NYC, the way certain things that are mentioned i know of and it makes the story feel more real.

This chapter confused me a little because i know she is in the mental institution, but she talks about walking around outside and being home and going to to work. Anyway Connie talks about her work she did Mrs. Polcari in the welfare program. Connie talks about taking the subway and they way she describes it i feel like im really there with her because i know the places she is going to in the story, like she mentions going to delancy/Essex street which i know very well cause its on my route to school. Reading things like that are pretty cool to me cause it makes me feel like im right there with her in the story and i know where she is going and what she is doing. Things like this really bring the story to life. Connie talks about work she does for a professor at a CUNY college, which again makes the story come to life. However it is after her tiring day at work that we finally get some kind of science fiction in this book, she falls asleep from a long day of work and dreams of Luciente who is from the future, the year 2137 to be more exact. Connie is startled by Luciente at first cause she also meets him on the street as well. He tells her that she is special because she is a catcher, which i took as she was able to see and talk to him while not everyone could. She seemed like she could only see Luciente when she is either servilely tired or really high and he says maybe they can see each other when she is not stoned. As i said before this chapter really confused me.We also learn about Connie’s past with her family and what happened with her daughter Angelina. We learn that growing up there wasn’t a real standard for people in her family. We see Connie tell her mother that she wants to go to college and have a career, but her mother tells her that she couldn’t do that and that she was destined to be a mother working at home in the kitchen. Connie refuses this and goes to college for two years, but ends up getting knocked up at 19 ending her dreams of a career someday. We also learn that Connie had a problem with child abuse with her daughter Angelina and in the end she was taken away from Connie. This leaves Connie all alone and makes her feel like she is nothing and that her mother sadly was right about the woman in that family destined to not achieve greatness

The next chapter finds Connie back in the mental hospital and she describes what is happening while she is there. We learn that she is in a solitary cell and she is very drugged up. While being there isolated from everyone else she remembers losing Angelina to child welfare and that makes her feel even more lonely. She tries to get lost in her mind so she does not feel this lonely and depressed and tries to find Luciente. Luckily he does come to her and this makes her feel not alone in this world. They talk about her life and about Luciente and his home. He tells her that if she is feeling uncomfortable here and he says they can travel to his time if she wants and she agrees too. Though she does not go there physically she goes there mentally, but it feel like she is really there. Upon approaching in 2137 she learns that Luciente is actually a woman. Which makes me think what was she seeing when Luciente approached her the last couple of times, was Luciente disguised in some way, did she just really look like a man or did she only see like a figure or an outline of a person? While in 2137 Connie is introduced to a couple of Luciente’s friends and she is also introduced to this new world. We learn that there was nuclear war that made the world basically start from the beginning again. There were farms and villages like there were in the 1200s-1500s. Which is interesting because in this futuristic time technology of the past led to us having to restart and make a better world to learn from our mistakes. Connie seems to take a liking to this place because she does not like the world is in 1970’s NY, She likes how this world is so peaceful and everyone is together. We also learn that her coming tot he future does not affect the past, but if Luciente were to come to the past fully it could affect the future. After her day in 2137 Connie is sent back to her body and wakes up in the solitary cell as if she never left.

Back in the mental hospital Connie reconnects with an old friend named Sybil who believes she is a witch and she can do spells with herbs and things. The seasons change from winter to spring showing how long Connie has been in there, while this happens a new doctor arrives at he hospital and observes certain people. Later theses people are called to do an interview/experiment. Connie being one of these people is called in and asked a bunch of questions about how she feels and if she gets headaches and other things that hurt. In the end those people who were called were being moved to the the ward G2. This section is a little more open and Connie talks about there actually being men in this part of the hospital. Connie thinks that is good she got moved down because she feels like it is closer to her getting out.

So far this novel has been interesting and some what intriguing, but i don’t like that there is not  a lot of science fiction in it yet. However i do like how real the story feels to me and how i feel like i could imagine being there with her, also i like the idea of the future being a place that does not have a lot of technology and it is a place where we as a society are starting over and learning from the mistakes of the past. Maybe Connie will help them with that more. We will have to wait and see.