Sex Wars, by Marge Piercy

August Book Club - Book Review

By: Sharon Anderson

The Minnesota Valley NOW Book Club meets monthly.  In August we read Sex Wars by Marge Piercy. This work of historical fiction chronicles the post civil war era, with an emphasis on the women’s rights movement. The narrative gives the reader a vivid picture of late 19^th century life in New York City. It is an interesting story albeit not necessarily true. It was hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction. The main characters were Susan Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Woodhull Sisters and their nemesis Anthony Comstock. While these are real historical personages and many of the events chronicled in the book are documented, the narrative of day-to-day life and conversations are fictional.  Piercy also created a fictional immigrant woman Freydeh who could have existed at that time.

The book was written in a style that portrayed the character’s lives separately by chapter.  It was only later in the book that some of the characters and their actions had an impact on each other’s lives. Piercy used the same technique in The Longings of Women, to much better effect.  There were fewer characters to follow and it was apparent earlier in the novel how they were connected.  I found this technique was harder to follow in Sex Wars. I also found myself following one character’s story - in essence reading ahead and skipping chapters rather than reading it in the order Piercy intended.  If I had not been reading it for book club I would not have made it through this book.

That being said, Piercy did manage to weave a story that could be a starting point for further examination of Women’s Suffrage and immigrant life in America.  She did bring a personality to these characters and told an engaging story of how things might have been.

In September we are reading Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross.  In some circles there has been a belief that a female pope existed in the 9^th century. The legend is that Pope John VIII was in fact an Englishwoman.  She reportedly was Pope for two and half years starting in A.D. 854.  It is thought that she was Pope until her labor pains betrayed the fact that she was a woman.  She was later stricken from papal records.  Pope Joan, by Donna Woolfolk Cross, a fictional tale of how this could have happened.