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A review by maddiewagner
City of Darkness, City of Light by Marge Piercy
4.0
Marge Piercy recreates a well-rounded experience of The French Revolution by alternating the point-of-view of different characters: Claire (an actress), Max (Robespierre), Nicolas (an academic), Manon (an artisan's daughter/bureaucrat's wife), Pauline (a chocolatier), and Georges (an aspiring politician).
Through these main characters the reader learns how the revolution affected different groups of people. Pauline and Claire are the closest to the poor people (the sans-coulottes) and the women who protested for the right to divorce, the right to inherit and the right to feed their families.
Manon showed the other side of women's politics - a woman who was well educated and influential but priding herself on staying behind the scenes as a "proper woman."
The men - Max, Nicolas, and Georges lead the reader through the range of revolutionary thought. Maximillian Robespierre was focused on his virtue and his belief that he stood for the people, although he didn't believe they should be making decisions directly. Nicolas struggled for true suffrage and an elaborate governmental set-up to secure those rights against the popular demand. Georges is the new politician - political because he sees a way to move up in the world.
Many of the issues discussed in the book seem pertinent to today's political climate - how the rich pay less to the common cause than the poor, politicians and bureaucrats who are more focused on retaining their power than responding to the will of the people, and how after huge changes are made society seems to take several steps back so that only some minor changes remain.
Through these main characters the reader learns how the revolution affected different groups of people. Pauline and Claire are the closest to the poor people (the sans-coulottes) and the women who protested for the right to divorce, the right to inherit and the right to feed their families.
Manon showed the other side of women's politics - a woman who was well educated and influential but priding herself on staying behind the scenes as a "proper woman."
The men - Max, Nicolas, and Georges lead the reader through the range of revolutionary thought. Maximillian Robespierre was focused on his virtue and his belief that he stood for the people, although he didn't believe they should be making decisions directly. Nicolas struggled for true suffrage and an elaborate governmental set-up to secure those rights against the popular demand. Georges is the new politician - political because he sees a way to move up in the world.
Many of the issues discussed in the book seem pertinent to today's political climate - how the rich pay less to the common cause than the poor, politicians and bureaucrats who are more focused on retaining their power than responding to the will of the people, and how after huge changes are made society seems to take several steps back so that only some minor changes remain.