Nicole Brady

Book Review 2

Cyborgasmic

Sit back for a minute and envision the planet Earth of the future. There are hovercrafts whirring through the air, cyborgs sauntering past on their way to work, fully-immersible virtual realities where anybody can get their rocks off, and whatever type of machine a person can envision. This is the type of world that is the setting for cyberpunk novels, a relatively new genre of science fiction focused on high technology and future society. What kind of people read these types of novels? For many people, the image that springs to mind is one of a teen to middle aged bachelor sitting around his house, surrounded by his prized Star Wars memorabilia, and whiling his days away playing fantasy games on their computers. Unfortunately, this stereotype has kept many an educated young woman or man from even venturing an interest in the science fiction genre. FEAR NOT, MY FRIENDS! For those of us who feel timidly curious about entering the often misunderstood world of science fiction literature, Marge Piercy's novel He, She, and It provides a great leaping point.

Set in the middle of the twenty-first century, He, She, and It introduces us to a place most of us already know-Northeastern America. However, after years of political bickering and lack of action, global warming has wreaked havoc on our planet. While the sun is scorching much of the land, the oceans continue to rise. With food, jobs, and money more difficult to come by, the world is divided into the haves and the have-nots. Most of the haves live within enclaves owned and controlled by the multi-national corporations which rule society. Here, they have access to housing, clean air, and food. The have-nots, which are most of the population, live in the overcrowded stench-filled urban sprawls where our modern-day cities now stand. Here, they struggle daily, stealing and fighting for survival against the multis, nature, and each other. There is an in-between these two extremes. Free towns, as they are known, are autonomous groups who live independently of the glop and the multi's enclaves. These towns trade and do work, but remain largely self-contained. It is in one of these towns, Tikva, that most of He, She, and It takes place.

On it's surface, He, She, and It is a story about a mother just fighting to get her son back. Our protagonist, Shira, is lost herself after losing custody of her son, Ari, to her ex-husband Josh. Shortly after the divorce, Josh steals Ari away to a space-station enclave known as Pacifica. Searching for a way to get him back, she returns to Tikva, the town of her youth. Here, Shira finds herself caught up in the illicit training of a male cyborg named Yod who has been created to protect Tikva and it's inhabitants. Yod is extremely strong, resilient, and fast, both in reality and in the cyber-reality of Bases and the Net. In He, She, and It, Piercy opens up for the reader a new world within a world as she describes cyberspace. It is a place that is limitless, a place where anyone can fly and the old are young. However, it is also a place that can destroy the mind and destroy lives. Nobody knows this more than Shira's grandmother Malkah, a poineer in cyber-technology. She herself nearly dies while plugged into the Base. Together with a motley crew that includes Shira's mom Riva, her former lover Gadi, Malkah, and a strong Amazonian-type woman named Nili, Shira and Yod endeavor to rescue Ari.

As she spends increasing time with Yod, Shira grows closer to him. Eventually, against all odds, the two become lovers. Their relationship, held up against the framework of other various relationships in He, She, and, It, is the real fruit of Piercy's novel. Shira and Yod's desire for and affection toward each other is obvious, while the reasons behind these emotions are not so clear. It seems as though they love each other. This leads to the question, what is love? Throughout He, She, and It, Yod points out that, like him, our own needs and desires come from eons of programming. We are programmed to yearn , nurture, and make love. Does this make a cyborg human? Yod's story is told with a parallel story about the creation of a golem, Joseph, who has been created from clay. Both of these men were created for the purpose of protection yet they both, against what would be their creators' wishes, have feeligns like men. They, too, have wants and desires. Yod and Joseph want to live, whatever that may mean.

He, She, and It is much more than just another gadget-filled thriller. In this novel, Piercy includes something for everyone. There is the usual cyberpunk landscape which, in He, She, and It, just happens to be America after we've let global warming take its toll. Lethal unbearable heat and crowded diseased inner-cities are not quite as farfetched as we would like to imagine. The techonogies Piercy writes about and the complex interactions between people and these technologies have enough depth to rival any great science fiction novel. There are clones, cyborgs, huge multinational corporations, and even a society of women who exist solely through artificial insemination. All the characters and objects in the novel are woven skillfully into a great work that any thrill-seeking reader could truly enjoy. However, the setting, technologies, and adventure all take a backseat to the story in this novel. He, She, and It is, at heart, a beautiful story-a story about freedom, love, and choices.