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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
This book is everything I love about Ursula k Le Guin—brilliantly constructed worlds, rich characters, and complex relationships. Really love her exploration of an idea so often dismissed: what would a world after anarchism look like? Hopeful while still feeling critical and grounded. Ursula K Le Guin on my personal list of geniuses 5ever <3
I’d give a CW for SA, I found it pretty disturbing to read, (protagonist is perpetrator so it’s from his perspective) and was left wondering about its narrative utility. I don’t think it was pointless, but certainly left feeling like I need to reflect a bit more on what her intention was, what the broader implications are, and if I agree.
I’d give a CW for SA, I found it pretty disturbing to read, (protagonist is perpetrator so it’s from his perspective) and was left wondering about its narrative utility. I don’t think it was pointless, but certainly left feeling like I need to reflect a bit more on what her intention was, what the broader implications are, and if I agree.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
slow-paced
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
The frontispiece is a map of Anarres and Urras, which had me exited before I had even read the first sentence; I love to see a map at the outset of a novel. (They’re usual in LeGuin’s novels, but that doesn’t change my feelings.)
LeGuin’s writing is great for how she so totally immerses the reader in the world of the story right from the start. I always find myself scrabbling for some mental purchase at the starts of Hanish novels, but once I find it I’m locked in. Like the other Hanish novels, the culture of Anarres and Urras feels so thought out and believable that it gives the work an anthropological feeling. You can imagine they’re really out there, orbiting Tau Ceti.
I realized (maybe kinda late) that the form the narrative takes matches up with the temporal physics Shevek is working on the whole story. The Urras chapters have the reader experiencing time linearly, so the new one picks up right where the last one left off. However, the Anarres chapters are scattered in time, they always take place much later on from when the last left off. Shevek’s Simultaneity Theory posits that all time has already happened, each moment being like a page in a book, so there could be moments disconnected from one another—like in the Anarres chapters. The critics of his theory say that that’s not how time is experienced, so it can’t be correct—time is experienced as linear, like the Urras chapters. This kind of thing is great!
LeGuin’s writing is great for how she so totally immerses the reader in the world of the story right from the start. I always find myself scrabbling for some mental purchase at the starts of Hanish novels, but once I find it I’m locked in. Like the other Hanish novels, the culture of Anarres and Urras feels so thought out and believable that it gives the work an anthropological feeling. You can imagine they’re really out there, orbiting Tau Ceti.
I realized (maybe kinda late) that the form the narrative takes matches up with the temporal physics Shevek is working on the whole story. The Urras chapters have the reader experiencing time linearly, so the new one picks up right where the last one left off. However, the Anarres chapters are scattered in time, they always take place much later on from when the last left off. Shevek’s Simultaneity Theory posits that all time has already happened, each moment being like a page in a book, so there could be moments disconnected from one another—like in the Anarres chapters. The critics of his theory say that that’s not how time is experienced, so it can’t be correct—time is experienced as linear, like the Urras chapters. This kind of thing is great!
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated