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issyharvey's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'm always a fan of Le Guin's writing and will definitely be rereading this piece again and again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Alcohol
johnpfromkc's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Good message but it was a little too "on the nose."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism
lottiegasp's review against another edition
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
In this novella we meet the peaceful Ashtheans, a humanoid species living on a planet covered in forest. The planet has been colonised by Terran humans, who log the planet to return the wood to the now-arid Earth. We meet a selection of the humans living on Ashthe from the garishly evil Davidson who sees the Ashtheans as an inferior animal species, to Lyubov, an anthropologist who has studied, learnt the language of, and befriended the Ashtheans, and many in between with varying levels of respect or disdain for the Ashtheans. The main Ashthean we get to know is Selver, who leads the resistance against the humans.
Written in the 1970s, the story is an allegory for the Vietnam War, where the Ashtheans represent the otherwise peaceful Vietnamese who, when driven to it, fought for their country's self-determination. I liked how the story depicts a range of humans (representing Americans), but that even those who mean well are still complicit in human supremacy that hurts the Ashtheans.
I think stories like this that deal with speciesism against alien species and human supremacy function both represent the racism/colonisation of the past (blatantly defining non-white people as subhuman. These days the forms of racism tend to be more subtle) and also give us food for thought when considering how we treat non-human animals- making assumptions about their intelligence, feelings and value.
I always find Le Guin's writing quite dense, such that I struggle to get excited to go back to her novels while I'm reading them. Compared to her full-length novels I've read, this one was short enough to feel like less of a slog, but also meant it did not have the same build and climax that I enjoyed for instance in The Left Hand Of Darkness. But overall I recommend the book for its pertinent political themes.
Written in the 1970s, the story is an allegory for the Vietnam War, where the Ashtheans represent the otherwise peaceful Vietnamese who, when driven to it, fought for their country's self-determination. I liked how the story depicts a range of humans (representing Americans), but that even those who mean well are still complicit in human supremacy that hurts the Ashtheans.
I think stories like this that deal with speciesism against alien species and human supremacy function both represent the racism/colonisation of the past (blatantly defining non-white people as subhuman. These days the forms of racism tend to be more subtle) and also give us food for thought when considering how we treat non-human animals- making assumptions about their intelligence, feelings and value.
I always find Le Guin's writing quite dense, such that I struggle to get excited to go back to her novels while I'm reading them. Compared to her full-length novels I've read, this one was short enough to feel like less of a slog, but also meant it did not have the same build and climax that I enjoyed for instance in The Left Hand Of Darkness. But overall I recommend the book for its pertinent political themes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and War
Moderate: Rape
ldasoqi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
An absolutely stunning read, this is a classic in the SF canon for a reason. I continue to be shocked by how much I love these old SF classics, I know that they're considered all-time-greats for a reason but for me reading is believing, and I am really glad to have read this!
For anyone that's unaware of the Hanish Cycle, this is one of Le Guin's most famous collections of stories. The Hanish Cycle stories focus on various types/species of humans (including our Terran variety) who have established unique civilizations on planets scattered around neighboring stars. In this universe, the origins of man are tied to the Hanish, an ancient species of humans who seeded these planets with life far in the past (take that, Genesis!). As these civilizations evolve, they begin to explore the stars and interact with their new-found neighbors. Each of these books is simultaneously an SF romp and a sociological/anthropological reflection of our social issues here on earth.
This Novella (and I hesitate to call this a Novella because it's right at the cusp of being a full length novel) takes us to the planet of Athshe and the Terran military logging colony of New Tahiti. Athshe is a planet of forests and oceans, home to the Athsheans, a race of short green-furred people who populate the forests and live in a fairly primitive society. Now I'm sure you're thinking to yourself: "oh, a Terran military colony and a population of "primitive" locals? I know where this is going." Yeah, this is not a happy story, the Terran colonists have nothing nice planned for the Athsheans, and almost as soon as they land they conscript the locals as slave labor.
Forest was an important read for me this year. I really didn't expect this story to hit me so strongly, but given the course of recent world events, I could not help establishing such a deep connection with the Athshean plight. As a Palestinian, the current height of the conflict in Gaza is something that's been pressing on me whether I am conscious of it or not, and the portrayal of the coke-classic form of colonialism in this book managed to tap into that angst. As I read this, the news blared loud about the man-made famine that has begun in Gaza, about Israeli protestors stopping the flow of aid trucks while chanting for the extermination of the Palestinian people. Within that context, the descriptions of the colonialist mindset, the purposeful dehumanization of the Athsheans, the ineffective intervention by outside parties, and the chapters from Davidson's (Read: Cl. Kurtz) perspective, truly disgusted me and took my personal connection with this work to the next level.
This book was originally written for a 1972 SF anthology. History buffs will no doubt note that this is around the time of peak anti-Vietnam sentiment here in the states, the year of George McGovern's campaign which promised "immediate-withdrawal from Vietnam" and a year in advance of the Paris Peace accords. This was written post Kent State shooting, post Mai Lai massacre, and the content of the book is telling of that fact. If you've read Heart of Darkness or have seen Apocalypse Now (1979) then you know exactly what kind of statement this book is trying to make.
