The Gate to Women's Country

For all those who are unaware: Sheri Tepper has very strong view points. She is a feminist militant and a pacifist. Her books express parables of her sights. Even if I do not agree with Ms. Tepper I've enjoyed her work very much. Her imaginary universes always cast lights and shadows to our own world, allowing the reader to take a different perspective, to think, to argue. Never to be indifferent. Her prose is strong, her imagination fertile and her ability to write interesting stories is outstanding. The present tale is set in a post-apocalyptic world. After devastation, a new civilization is struggling to give humankind another chance. Nothing is easy. The new organization is composed by fortified city-states, where women rule inside cultivating the arts, sciences and agriculture aided by a small group of male servitors. Men are deployed outside as protecting warriors, centered in martial arts, wrestling and having sports competences. In the surface this arrangement is working sustained on complex rules and ceremonies. There are strong undercurrents and rivalries between both groups. The main character is Stavia, a Councilwoman of Marthastown, and her life is shown in three critical moments, allowing the reader to have an inkling of what's going on, at the same time that Stavia does. Even if these the three periods are not sequentially described. One more feature in this provoking book: Ms Tepper rewrite and retranslate the Greek tragedy The Trojan Women as a central myth of this civilization. A book to enjoy and draw independent conclusions. Reviewed by Max Yofre.

After reading the other reviews for this book, I realized that the point of the book was lost on some of the readers, especially the person who thinks Tepper is offering eugenics as a "solution." This book is not putting forth a utopian society that Tepper is saying is the "way to go." The whole point is that what is happening in the book is bad. The men's society is bad, and the women's answer to it is just as bad. The women are denying the men an education and thus a means to better themselves, and they are manipulating the men into fighting with each other. What Tepper is showing is not the way to make a male-bashing world that angry women would love -- what she is showing is the very real problem of governing, of deciding what truly is "the lesser of the evils," of the terrible choices at stake in this particular society. She is not holding up the women as heroes and the men as villains. It is much more complex and rich than that. It's an incredible story about being human, about government, and about what sort of mistakes a female government might make, and how those might differ from men's mistakes (but be just as bad in the long run).

This is a fantastic book! I read it in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. It is not an anti-male, if-only-women-were-in-charge-there-would-be-no-war book. It's a lot deeper than that, so try thinking beyond the surface when you read it. Through the seemingly-innocent dialogue, Tepper cleverly reveals not only the properties of the world she has created, but also the properties of our own world. Her neat reversal of which gender is perceived as the "normal," "default" human points out all the invisible places where women are seen as different, deviant, and non-standard in today's society.Most significantly, Tepper does not create a utopia where women are in charge, and everyone is happy (can't you just picture the birds singing, the flowers growing...?-- there is none of this). This is *not* a perfect world, nor is it completely stable. It is fascinating to get a glimpse of a *well-thought-out* world in which women play a much more powerful role. It's much better than the unrealistic and wishful creations of other feminist authors.I highly recommend this book, especially to young women and men of all ages, the two groups that benefit the most from seeing powerful women.

Sheri S. Tepper is, without a doubt, one of the finest science speculation writers of our century. Her crisp, innovative writing style gives plenty of exercise to the mind as she poses timeless questions to readers. The catch? She poses these questions from different perspectives. The Gate to Women's Country is a story which invites the reader to explore what our society might be headed toward. As she masterfully weaves her tale, the reader becomes part of the community of the book and cannot help but be in shock when the story ends. Tepper's world is vibrant and alive. The development of her characters is rich and deep. It is a book to be read time and time again because with each passing year, the questions Tepper asks become more pertinent to our lives. I have read nearly all of Tepper's novels and highly recommend them to all readers of science speculation. Her work is not for the faint of heart. If you are looking for a fluff piece of literature, go read a Star Trek novel. However, if you are looking for a piece of work that intelligently and relevantly speaks toward the general human condition, this book is for you. The reader will find the story fascinating and impossible to put down. If the reader has never read a Tepper novel, prepare for a delightful experience. The best part for a new reader is that once The Gate to Women's Country is finished, you can go right out and purchase Grass or Broken Stones or Sideshow. For those of us who have read everything we can get our hands on, it is a torturous wait for each new novel; but ALWAYS worth it. Take the Tepper plunge. You'll never regret it.