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Three Women
Suzanne Blume has known success and disappointment in equal measure. A respected lawyer who survived two marriages and put two children through college, she now faces the disquieting prospect of her wayward older daughter moving back home. But more troubling still is the news that her mother, a woman of legendary independence who has never truly accepted her daughter nor approved of her choices, has been felled by age and illness. And, for the first time in her life, she needs Suzanne's help. Intertwining the lives of three generations of contemporary women, master storyteller Marge Piercy plunges into the deepest, most elemental basics of life -- love, aging, illness, and death -- and emerges with a brave, compassionate exploration of the volatile ground between mothers and daughters.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
53 people are currently reading
615 people want to read
About the author
Marge Piercy
108 books928 followersMarge Piercy is an American poet, novelist, and social activist. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Gone to Soldiers, a sweeping historical novel set during World War II.
Piercy was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a family deeply affected by the Great Depression. She was the first in her family to attend college, studying at the University of Michigan. Winning a Hopwood Award for Poetry and Fiction (1957) enabled her to finish college and spend some time in France, and her formal schooling ended with an M.A. from Northwestern University. Her first book of poems, Breaking Camp, was published in 1968.
An indifferent student in her early years, Piercy developed a love of books when she came down with rheumatic fever in her mid-childhood and could do little but read. "It taught me that there's a different world there, that there were all these horizons that were quite different from what I could see," she said in a 1984 interview.
As of 2013, she is author of seventeen volumes of poems, among them The Moon is Always Female (1980, considered a feminist classic) and The Art of Blessing the Day (1999), as well as fifteen novels, one play (The Last White Class, co-authored with her third and current husband Ira Wood), one collection of essays (Parti-colored Blocks for a Quilt), one non-fiction book, and one memoir.
Her novels and poetry often focus on feminist or social concerns, although her settings vary. While Body of Glass (published in the US as He, She and It) is a science fiction novel that won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, City of Darkness, City of Light is set during the French Revolution. Other of her novels, such as Summer People and The Longings of Women are set during the modern day. All of her books share a focus on women's lives.
Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) mixes a time travel story with issues of social justice, feminism, and the treatment of the mentally ill. This novel is considered a classic of utopian "speculative" science fiction as well as a feminist classic. William Gibson has credited Woman on the Edge of Time as the birthplace of Cyberpunk. Piercy tells this in an introduction to Body of Glass. Body of Glass (He, She and It) (1991) postulates an environmentally ruined world dominated by sprawling mega-cities and a futuristic version of the Internet, through which Piercy weaves elements of Jewish mysticism and the legend of the Golem, although a key story element is the main character's attempts to regain custody of her young son.
Many of Piercy's novels tell their stories from the viewpoints of multiple characters, often including a first-person voice among numerous third-person narratives. Her World War II historical novel, Gone To Soldiers (1987) follows the lives of nine major characters in the United States, Europe and Asia. The first-person account in Gone To Soldiers is the diary of French teenager Jacqueline Levy-Monot, who is also followed in a third-person account after her capture by the Nazis.
Piercy's poetry tends to be highly personal free verse and often addresses the same concern with feminist and social issues. Her work shows commitment to the dream of social change (what she might call, in Judaic terms, tikkun olam, or the repair of the world), rooted in story, the wheel of the Jewish year, and a range of landscapes and settings.
She lives in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Massachusetts with her husband, Ira Wood.
(from Wikipedia)
Piercy was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a family deeply affected by the Great Depression. She was the first in her family to attend college, studying at the University of Michigan. Winning a Hopwood Award for Poetry and Fiction (1957) enabled her to finish college and spend some time in France, and her formal schooling ended with an M.A. from Northwestern University. Her first book of poems, Breaking Camp, was published in 1968.
An indifferent student in her early years, Piercy developed a love of books when she came down with rheumatic fever in her mid-childhood and could do little but read. "It taught me that there's a different world there, that there were all these horizons that were quite different from what I could see," she said in a 1984 interview.