I think an issue that crops up for modern readers of this novella is just how similar it is to many other popular stories that were published afterward. This precedes Apocalypse Now by 7 years, but the thematic overlap is startling when you consider that Heart of Darkness is not credited as an influence by Le Guin. I think the main comparison that gets thrown around is the Avatar (2009) one, and yeah, Avatar is nearly a carbon copy of this book, just with tall and blue aliens. I'd throw an accusation of plagiarism James Cameron's way, but honestly I thought he ripped off Dances with Wolves before I even read this book, so maybe there was some parallel thinking at work. There's one key difference between this and Avatar (not counting the color of the locals) and that's that as a textual work Forest is not neutered by censors and studio influence and that unfiltered edge made a huge difference on just how impactful this was to me (and likely to other readers).
All-in-all, this is a classic for a reason. If you liked Avatar, well good news: This is like Rated-R Avatar, without the CGI, or platitudes, or the bloated runtime.
For anyone that's unaware of the Hanish Cycle, this is one of Le Guin's most famous collections of stories. The Hanish Cycle stories focus on various types/species of humans (including our Terran variety) who have established unique civilizations on planets scattered around neighboring stars. In this universe, the origins of man are tied to the Hanish, an ancient species of humans who seeded these planets with life far in the past (take that, Genesis!). As these civilizations evolve, they begin to explore the stars and interact with their new-found neighbors. Each of these books is simultaneously an SF romp and a sociological/anthropological reflection of our social issues here on earth.
This Novella (and I hesitate to call this a Novella because it's right at the cusp of being a full length novel) takes us to the planet of Athshe and the Terran military logging colony of New Tahiti. Athshe is a planet of forests and oceans, home to the Athsheans, a race of short green-furred people who populate the forests and live in a fairly primitive society. Now I'm sure you're thinking to yourself: "oh, a Terran military colony and a population of "primitive" locals? I know where this is going." Yeah, this is not a happy story, the Terran colonists have nothing nice planned for the Athsheans, and almost as soon as they land they conscript the locals as slave labor.
Forest was an important read for me this year. I really didn't expect this story to hit me so strongly, but given the course of recent world events, I could not help establishing such a deep connection with the Athshean plight. As a Palestinian, the current height of the conflict in Gaza is something that's been pressing on me whether I am conscious of it or not, and the portrayal of the coke-classic form of colonialism in this book managed to tap into that angst. As I read this, the news blared loud about the man-made famine that has begun in Gaza, about Israeli protestors stopping the flow of aid trucks while chanting for the extermination of the Palestinian people. Within that context, the descriptions of the colonialist mindset, the purposeful dehumanization of the Athsheans, the ineffective intervention by outside parties, and the chapters from Davidson's (Read: Cl. Kurtz) perspective, truly disgusted me and took my personal connection with this work to the next level.
This book was originally written for a 1972 SF anthology. History buffs will no doubt note that this is around the time of peak anti-Vietnam sentiment here in the states, the year of George McGovern's campaign which promised "immediate-withdrawal from Vietnam" and a year in advance of the Paris Peace accords. This was written post Kent State shooting, post Mai Lai massacre, and the content of the book is telling of that fact. If you've read Heart of Darkness or have seen Apocalypse Now (1979) then you know exactly what kind of statement this book is trying to make.
I think an issue that crops up for modern readers of this novella is just how similar it is to many other popular stories that were published afterward. This precedes Apocalypse Now by 7 years, but the thematic overlap is startling when you consider that Heart of Darkness is not credited as an influence by Le Guin. I think the main comparison that gets thrown around is the Avatar (2009) one, and yeah, Avatar is nearly a carbon copy of this book, just with tall and blue aliens. I'd throw an accusation of plagiarism James Cameron's way, but honestly I thought he ripped off Dances with Wolves before I even read this book, so maybe there was some parallel thinking at work. There's one key difference between this and Avatar (not counting the color of the locals) and that's that as a textual work Forest is not neutered by censors and studio influence and that unfiltered edge made a huge difference on just how impactful this was to me (and likely to other readers).
All-in-all, this is a classic for a reason. If you liked Avatar, well good news: This is like Rated-R Avatar, without the CGI, or platitudes, or the bloated runtime.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Rape
katialena's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury
cjlacyhanks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Confinement, Rape, Xenophobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and War
some_random_person_hi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
A brilliant exploration of violence/ war and its effects. Currently, the only reason it's not 5 stars is bc I personally enjoy books more when I get attached to characters but this book is more idea/theme-focused than trying to get readers to root for the characters. Was in no way a comfortable book to read but that was intended so I'll let it slide. Davidson was quite hateable though, and ended up swearing in annotations quite a bit during his chapters. Will reread for ecolit so I'm looking forward to seeing how my views change.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual violence
Minor: Confinement and Suicide
Davidson POV chapters have very intense misogyny, racism, genocidal inclinations, toxic masculinity & sadism in general.penopen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Xenophobia
crochetdinosaur's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape
qteabeans's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I chose this for the title. This is clearly in LeGuin's era of writing scifi for men but damn is it good. Also, an incisive exploration of how just how a colonized people were peaceful doesn't mean that they like being colonized.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail