diff --git a/Data/Vector/Binary.hs b/Data/Vector/Binary.hs
--- a/Data/Vector/Binary.hs
+++ b/Data/Vector/Binary.hs
@@ -36,11 +36,38 @@
 import qualified Data.Vector.Generic as G
 import Control.Monad
 
+import System.IO.Unsafe
+import qualified Data.Vector.Generic.Mutable as M
+
 instance (G.Vector v a, Binary a) => Binary (v a) where
     put v = do
         put (G.length v)
         mapM_ put (G.toList v)
 
+    -- this is morally sound, if very awkward.
+    -- all effects are contained, and can't escape the unsafeFreeze
+    {-# INLINE get #-}
+    get = do
+        n  <- get
+
+        -- new unitinialized array
+        mv <- lift $ M.new n
+
+        let fill i
+                | i < n = do
+                    x <- get
+                    (unsafePerformIO $ M.unsafeWrite mv i x) `seq` return ()
+                    fill (i+1)
+
+                | otherwise = return ()
+
+        fill 0
+
+        lift $ G.unsafeFreeze mv
+
+lift = return .unsafePerformIO
+
+{-
     -- Uses too much space going via lists.
     -- XXX todo: fill directly from a stream. 
     get = do
@@ -60,3 +87,4 @@
                  x `seq` go (x:xs) (i-1)
 {-# INLINE getMany #-}
 
+-}
diff --git a/vector-binary-instances.cabal b/vector-binary-instances.cabal
--- a/vector-binary-instances.cabal
+++ b/vector-binary-instances.cabal
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 -- The package version. See the Haskell package versioning policy
 -- (http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Package_versioning_policy) for
 -- standards guiding when and how versions should be incremented.
-Version:             0.1
+Version:             0.1.1
 
 -- A short (one-line) description of the package.
 Synopsis:            Instances of Data.Binary and Data.Serialize for vector