As of 2013, she is author of seventeen volumes of poems, among them The Moon is Always Female (1980, considered a feminist classic) and The Art of Blessing the Day (1999), as well as fifteen novels, one play (The Last White Class, co-authored with her third and current husband Ira Wood), one collection of essays (Parti-colored Blocks for a Quilt), one non-fiction book, and one memoir.
Her novels and poetry often focus on feminist or social concerns, although her settings vary. While Body of Glass (published in the US as He, She and It) is a science fiction novel that won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, City of Darkness, City of Light is set during the French Revolution. Other of her novels, such as Summer People and The Longings of Women are set during the modern day. All of her books share a focus on women's lives.
Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) mixes a time travel story with issues of social justice, feminism, and the treatment of the mentally ill. This novel is considered a classic of utopian "speculative" science fiction as well as a feminist classic. William Gibson has credited Woman on the Edge of Time as the birthplace of Cyberpunk. Piercy tells this in an introduction to Body of Glass. Body of Glass (He, She and It) (1991) postulates an environmentally ruined world dominated by sprawling mega-cities and a futuristic version of the Internet, through which Piercy weaves elements of Jewish mysticism and the legend of the Golem, although a key story element is the main character's attempts to regain custody of her young son.
Many of Piercy's novels tell their stories from the viewpoints of multiple characters, often including a first-person voice among numerous third-person narratives. Her World War II historical novel, Gone To Soldiers (1987) follows the lives of nine major characters in the United States, Europe and Asia. The first-person account in Gone To Soldiers is the diary of French teenager Jacqueline Levy-Monot, who is also followed in a third-person account after her capture by the Nazis.
Piercy's poetry tends to be highly personal free verse and often addresses the same concern with feminist and social issues. Her work shows commitment to the dream of social change (what she might call, in Judaic terms, tikkun olam, or the repair of the world), rooted in story, the wheel of the Jewish year, and a range of landscapes and settings.
She lives in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Massachusetts with her husband, Ira Wood.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
January 7, 2017
A pleasure to reconnect with one of my favourite authors from the 1980s. As always concerned with social justice, personal and wider politics, relationships and sex. And the author gives away something of her own bias in the final words of the book "... and as much kindness as she could muster."
In spite of the exterior hardness of her characters, and a lot of scrapping between the three generations that make up the three women, there is a lot of love in action - particularly in response to the debilitating strokes suffered by one of the women. And I learned a lot about strokes from reading the book.
In spite of the exterior hardness of her characters, and a lot of scrapping between the three generations that make up the three women, there is a lot of love in action - particularly in response to the debilitating strokes suffered by one of the women. And I learned a lot about strokes from reading the book.
December 10, 2018
This book was really captivating, as I often find Marge Piercy's novels to be. Her characters are fully realized, richly rendered, and complex. I also love her formula here (used in a couple other novels too) of switching between three protagonists' perspectives. It challenged me as a reader to not really 'side' with any one character but to see a situation from multiple perspectives. At this point in my life I identified most with Suzanne, middle aged lawyer trying to hold everyone else together, but I think when I was younger I would have identified most with Elena, Suzanne's 20-something daughter who is somewhat adrift in life. In Elena's character Piercy captures well much of the anger and feeling of purposelessness that I remember feeling so acutely in my teens and early 20s. I perhaps identified the least with Beverly but nevertheless appreciated getting a real window into her experience of aging.
This novel was particularly emotionally intense compared to other Piercy novels, with a lot of family drama and one character being witness to an act of terrible violence. Because of these themes it kind of felt like Marge Piercy writing as Joyce Carol Oates! But I typically enjoy Oates, too.
The story was heartbreaking in some ways but also very tender, portraying in a very sensitive and authentic way how a family (biological and chosen) responds to crisis points and turning points. It was very well done.
