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Rating:  - he she it review
A good piece of novel dealing with many issues. gender, feminism, bodies...Sci-fi aspect is just a background but it is woven meticilously
Rating:  - A longtime favorite
Ms. Piercy is one of my favorite writers, and this was the first book I read by her. I prefer this and other of her sci-fi writings to her historical fiction and social commentary pieces.
Her continual challenges to gender definitions and boundaries always fascinate. In this story, vanity is a ruling force and helps to enforce the socioeconomic classes that exist in what seems to be a techno-corporate-fiefdom. The naievete and rebelliousness of the characters in Shira's circle are somewhat implausible as far as their innocence in thinking, in line with what one would expect from a heightened consciousness and facilitation through technology. Nevertheless, it prevails as a fun and provocative read.
Rating: - Spiritual SF
I always enjoy Marge Piercy's books, but I wish she'd write more SF, like this one is. Marge Piercy is at her best when she is unfettered by mere temporal facts.
The cyberpunk world of Marge Piercy's *He, She, and It* future is an environmental wreck where a few domed cities are decent places to live, and the rest of the world is gang-ridden and poisonous. The heroine of this book, Shira, is enmeshed in a bad situation and returns home to a Jewish stronghold domed city. (Although Piercy writes a lot about being Jewish, I really liked that some of the few freehold cities, which are not owned by corporations for their employees, are Jewish. It's like they covered Israel in glass for all posterity.) There, Shira meets Yod, an artificially intelligent robot/cyborg who is, to borrow a phrase, ...fully functional.
Shira lives with her grandmother, whose pithy wisdom becomes angelic at times. One thing that the grandmother said has stayed with me for years and shaped my own spirituality: (paraphrasing), that one cannot pray for things, because that is selfish. One can only pray for understanding. That changed me greatly. Now, when I hear or read that someone is praying "for" something, it sounds to me like a 5-year-old child praying for candy, an utterly selfish and useless prayer.
TK Kenyon
Author of Rabid: A Novel and Callous: A Novel
Rating: - Great feminist cyberpunk
This is easily my favorite cyberpunk novel, for several reasons:
The plot line is interesting and not simplistic. Another reviewer wrote that it was hard to follow. I disagree, and thought that the interweaved story telling added quite a bit and made it a much more interesting story.
The references to the golem stories, and for those who have studied them, the related ethical dilemmas are quite interesting.
Marge Piercy is a great writer. You won't find places where you trip over sentences, or struggle with flat characters.
The primary character is female, and I find that adds a lot to the perspective.
Rating:  - Great love story
I read this many years ago. It was originally published in 1991, so as far as sci-fi innovations and ideas, it's a bit behind, and perhaps was at the time. I really loved it when I read it initially, because I think it works primarily as a romance for those of us that aren't interested in "romantic fiction". I was just becoming interested in sci-fi, so I enjoyed that element at the time, and I enjoyed the Jewish historical tale of the golem that parallels the actual plot. There are leaps in logic, as one of the reviewers below pointed out, but as a love story, I think it's great. The characters are well-developed and grow. Yod is definitely "man redefined in the eyes of women", so I don't know if this would be appealing to male readers. (This has been called "feminist sci-fi" so let that be a warning to those who don't prefer.) But Yod's intelligent, macho, and groovy...so why not? Sort of the sensitive new age man, but with more kahonas, faster reflexes, and prowess in certain arts. ahem. Shira's relatable as a frustrated young woman, leaving an inappropriate marriage, and trying to avoid past mistakes.
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