Conscience Place

by Joyce Thompson

Bartholomew, the limbless one, who records the life of his brothers...Lucas, the bodiless, who gives his brothers names...Brother Alice, who delivers the words of the Fathers to Conscience Place. To the outside world, they are monsters. To themselves, they are simply the People. America has cast them out of sight, out of mind. But you will never forget them. Since 1984, Conscience Place has been published in seven languages and 12 editions. Thirty-five years later, it remains shockingly timely and deeply moving.The Library Journal said Conscience Place "A thought-provoking gem. A beautifully told story stark in its simplicity, timely in its dealing with the results of nuclear exposure, and universal in its treatment of humans' inhumanity to their fellows." Joyce Thompson was born and raised in Seattle. She is a graduate of Cornell University and the author of six published novels, two collections of short stories, and a memoir. Since 1994, she has worked as a technology product marketer. She lives with her husband in Oakland, California. Her work was recently shortlisted for a Lambda award and for the Staunch Book Prize.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

In 1994, Joyce Thompson took a leave of absence from her literary career to work on high tech’s cutting edge. How to Greet Strangers, her sixth novel, marks her return to her first love, fiction.

She is the author of five previous novels, two collections of short stories and a memoir. Her work has been published in six languages and frequently optioned for film.

Reviews

[Ann Harleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the novel opens, we are in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic world. Its inhabitants are physically deformed: partly or wholly limbless, or with a flipper for a limb; one-eyed; lacking noses or external ears; covered with fur or with scales. Thompson’s intention, as she announces in the Foreword to this reprint of a work originally published in 1984, is “to make people identify, even love, beyond the furthest outposts of their aesthetic prejudices.”
Reader, she does.
She pulls us inside her imagined world--actually a colony within the world as we know it--and lays bare the flaws in the real one. The days I spent with Conscience Place made me homesick for what might exist, and heartsick for what does.
Could an alternative world ever exist? What will happen to the one in Conscience Place, in the clash between it and the larger world?
Read this bewitching, fiercely original novel and find out.

[Eduardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chocante, visceral, com algumas cenas problemáticas (principalmente para dias atuais), ainda assim um livro diferente de tudo o que eu li em FC.

É uma pena que não seja mais conhecido e debatido. Descobri esse livro numa lista chamada "10 Great Reads From the Feminist Lesbian Sci-Fi Boom of the 1970s" (https://lithub.com/10-great-reads-fro...).

Recomendo aos fãs de ficção científica.

[Ann Harleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the novel opens, we are in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic world. Its inhabitants are physically deformed: partly or wholly limbless, or with a flipper for a limb; one-eyed; lacking noses or external ears; covered with fur or with scales. Thompson’s intention, as she announces in the Foreword to this reprint of a work originally published in 1984, is “to make people identify, even love, beyond the furthest outposts of their aesthetic prejudices.”
Reader, she does.
She pulls us inside her imagined world--actually a colony within the world as we know it--and lays bare the flaws in the real one. The days I spent with Conscience Place made me homesick for what might exist, and heartsick for what does.
Could an alternative world ever exist? What will happen to the one in Conscience Place, in the clash between it and the larger world?
Read this bewitching, fiercely original novel and find out.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is well written, but the subject matter is disturbing, making me feel sad. Since my reading is for enjoyment, I chose not to finish reading.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this so long ago that all I remember about it was that it was excellent and that I recommended it to a bunch of people at the time. I should probably reread it.