This novel was particularly emotionally intense compared to other Piercy novels, with a lot of family drama and one character being witness to an act of terrible violence. Because of these themes it kind of felt like Marge Piercy writing as Joyce Carol Oates! But I typically enjoy Oates, too.
The story was heartbreaking in some ways but also very tender, portraying in a very sensitive and authentic way how a family (biological and chosen) responds to crisis points and turning points. It was very well done.
September 26, 2016
Ovo je knjiga za dubokom poukom! Tri zene, tri generacije - baba, majka i kcerka, svaka sa svojim zivotima, svojim problemima, svojim razmisljanjima, strahovima, nadanjima i ljubavima. U jednom periodu su prinudjene da zive zajedno, pod istim krovom a onda se i neminovno sukobljavaju jer im teznje i ocekivanja nisu ista. Ipak, spaja ih ljubav jedne preme drugoj. Na kraju, bake vise nije bilo ali im je ostavila zavestanje - '...svetu pravda, a svakome prisnosti, samilosti i neznosti koliko god bude mogla da im pruzi.'
March 17, 2017
I read this book as fast as possible to dispose of it. Honestly, for an author who claims to be a feminist, her ideas are antiquated. Each protagonist depends on a man yet the men have shallow roles. The interwoven chapters start to all sound the same, too. For a tome thick with drama, including suicide, depression, scandalous sex, and jail time, not much happens. Author Piercy doesn't give her readers much to explore or think critically about and instead spends ample time describing clothing choices and careers. This is my first Piercy experience, and I'm disappointed.
July 12, 2012
Outstanding writing. Great plotting and character portrayals. Great insight to the human psyche.
December 3, 2012
Picked this up outside of Books Through Bars for free. I had the sense she is a feminist writer and that seemed compelling and I'd seen her name around so I thought I'd give it a go. The book began on an upswing sketching out a family run by single moms through two generations. As the pages turn, a variety of relationships between all the women in the family and their exterior friendships/affairs are explored.
Initially, the writing seemed convincing; well put together. The first character, Suzanne, seemed sharp and in charge. Then Elena, one of the daughters, made her debut and it all went to shit. Elena is an almost entirely despicable character. The worst part about is that Piercy wants Elena to have grown on us by the end because of the positive transformation she's made within herself, except that Elena has done nothing redeemable. In fact, most all the characters in the book, even though I found moments of oblique identification with them, were pretty lousy people. The grandma is a self-interested tyrant whose political work and care for others does not extend to her own family (except Elena of all people). Suzanne is a lawyer who is only well assembled when she's arguing a case and displays the worst in women when she's not. Elena has wasted her life and wants her mommy to pay for it.
There's a theme of accountability (or lack there of) and the law. It almost came off as if Piercy wanted to test out a few of the most contentious ways women in the book could go to prison. Murder, adultery, assault, illicit drugs, pedophilia. But these ideas are carelessly explored, tiresome and sensational by the end. I skimmed paragraphs just to find out if the book made an unexpected u-turn in the direction of brilliance. It did not.
Piercy certainly has writing talent; but I felt duped as a reader, lured into a story by a ridiculous racy scandals that were not well played out. There's also the clumsiness of inserted email conversations between characters--not a fan. Elements such as these make the novel feel dated and not in a romantic way. I was also disappointed in how feminism was hinted to in various ways but how none of the female characters completely rose above their stereotypes. Although I appreciated at times the degree of candidness the writer used, I just wanted more breakthroughs, less dependance, fewer typical gendered dynamics (why do all the men have to be total losers? why do all the women have to be fundamentally alone, loveless, jaded, naive, pathetic?). It just must not be my wave of feminism--a feminism that strives to break molds, to consider the inequalities women and men are both served in a gender binary. These very interesting ideas and possibilities got thinned out and lost in a wearisome conclusion.
Maybe you should just find out which Piercy book people liked the most and read that one instead.
