Deep world building, highly intriguing and thought provoking social themes. ( )

Surprisingly good. The concept was interesting from the start and the story was really not bad. I had some moments of impatience, particularly when some of the girls fall for the deceptions of the boys, but the ending was quite good. I read this too fast to see it coming, but there was a nice symmetry to it all. I didn't like the thing Tepper was doing with the play at first, but in the end, it did fit quite well. ( )

A natural choice for this LeGuin fan. Interesting, unsettling, and full of the everyday details of living in a different world. ( )

The Gate to Women’s Country is a standalone science fiction novel by Sheri Tepper. This was my first time reading anything she had written.

The story is set on earth, long after an apocalyptic event known as the “convulsions”. Most of the pre-convulsion technology was wiped out. In their society, women do most of the work for maintaining their communities, learning the sciences and the arts and the skills necessary for survival. The men mostly serve as warriors, living apart from the women, with some exceptions among men who have chosen to remain with the women as servitors. The story primarily follows Stavia, alternating between a timeline starting when she’s 37 and a timeline starting when she’s 10. The younger timeline gets the most page time, and takes Stavia into her early 20’s as she deals with life and begins to learn some of the secrets of the society she lives in.

I liked this. I put it down easily, but I enjoyed it when I picked it back up. There’s a lot of depth to the world-building here, and a lot of meat to chew on. There are a lot of gray areas with the society portrayed in this book. I could understand how and why the people made the choices they did to create their society, but I also thought it had a lot of flaws and found myself debating whether the benefits were worth those flaws.

The characters were as nuanced as the world-building, and I cared quite a bit about what happened to Stavia. Having the two timelines split up did remove some of the suspense about what would happen to Stavia whenever she was in danger in the earlier timeline, but the story from the earlier timeline was interesting enough despite that and it had plenty of other revelations to offer.

The story was satisfying as it is, but there was also enough depth to the world that I felt there could have been other interesting stories to tell in the same setting. I might have chosen to read them if they existed. I also have the author’s book Grass on my Kindle, so I look forward to getting around to that one someday.

The Kindle edition I read has a lot of random italics that don’t belong there. That got a little exasperating. I kept catching myself reading a sentence with odd emphasis because of the incorrect italics, then I’d compulsively re-read it without the emphasis so it didn’t sound so ridiculous. ( )

The first time I read this book was way back in 1988-89 timeframe. I was in the U.S. Army, getting money for college, since they offered, and was stationed in a tiny little place called Ft. McNair, in Washington DC. I was there my entire 3 years after Basic & AIT, so got to know the place fairly well. They had a small store, mini-bowling alley, an assortment of ghosts (really, look it up), General's Row, a DIY car wash, and a library. I loved the library most of all. I probably read all of their spy novels due to being in the DC area; I enjoyed all the possibility of espionage and counterspies and such, even though the likelihood of it happening was slim. I also read Backpacker magazine, more in the hopes of escaping the oppressive concrete of a large metropolitan city as soon as possible than going on any grand camping adventures. It was on one of my almost daily lunchtime visits to this itty bitty library that this title, "The Gate to Women's Country" caught my eye. The cover was not lovely and the book looked old. It wasn't overly thick. It wasn't meeting many of my typical requirements, but I read the back cover and was intrigued. It was the start of a long and solid love of all things written by Sheri S. Tepper. I honestly would love to read her grocery list and would treasure it always. She classifies herself as a Science Fiction/environmentalist writer. I, however, ever-so-politely, disagree with her. I would put her strongly in the post-apocalyptic fantasy section for every book, with a not-so-subtle feminist slant. I have laughed outloud and cried with her books. So, about 28 years after I first read this book, I decided that I would read it again. I had remembered the story line pretty well, forgotten all the names, and discovered new ideas due to life experience. It was just as captivating to me now as it was then. Such interesting ideas: men live outside of the walls to protect the women and are primarily the warriors; women live inside and are the doctors, teachers, crafters, farmers, and law makers. Boy babies are raised with mothers until the age of 5, then go to the warriors for 10 years. Then they get to decide whether to stay in the garrison or return through the gate. There are many secrets that the women hold dearly, that the men would like to know, and that causes murderous plottings. Also interestingly is an off-shoot that shines a light on polygamous communities outside of Women's Country. Enjoy this thought-provoking book and author. ( )