Throwback Thursday: He, She and It

In which I share vague recollections of books I read long ago that have stuck with me.

Back in my early or mid twenties, I started running out of Margaret Atwood books to read and a friend suggested Marge Piercy. It turned out to be a great suggestion and I happily read my way through many of Piercy's books. Like Atwood, many of her novels have science fiction elements.

He, She and It (which really needs an Oxford comma) is a novel of a dystopian future centered around a woman named Shira who has lost her family and left her corporate-controlled area to live in a Jewish free town. Here she meets and falls in love with a cyborg man. That love story is what I most remember about the novel - the details are lost to me, but there are interesting ideas here about freedom, love, and what it means to be a person.

As I read about it now to refresh my memory, I get the distinct feeling that this novel would hold up now. Piercy's writing is strongly feminist and character-driven and I hope to someday go back and read her books again.