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He, She and It
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Plot Summary of He, She and It
"In the middle of the twenty-first century, corporations run almost everything. After Shira Shipman's marriage has broken up, and her young son has been taken from her by the corporation that runs her zone, she returns to Tikva, a Jewish free town where she grew up. As a result of global warming, it is deemed unsafe, and so far, has been left as a free city. Shira moves in with Malkah, the brilliant grandmother who raised her.

Sarah takes a job with Avram, a cybernetics expert. Avram has created a golem, a robot, to protect the free city. Yod is a unique cyborg implanted with intelligence, emotions and the ability to kill. Shira develops an unusual relationship with Yod, who, like Frankenstein's monster, is filled with both love and hate. Shira is to make Yod indistinguishable from humans. What she teaches Yod is to become a man that a woman ideally wants. The two begin a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, she must deal with her own past and past loves, and mistakes which led to the loss of her son. She and Yod decide to retrieve her son.

The story also tells the parallel legend of Jacob, who created a golem from the Ghetto of Prague, a clay creature created to protect the people from a pogrom. Shira's grandmother, who programmed Yod, leaves portions of Jacob's story in the settlement's communication network. Yod, like the golem, was built to protect the city from corporate attackers."

L. Watson, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of He, She and It
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%




Tone of book - sensitive (sigh....)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Romance Yes
Romance plotlets: - love forbidden by society
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Human/magical couple? Yes
Type of couple: - She's a human, he's a robot

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - scientist
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Robot
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters

Setting
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - descript of touching personal anatomy - doing it with a robot/computer
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog
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Kinsman's Oath by Susan Krinard
Vulcan's Heart by Josepha Sherman and Susan Schwartz


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Marge Piercy Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
L. Watson  

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