When Shira's ex-husband wins custody of her son, she retreats from the corporation community where her life is dictated by the rules, and returns to her childhood home, the 'free' town of Tikva. There she discovers Yod, the cyborg who will change her world. Meanwhile, her grandmother Malkah is telling Yod a tale of the 16th century, where their ancestors freedom is just as threatened as it is now.

This novel combines the future and the past, much as Doomsday Book did so successfully. Earth is suffering in the mid 21st century, with high temperatures, radiation and danger. There are three different 'areas' within this world, the protected enclaves of the corporation where life is dictated by rules and regulations, but food is available and the people within this are protected.
The 'Glop' is the other end, a gang ruled slum with poverty, starvation and death.

I really felt that all three 'scenes' in the future were well realised and entirely believable, as were the characters, the motivations and the events that unfold. The backstory of the historical tale is just as enthralling, and show that whilst technology may advance and the world may change, human nature and desires are less likely to change.

There was a lot about the protection of the Jewish faith as well, and whilst it was slightly distracting at first as I don't know much about this religion and felt I was missing a lot, as the facts were revealed I forgot noticing details I wasn't sure about.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The way the stories played out, the progression of characters both 'man made' and human was exceptionally well written. This is one I will definitely reread and really analyses what makes us human, where the line is and how far we are willing to go in the protection of our freedoms.

In one line: The past seems to be repeating as a 'free town' in the future is under threat from the big corporations that rule most of the world. ( )

Well-done slightly dystopic scifi novel with a definite Jewish flavor. In this post-ecodisaster world of the future, billions have died from famine, plagues, and a nuclear war in the Middle East. The remaining population now lives either in corporate enclaves, or out in the “Glop,” “the jammed fetid slum where most people live.” Some free towns remain, however, like the Jewish community of Tikvah, in the northeast of the former U.S.

Parallel chapters juxtapose events in the futuristic Tikvah with the real Jewish ghetto of Prague in the late 1500’s, at the time of the famous Rabbi Judah Loew. Brilliant scientists in Tikvah construct a cyborg, Yod (a mixture of biological and machine parts), to protect them from the pirates and assassins of the enclaves and the Glop, just as Rabbi Loew supposedly constructed a golem (or man of clay) to protect the ghetto from the antisemites beyond its walls. Rabbi Loew was a follower of Kabbala, which ascribes mystical powers to letters, numbers, and words. He creates his golem with words, just as we create our truths by naming them. Rabbi Loew’s story is told by Malkah, one of the scientists who creates Yod. Her granddaughter Shira used to be in love with Gadi, son of Avram, the other creator of Yod. Together all of the them struggle with the need for connection. And together all of them explore the nature of the fluidity of reality by virtue of simulations, cyberspace, religion, socialization, desire, and myth, trying to discern which is “true” and even what truth is. A thought-provoking book on many levels.

(JAF) ( )

http://talesofarampaginglibrarian.blo... ( )

Piercy does that thing she does so well, weaving multiple story lines together. ( )

Science fiction love story, kind of like bicintanial man, but in a much darker setting. ( )