Initially, the writing seemed convincing; well put together. The first character, Suzanne, seemed sharp and in charge. Then Elena, one of the daughters, made her debut and it all went to shit. Elena is an almost entirely despicable character. The worst part about is that Piercy wants Elena to have grown on us by the end because of the positive transformation she's made within herself, except that Elena has done nothing redeemable. In fact, most all the characters in the book, even though I found moments of oblique identification with them, were pretty lousy people. The grandma is a self-interested tyrant whose political work and care for others does not extend to her own family (except Elena of all people). Suzanne is a lawyer who is only well assembled when she's arguing a case and displays the worst in women when she's not. Elena has wasted her life and wants her mommy to pay for it.
There's a theme of accountability (or lack there of) and the law. It almost came off as if Piercy wanted to test out a few of the most contentious ways women in the book could go to prison. Murder, adultery, assault, illicit drugs, pedophilia. But these ideas are carelessly explored, tiresome and sensational by the end. I skimmed paragraphs just to find out if the book made an unexpected u-turn in the direction of brilliance. It did not.
Piercy certainly has writing talent; but I felt duped as a reader, lured into a story by a ridiculous racy scandals that were not well played out. There's also the clumsiness of inserted email conversations between characters--not a fan. Elements such as these make the novel feel dated and not in a romantic way. I was also disappointed in how feminism was hinted to in various ways but how none of the female characters completely rose above their stereotypes. Although I appreciated at times the degree of candidness the writer used, I just wanted more breakthroughs, less dependance, fewer typical gendered dynamics (why do all the men have to be total losers? why do all the women have to be fundamentally alone, loveless, jaded, naive, pathetic?). It just must not be my wave of feminism--a feminism that strives to break molds, to consider the inequalities women and men are both served in a gender binary. These very interesting ideas and possibilities got thinned out and lost in a wearisome conclusion.
Maybe you should just find out which Piercy book people liked the most and read that one instead.
July 27, 2008
New resolution: I'll get books out of the library instead of always buying them. So I go to the library, armed with my targets picked out from Goodreads, and look for "Gone to Soldiers", but it isn't currently in. So I get this one of hers instead. The title pretty much says it all. The male characters in this story are the bit parts, though their roles in the lives of the Three are important. And it does include "love, sex, betrayal, illness and death" but for me this novel didn't quite get there. Of the Three, only one of them really interested me. Really only 2.5 stars.
June 1, 2018
I read this book almost 20 years ago--and just referenced it again (forgot it was marge piercy but remembered an important plot to the book that has stayed with me). Looked it up because of situation with mother (who is mostly not like the matriarch in the book) who is completely unaware of her own living with dementia. Who cared for her own mother who starved herself to death when she was done with her life.
Gave 3 stars just now but changed it up because I can still remember the book all these years later--that must matter!
Gave 3 stars just now but changed it up because I can still remember the book all these years later--that must matter!
April 20, 2009
This book was what most feminist literature strives to be. I have to say it was a bit slow, but the characters were believable and touching even at their worst moments.
January 21, 2021
Suzanne Blume is a middle aged, divorced lawyer living through a quiet stage of life until her daughter Elena moves back in with her and her mother Beverly has a stroke. The three women who were previously living quite separate lives are now increasingly intertwined.
I feel as though I missed the point of this book. It wasn't moving to me, it was mostly just a sad book about people I didn't really like.
Elena's character feels quite underdone and she feels more like everything scandalous thrown together in one person. She is unsavory and isn't fleshed out enough to be redeemed.
I was much more sympathetic to Beverly's as following her stroke, she is losing a lot of her previously very independent life. That said, she also felt unfinished and I wanted more out of Beverly.
Overall, this book had potential. Maybe there's more here if I sit on it more, but ultimately I was just kind of disappointed.
I feel as though I missed the point of this book. It wasn't moving to me, it was mostly just a sad book about people I didn't really like.
Elena's character feels quite underdone and she feels more like everything scandalous thrown together in one person. She is unsavory and isn't fleshed out enough to be redeemed.
I was much more sympathetic to Beverly's as following her stroke, she is losing a lot of her previously very independent life. That said, she also felt unfinished and I wanted more out of Beverly.
Overall, this book had potential. Maybe there's more here if I sit on it more, but ultimately I was just kind of disappointed.
June 17, 2022
This novel isn't perfect, but it has a lot of good things going for it and a lot to offer. Most impressive is the way Piercy weaves social justice issues into the story without becoming preachy or prescriptive. The characters discuss or live through the moral and legal implications of teen suicide, environmental and divorce law, a case where children are coached to accuse a caregiver of child abuse, death with dignity, infidelity, religious differences, political protest, misogyny and more.
The characters are well-formed and have depth. None are likeable (not a negative for me). I found both Beverly and Suzanne believable throughout, both how they are at the start of the novel and how they change as events unfold. Elena, however, I couldn't get behind. She changes the most, and I couldn't believe in her change. She's the youngest and I suppose the most malleable? But I felt that her change would not be lasting. At one point she discusses her "pendulum swings" with Suzanne, that she goes from one extreme to the other and maybe eventually will find a happy medium. So in the one-year-later final section I expected to see that swing back but it wasn't there. I don't buy that Elena made a full shift so quickly.
The characters are well-formed and have depth. None are likeable (not a negative for me). I found both Beverly and Suzanne believable throughout, both how they are at the start of the novel and how they change as events unfold. Elena, however, I couldn't get behind. She changes the most, and I couldn't believe in her change. She's the youngest and I suppose the most malleable? But I felt that her change would not be lasting. At one point she discusses her "pendulum swings" with Suzanne, that she goes from one extreme to the other and maybe eventually will find a happy medium. So in the one-year-later final section I expected to see that swing back but it wasn't there. I don't buy that Elena made a full shift so quickly.
August 2, 2023
I found this novel quite moving as Piercy tracks the lives of grandmother Beverly, mother Suzanne and daughter Elena. Chapters are short which is a bit unnerving at times, but the choices and undoings each woman faced throughout their lives are arresting.
I was especially drawn to Beverly, downed by two strokes and only seeking to die. I remember well my father encouraging us to consider the work of the Hemlock Society and the right to die movement. I've long believed this to be one of the most essential rights each of us has. That Beverly's daughter and granddaughter work together to help her over is so moving.
The conflicts and dilemnas faced by Suzanne and Elena are so contemporary. Marry or not? Divorce or not? Find wholeness in sexual freedom? Connecting with those who matter when all in life gets in the way of that connection? Male and female needs, desires and demands? Paying the bills when that demands compromise? Finding a path to meaningful employment? Finding family love after years of relative estrangement?
I wanted to rate this 1999 novel higher, but found it often too choppy and repetitious.
Still worthy of a good read!
I was especially drawn to Beverly, downed by two strokes and only seeking to die. I remember well my father encouraging us to consider the work of the Hemlock Society and the right to die movement. I've long believed this to be one of the most essential rights each of us has. That Beverly's daughter and granddaughter work together to help her over is so moving.
The conflicts and dilemnas faced by Suzanne and Elena are so contemporary. Marry or not? Divorce or not? Find wholeness in sexual freedom? Connecting with those who matter when all in life gets in the way of that connection? Male and female needs, desires and demands? Paying the bills when that demands compromise? Finding a path to meaningful employment? Finding family love after years of relative estrangement?
I wanted to rate this 1999 novel higher, but found it often too choppy and repetitious.
Still worthy of a good read!
July 4, 2017
Interesting exploration of mother-daughter relationships in an upperclass Jewish home. Suzanne, a high powered law professor, is always out of time and energy. Her unionist mother, who barely had time for her, has always been indpendent, but suffers a debilitating stroke, rendering her helpless. Suzanne's oldest daughter Elena has had a troubled childhood and adolescence, and is still struggling with living life on her terms while not damaging herself and others. Her youngest daughter has decided, of all things in this non-religious family, to be a rabbi. Piercy details the dance that all of them weave as they struggle to deal with old wrongs and older scars while trying to make their own lives. Independence-Dependence and Trust-Suspicion were two big themes. I didn't really like this book in the beginning, especially Elena's character, but I was glad I stuck with it, as I liked the way the characters grew both together and apart. It would be a good discussion book for a women's club.
