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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Death
A thought-provoking experimental piece exposing the cultural downfalls and strengths of the globalized American society. It ends abruptly but left me noticing our cultural norms, expectations, and power dynamics more clearly for what they are- choices that have cemented into culture through acceptance or rejection
Interesting ideas. Good commentary. Did I love it? No. What didn’t help was that my Kindle version was full of jarring typos
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked it. Bit slow in some sections but a deep and inquisitive book. Enjoyable!
Красивая книга про войну, утопию, вечный спор коммунистов и капиталистов. Как всегда — больше всего люблю Урсулу за отсутствие решений и правильных ответов и сложность материи.
Стиль текста здесь самый красивый из всего, что я читала у Урсулы ле Гуинн
Холод космоса и советские физики: Шевек как будто действительно только что вышел в своем синем свитере с косичками и высоким горлом из советского НИИ
Еще: читала книгу в замечательном издании Library of America 2017 года. В предисловии Урсула замечательно говорит о последовательности в разных книгах одного «цикла»:
«In many of my science fiction stories, the peoples on the various worlds all descend from long-ago colonists from a world called Hain. So these fictions came to be called "Hain-ish." But I flinch when they're called "The Hainish Cycle" or any such term that implies they are set in a coherent fictional universe with a well-planned history, because they aren't, it isn't, it hasn't. I'd rather admit its inconsistencies than pretend it's a respectable Future History.
Methodical cosmos-makers make plans and charts and maps and timelines early in the whole process. I failed to do this.
Any timeline for the books of the Hainish descent would resemble the web of a spider on LSD. Some stories connect, others contradict. Irresponsible as a tourist, I wandered around in my universe forgetting what I'd said about it last time, and then trying to conceal discrepancies with implausibilities, or with silence.
<…>
Such gaps and inconsistencies in the Hainish cosmos are clear indications that it has always been more a convenience than a conception. I went back to it because it's easier to return than to invent afresh, or because I'd found something in writing one story that I wanted to follow up on in another. I worked one world, one society, one history at a time. I did so each time with care for verisimilitude, coherence, and a plausible history. But there has never been any overarching plan to the whole.
This lack of structure, I see now, allowed my ideas to change and develop. I wasn't stuck in a universe full of notions I'd outgrown, self-instituted rules limiting my imagination. I was free to wander».
Стиль текста здесь самый красивый из всего, что я читала у Урсулы ле Гуинн
Холод космоса и советские физики: Шевек как будто действительно только что вышел в своем синем свитере с косичками и высоким горлом из советского НИИ
Еще: читала книгу в замечательном издании Library of America 2017 года. В предисловии Урсула замечательно говорит о последовательности в разных книгах одного «цикла»:
«In many of my science fiction stories, the peoples on the various worlds all descend from long-ago colonists from a world called Hain. So these fictions came to be called "Hain-ish." But I flinch when they're called "The Hainish Cycle" or any such term that implies they are set in a coherent fictional universe with a well-planned history, because they aren't, it isn't, it hasn't. I'd rather admit its inconsistencies than pretend it's a respectable Future History.
Methodical cosmos-makers make plans and charts and maps and timelines early in the whole process. I failed to do this.
Any timeline for the books of the Hainish descent would resemble the web of a spider on LSD. Some stories connect, others contradict. Irresponsible as a tourist, I wandered around in my universe forgetting what I'd said about it last time, and then trying to conceal discrepancies with implausibilities, or with silence.
<…>
Such gaps and inconsistencies in the Hainish cosmos are clear indications that it has always been more a convenience than a conception. I went back to it because it's easier to return than to invent afresh, or because I'd found something in writing one story that I wanted to follow up on in another. I worked one world, one society, one history at a time. I did so each time with care for verisimilitude, coherence, and a plausible history. But there has never been any overarching plan to the whole.
This lack of structure, I see now, allowed my ideas to change and develop. I wasn't stuck in a universe full of notions I'd outgrown, self-instituted rules limiting my imagination. I was free to wander».
Le Guin was a master of creating societies that may appear superficially very different from ours, sometimes slightly trending towards a utopia and sometimes towards a dystopia, but are, at the end of the day, a zoomed in view into parts that coexist in Western society. Which is, of course, the entire point of science fiction.
I am not the biggest fan of Le Guin's prose flavour. It's not her words or her characters, it's the pacing combined with the tone. There are very few funny moments in her books, which is not what I tend to enjoy. I like anger expressed through satire rather than direct commentary, alla Pratchett, but that doesn't mean I can't see the genius in her writing and her ideas. Even though I like her speeches and essays much more than her works of fiction, I'm glad I read this one.
I am not the biggest fan of Le Guin's prose flavour. It's not her words or her characters, it's the pacing combined with the tone. There are very few funny moments in her books, which is not what I tend to enjoy. I like anger expressed through satire rather than direct commentary, alla Pratchett, but that doesn't mean I can't see the genius in her writing and her ideas. Even though I like her speeches and essays much more than her works of fiction, I'm glad I read this one.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No