SELECT * FROM uv_BookReviewRollup WHERE recordnum = 1034 Shore of Women, by Pamela Sargent Book Review | SFReader.com

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Shore of Women, by Pamela Sargent
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Benbella
Published: 2004
Review Posted: 3/29/2007
Reviewer Rating:
Reader Rating: 9 out of 10

Shore of Women, by Pamela Sargent

Book Review by Phillip A. Ellis

Have you read this book?

Shore of Women is speculative fiction of a high order. It speculates, that is, what may happen after a nuclear war, where women and men have become segregated and live apart. It is women who live in cities, and it is they who keep the men in a semi-barbaric state. And, when men develop too far, they are destroyed. The old order, and the destruction of humanity, must be averted at all costs, and this occurs through the subjugation of men.

So, when two women are expelled from the city, the results are such that this fragile order becomes threatened. A relationship develops, an honest, real relationship, between one of these exiles, Birana, and Avril, a young man. And they seek a haven where men and women can co-exist in equality and peace, the shore of women of the title.

Shore of Women is both an excellent example of speculative, and of feminist fiction. It asks the necessary "What if?" and, in answering, critiques our assumptions of human behaviour, male and female. It takes the processes of binary opposition, and challenges the resultant assumptions. And, in doing so, it never becomes didactic, less than fiction: this is far more than mere propaganda.

Shore of Women is ill-served if only read by feminists, even, mainly, women. It is a rich book, a wise book that fulfills what many speculative fictions promise but fail to deliver. This is one book I want to share with friends, family, you.

Shore of Women has been called a classic of feminist science fiction: it is more, it is classic science fiction, full stop.
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Comments on Shore of Women, by Pamela Sargent
Posted by anon on 3/30/2007
This review is a little suspicious. Five stars for such a tired plot device? It reads more like an add than a review.