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by: Marge Piercy
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780449223499
ISBN: 0449223493
Label: Fawcett
Manufacturer: Fawcett
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: May 01, 1995
Publisher: Fawcett
Release Date: May 01, 1995
Sales Rank: 712959
Studio: Fawcett
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
'POWERFUL...EXTRAORDINARY...MOVING.'
--San Francisco Chronicle
Her marriage over, her life unraveling, writer Leila Landsman turns to work, and finds herself drawn to the sensational story of Becky Burgess, a young woman accused of killing her husband with the help of her teenage lover. Becky thought she'd escaped the grim poverty of her childhood when she married up, but her husband was soon planning to trade her in for a newer model. And that's just what happened to Mary Burke, whose middle class life ended with her divorce. Now Leila's housecleaner, Mary has a secret: she is homeless.
They are three very different women who share the same longings: to be seen for who they are, to be valued and loved, but most of all, to have a physical and emotional home that can't be taken away....
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Assured and Entertaining
Marge Piercy's compassion and understanding of our human nature is at the forefront of this novel and is its greatest strength. Anyone who defines this generous writer as a Feminist based on "The Longings of Women" has given it a most superficial reading. Three women's stories, each spotlighting a male cad who defines the arc of the women's lives, yet the book is so thoroughly the stories of those women that the men function to move the plot but not to provide easy scapegoats. Piercy doesn't stack ... Read More
Rating: - I will never look at a homeless woman the same way again...
This is not a perfect book. But, again, as always with Marge Piercy, she has a way of putting you right inside the characters. Especially Mary, the homeless woman. Fascinating to read about a woman who lives like a mouse, hidden inside the homes of the people for whom she cleans! And so gut-wrenching to feel what Mary has to go through. Leila, of course, is supposed to be the one most readers can relate to, the one "most like me." And Becky - I can't get with her program - and I am sure we ... Read More
Rating: - A book by a woman who understands the pains of other women
Leila; succesful in her career, a failure in her marriage. Mary; once a happily married housewife, now homeless. Becky; from a poor background, is desperate to move up to a rank in society, but is on trial for murder. An important book we must all read.
Rating:  - A thorougly heart-wrenching page-turner!
From the first page one finds oneself completely absorbed in this extraordinary novel. The caracters are so well developed that it is easy to become caught up in the book as if one knew and cared about these diverse individuals personally.
I recommend it highly to anyone in search of a thought-provoking good read.
Rating:  - A thoroughly disappointing novel.
This book was a disappointment from start to finish. Characters that are not believable populate mundane events that never lead to anything, nor do they resolve in the end. Three women who we are to believe are strong in positive and negative ways come across as shallow and peripheral. A thoroughly unsatisfying read.
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