May 31, 2025
Overall it was good- a story about how mothers and daughters struggle to understand each other. Some parts don't age well because it was written in the 90's- for example using the R word several times, and constantly talking about people's bodies/fat shaming. Some of the paragraphs jumped around and I had to reread to make sure I didn't skip a page/get lost. The sexual and violence scenes seemed unnecessarily graphic. Not sure the point of two male characters - they just caused drama and didn't seem to add anything to the lives of the characters.
June 19, 2017
Really 4.5 stars. She is one of my favorite authors and her writing as always is vivid with very three dimensional well-realized characters. Several reviewers here complain that the "three women" (three generations of women) are flawed characters. Yes they are, but they all grow and develop and learn through the book, heal their relationships, develop new and better relationships, start on new paths/ journeys. More that you can say about most books!
January 28, 2018
Excellent author. This book is not as good as Gone to Soldiers, but the problem is not the writing. The subject matter - three women of three generations (grandmother, mother, daughter) living together in essentially a soap opera (due to the youngest's seeming inability to care about anyone other than herself at this very moment) does not appeal to me. Thus the 4 stars for the writing/plotting. The actual story would get far less.
June 19, 2019
I thought this book was superb. Yes the charscters are flawed and several are very self serving. That's real life. But they all grow from their experiences. This is a book about real human beings. The central character Suzanne is particularly relatable for anyone who is daily trying to please everyone they love. It's mpossible. A very powerful book: empathetic, compassionate, strong characters, always believable. Outstanding.
December 15, 2018
I read this because I really love Marge Piercy, & the library that I go to didn’t have the book that I really wanted to get, “Summer People”, so I got this. I have to tell you, I really didn’t like what they were doing, but about halfway through the book, the tale of the character, Elena suddenly hit at track for me. BUT the ending was good.
January 19, 2022
Not sure why Goodreads thought I would enjoy this, but it is decidedly not for me. I found the writing plain, repetitive, and at times, there were the types of errors you'd hope any editor would find. I will say she wrote the older lady well, but I still found myself wishing I'd get to the end quicker
July 31, 2020
One of those stories you really want to know the way it'll end. Some food for thought, too, ie the mothers-daughters relationships, and the end of life choices.
I know I won't reread it, but it was a good read and I suspect some of the characters will remain in my mind, at least for a while.
I know I won't reread it, but it was a good read and I suspect some of the characters will remain in my mind, at least for a while.
July 27, 2018
Uninspiring characters, a wooden writing style...nope, couldn't finish this one.
April 16, 2019
One of my all time favourite novels. It's beautifully written with wonderful characterisation. A flawless and all-consuming read.
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July 29, 2019This novel started our slow for me, then it took a turn and I was hooked. I don't understand the decision at the end other than it made the family closer. Over all it was a good read.
August 3, 2019
Heart wrenchingly beautiful.
August 7, 2019
Got this as a summer read and did so during travel. I read it in short, interrupted pieces, which could be an influence of how I remember it: It had some wonderful sentences.
December 16, 2019
I haven’t read Marge Pierce in years and so I started this book. I almost quit part way, but then decided to finish. I’m sure it was more relevant in 1999 when it was written.
January 3, 2020
A story of three generations of women and how they interact with one another and their place in the family.
February 7, 2020
Perhaps I would have liked it more if the sexual parts were left to the imagination. Much of the time, I didn’t like any of the characters. It certainly had drama and touched on difficult subjects.
June 5, 2020
Excellent and incisive.
February 2, 2022
These 3 women gave me anxiety. They displayed a total lack of respect for themselves and each other.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews