Plot summary He, She and It

the main story of he, , situated in north america in near future of year 2059. @ time, economic , political power held few multis—huge multi-national enterprises own social hierarchy have produced affluent society. main part of population, however, lives in glop outside of multis enclaves within environment has been destroyed. here, life dominated poverty, gangs , law of stronger man. exception so-called free towns able sell technologies multis remain autonomous. communication handled via network allows participants project cyberspace.

when protagonist shira loses custody of son ari ex-husband josh, returns multi yakamura-stichen (y-s) hometown tikva (hope in hebrew) - jewish freetown. there, starts working on socialization of cyborg yod (the tenth letter in hebrew , symbol god in kabbalah), has been created illegally avram protect city. yod tenth cyborg (a robot human appearance , programmed human characteristics) in row of failed experiments programming has partially been completed malkah, shira s grandmother. while shira , yod build (sexual) relationship, shira s childhood sweetheart gadi, avram s son, comes tikva. gadi returns due banishment sleeping young girl. when malkah working on chimaera (security software) protect city online attack, attacked y-s. yod, however, able prevent attack. eventually, y-s invites shira new hearing concerning custody of son. shira accompanied yod, mother riva, , nili, biotechnologically enhanced woman nuclear-devastated palestine, when situation escalates. y-s delegation , riva die in fight. thereupon shira, malkah , yod decide infiltrate y-s network base. manage hold of personnel files revealing conspiracy against shira , tikva.

as next step, shira , yod accompanied nili , gadi glop. here, in contact organized underground group in discover riva still alive , participating in resistance activities. glop travel y-s enclave in nebraska kidnap ari. there, josh killed yod. tikva, shira s family spends quiet time until y-s invites them further meeting in net. y-s demands yod handed over, y-s acquire technology. avram agrees deal hope of creating cyborg. so, yod agrees destroy him/itself when sent enclave. however, yod made sure own explosion cause synchronous explosion in avram s lab. avram dies in accident , notes destroyed creation of further cyborg becomes impossible.

finally, malkah leaves tikva nili visit secret town in post-nuclear holocaust israel , profit possible biotechnological enhancements. shira integrated tikva s society further. when discovers copies of notes concerning yod, plans on recreating yod; respects yod s wishes , destroys them.

the main plot interwoven story malkah tells yod deals rabbi judah loew malkah depicts ancestor living in ghetto of prague around 1600. protect jewish community christian mob, loew uses knowledge of kabbalah create golem joseph clay. granddaughter chava, educated woman, teaches joseph read , write. joseph protects ghetto , begins think of himself human , makes plea right human existence. however, when pogrom climate calms down, loew returns joseph clay. 2 stories mutually illuminating, both asking means human both perspective of man-made life , of love artificial lives.