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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
A little bit like Gulliver's Travel's, but more range of emotions and less of the scatological stuff.
The intro makes me want to go looking for a "complete list" of LeGuin's work.
Beautiful. For the lovers of anthropology and science fiction. Each plane, in itself, feels like it could have turned into a novel.
Enjoyable, but odd. First, the prose is utterly beautiful, which isn't a surprise coming from Le Guin. This falls somewhere between a novel and a story collection, as there is a common narrator for each story (except where the narrator relates someone else's POV), but each segment is kept distinct from each other segment. Each focuses on a different plane that can be visited, if you know the trick, by shifting planes while waiting at an airport. So, while you're waiting to change planes, you can visit another plane (I presume the pun is deliberate).
Usually I have a tough time finishing story collections, but this one was holding my interest better than any of the novels I'm currently reading, so I kept turning back to it instead of them. It's a study of what it means to be human, by looking at reflections of ourselves in not-quite or sometimes not-at-all human cultures.
Recommended.
Usually I have a tough time finishing story collections, but this one was holding my interest better than any of the novels I'm currently reading, so I kept turning back to it instead of them. It's a study of what it means to be human, by looking at reflections of ourselves in not-quite or sometimes not-at-all human cultures.
Recommended.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Fun book with each chapter exploring a different plane of reality. I found the planets diverse and unique. While of course I liked some of the planes more than others I found them all interesting to read about and none were too samey.
Every plane has some new critique or reflection on society and life which I've come to love from LeGuin. The framing device for the plane travel is also very fun and adds another little layer to the whole thing.
Every plane has some new critique or reflection on society and life which I've come to love from LeGuin. The framing device for the plane travel is also very fun and adds another little layer to the whole thing.
An eclectic but surprisingly coherent collection of "extra-planar" tales, blending unique and at times nearly incomprehensible cultures that stretch the definition of what it means to be human way beyond the typical borders. Amazing that such differences in humanity could be written by a single author and collected in a single volume. Although this is Le Guin, after all, so I suppose I should not have been too surprised.
I could not get into this book. The store and the shirt stories, wine kind of interesting, were mostly boring and pedantic.
A collection of xenological ecologies, societies, and linguistics, by one of the great masters of creating such things. The framing device is, alas, pretty silly; the sketches would have been better off without it.
I'm not usually much for short stories but I found this completely delightful.