Subject: _The_Gate_to_Womens_Country_

From: [email-masked] (Lisa S Chabot)
Date: 28 Aug 89 21:19:23 GMT

_The_Gate_to_Women's_Country_ by Sheri S. Tepper

Too weak to do anything but lay on the couch this weekend, I finally
made a dent in the To Read pile.  And found this gem!  Brief synopsis:
in a world which saw a nuclear war about 300 years ago, we find ourselves
in one of the first refounded cities.  These cities are loosely tied
by commerce and war, and they don't sprawl, since much of the land is
not arable and the city walls provide protection from bandits and other
marauders.  The cities are divided: men live in one half and practice
for war; women live in the other half and farm and weave and manufacture.
Boys leave their mothers at age 5 to live with the warriors, although, if
they choose, they can return to the women's side and cultivate the living
arts instead.  Men fight with bronze swords; what little steel women make
is needed for medicinal uses.

And, if that were it, you wouldn't have to read it yourself!  I found this
book uplifting: full of hope and pain, but much more positive than most
post-nuclear science fiction, especially since it gave a glimmer of such
hope about the violence we see inherent in us.  A weakness is in her
sweep-under-the-carpet treatment of homosexuality, but that may be a story
path she didn't want to follow.  Tepper as usual does not resort to
preaching, but tells a compelling and illuminating story.

A new favorite book of mine.

---------------------------------
--Nay, if we talk of reason
Let's shut our gates and sleep.  Manhood and honor
Should have hare hearts, would they but fat their thoughts
With this cramm'd reason; reason and respect
Make livers pale and lustihood deject.