The sixty-five chapters in The Longings of Women are variously labeled Leila, Becky, and Mary; each is written from the third-person, limited omniscient point of view; each character's chapters could be a stand-alone novel or novella. Episodic yet roughly chronological with frequent flashbacks, Piercy's novel pointedly knits together the lives of three women even as the author respects the separate strands of their distinctive identities. Never does the "collective" story overshadow those of individual characters. However, the use of three limited viewpoints does enable readers to know more, on the whole, than Leila, Becky or Mary know about one another.

Hence, readers occasionally watch occurrences through multiple lenses, which heightens awareness of character flaws, self-deception and unreliability.

The physical descriptions of homes herein are rendered with a keen eye in vivid detail. From Becky's birthplace in love and squalor to the chilly artifice of her pompous in-laws' domicile...