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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Short stories tied around the premise of being able to visit different 'planes'. Each story is an interesting idea explored - what if people didn't sleep? What if our sex life was entirely separated, even geographically, from the rest of our life? What if we could have wings but there was a terrible price to pay? These stories are about ideas, not plot. They are written beautifully by a master of the craft. I wouldn't have chosen this book for myself if not for book club and I'm glad I read it.
Fascinating collection of short stories. They're mostly disconnected but all follow the the theme of interplanary travel (or whatever you want to call shifting between planes of existence) starting in airports. Less fantastic, slightly less dark, and more anthropological than her better-known earlier stories. I strongly identified with her description of the dehumanizing horrors of airports in the first, framing story.
Supremely brilliant collection of stories, reflecting on human nature through the invention and exploration of societies on other planes.
I haven't read any Ursula LeGuin since college. She's been floating around in the back of my mind - every so often someone mentions her in a book or article. Then I read about her death, and I feel like I missed her. So I decided to start up reading her again, but when I got to the bookstore her section of the shelf was missing the major works (I already read Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed), so I picked up this. I didn't know this before, but LeGuin's parents were the anthropologists who studied Ishi, the California Native American whose entire tribe died out, and he then sought refuge in white society. Now that I know that, I see Ishi's story informing so much of her work. In the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," a rich and pleasant society exists because it has decided to offload most of the suffering onto an innocent child. It's a sort of deal with the devil, although we all see the logic of the arrangement: many people that we care about are safe, happy, and well-fed due to this child being miserable. Is it worth it? What if you happened to be born into this society, then realized the happiness you took for granted is predicated on another's pain? These are the moral conundrums an American young person would feel when coming into contact with a Native American who was the last of his tribe due to the relentless march of US western expansion.
Changing Planes is a series of short stories, each describing a person from Earth visiting a different alien society as a tourist. LeGuin is reflecting on our society of course, and this is an interesting way to do it. She shows these societies solving problems, although the way she does it is to describe the solution, and then the reader has to extrapolate why the society is doing this. There are mysteries to uncover, puzzles to solve. I read a LeGuin quote about how she thinks we make a mistake to assume that all literature is about conflict or must originate in conflict. Changing Planes is an example of literature not driven by conflict: I think it is driven by the desire for understanding.
Changing Planes is a series of short stories, each describing a person from Earth visiting a different alien society as a tourist. LeGuin is reflecting on our society of course, and this is an interesting way to do it. She shows these societies solving problems, although the way she does it is to describe the solution, and then the reader has to extrapolate why the society is doing this. There are mysteries to uncover, puzzles to solve. I read a LeGuin quote about how she thinks we make a mistake to assume that all literature is about conflict or must originate in conflict. Changing Planes is an example of literature not driven by conflict: I think it is driven by the desire for understanding.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
i gotta hand it to ursula, she’s made me like short stories (at least ones written by her). this collection was very good! she does the anthropological sketch so well.
Update: Meh. My library loan expired about halfway through, and I'm not motivated to check it out again.
I've read (and enjoyed) Le Guin's work before. I liked the way she blends inventive world-building with a generous dose of philosophy and social commentary in The Left Hand of Darkness. However, the ratio seemed off in this book - these stories read less like fiction and more like very thinly veiled social criticisms. Honestly, listening to the first story felt like being dragged into an alley behind a Whole Foods and bludgeoned by hipsters wielding anti-GMO placards.
****
For the Book Riot 2017 Read Harder Challenge. #22: Read a collection of stories by a woman. (Also, the whole woman-trapped-in-airport-uses-interdimensional-travel-to-escape-boredom thing is just too perfect *not* to read on my next long flight.)
I've read (and enjoyed) Le Guin's work before. I liked the way she blends inventive world-building with a generous dose of philosophy and social commentary in The Left Hand of Darkness. However, the ratio seemed off in this book - these stories read less like fiction and more like very thinly veiled social criticisms. Honestly, listening to the first story felt like being dragged into an alley behind a Whole Foods and bludgeoned by hipsters wielding anti-GMO placards.
****
For the Book Riot 2017 Read Harder Challenge. #22: Read a collection of stories by a woman. (Also, the whole woman-trapped-in-airport-uses-interdimensional-travel-to-escape-boredom thing is just too perfect *not* to read on my next long flight.)
funny
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This is one of those books that I spent years not looking for. I read about it when it was first published and meant to pick up a copy. After all Ursula K. Le Guin shares the "my favorite author" answer with Calvino and Borges. How could she not? Her worlds are so detailed, her stories so riveting, her thoughts so fascinating.
Then one day I was in my favorite bookstore I never go to (Jupiter's Books, Cannon Beach, Oregon) and there, in the Science Fiction section I did not mean to visit, was a single pristine copy of Changing Planes. It was time.
Gee whiz. I mean, I clearly enjoy Le Guin's writings. But these stories (some of which I've encountered elsewhere) are such gems. And the concept of the book is so playful it makes me want to take a flight somewhere!
There's not really much I'm going to say about this book. If you're a Le Guin fan you've probably read it. If you're not then this is an excellent introduction to the woman's art. Because art it most definitely is!
Then one day I was in my favorite bookstore I never go to (Jupiter's Books, Cannon Beach, Oregon) and there, in the Science Fiction section I did not mean to visit, was a single pristine copy of Changing Planes. It was time.
Gee whiz. I mean, I clearly enjoy Le Guin's writings. But these stories (some of which I've encountered elsewhere) are such gems. And the concept of the book is so playful it makes me want to take a flight somewhere!
There's not really much I'm going to say about this book. If you're a Le Guin fan you've probably read it. If you're not then this is an excellent introduction to the woman's art. Because art it most definitely is!
probably rating this way too low which honestly is my fault for coming in with such high expectations (The Lathe of Heaven is a top five fav…)
Changing Planes is a fun short story-esque sci-fi, where the narrator discusses different planes or universes that humans from earth are now able to travel to - when they’re at the airport waiting for their flight. Le Guin writes in a very anthropology-textbook style detailing the different planes but mostly the cultures developed by each planes’ humanoid inhabitants. Le Guin’s creative writing skills are resplendent, though some of the stories just felt too long and too lacking of action. still a lot of fun to read and meditate on different human(-ish) civilizations!
Changing Planes is a fun short story-esque sci-fi, where the narrator discusses different planes or universes that humans from earth are now able to travel to - when they’re at the airport waiting for their flight. Le Guin writes in a very anthropology-textbook style detailing the different planes but mostly the cultures developed by each planes’ humanoid inhabitants. Le Guin’s creative writing skills are resplendent, though some of the stories just felt too long and too lacking of action. still a lot of fun to read and meditate on different human(-ish) civilizations!