[Marge Piercy's drab style] is in fact a shabby raincoat draping [a] naked romanticism…. (p. 310)
The High Cost of Living reads more like a minority report from the margins, unaware of its own share in the pathos it evokes…. Ms. Piercy's identification with her heroine makes overtures towards objectivity. She unclamps Leslie from the rape hot line to test her in the straight world and the academic rat-race. Leslie can be a stern critic of lesbian and feminist introversion. She condemns ex-lover Val's refusal of "real-world skills" and retreat into "a woman's theatre course" and "classes in palmistry and doilymaking." Although Leslie's own pursuit of a further degree has tied her to the career of George, a high-grade academic rat (thus bringing about her separation from Val), a desire for intellectual integrity as well as economic independence drives her on. She rejects—or rationalizes her rejection by?—lesbian coupledom and community-living….
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