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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
Highly recommend. A challenging but extremely relevant book. Must read for those puzzling over political situation of 2022.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
My recollection, from reading this book years ago, was that it was one of the best books I had ever read. Having just reread it, I still feel the same. This is a beautiful, thoughtful, difficult, honest and hopeful book. I don’t know that I have ever encountered a better examination of freedom, and of responsibility.
Incredibly engaging and well written, the world building done by Le Guin is unmatched
4! maybe even 4.5. i really really really liked this, and im glad i read this as my first le guin book since im in my sci fi phase, instead of forcing myself to read earthsea.
i dont know what to say to really do this book justice. it was my first “utopic” sci fi. reading about anarres was so fascinating. the flaws present in that society make it all the more realistic which as someone with far left leanings-though not quite anarchist-it really did reignite something inside me. so many wonderful and heartbreaking insights in this book.
“They say there is nothing new under the sun. But if each life is not new, each single life, then why are we born?”
“Loyalty, which asserts the continuity of
past and future, binding time into a whole, is the root of human strength; there is no good to be done without it…The thing about working with time, instead of against it, he thought, is that it is not wasted. Even pain counts.”
“If you evade suffering you also evade the chance of joy. Pleasure you may get, or pleasures, but you will not be fulfilled. You will not know what it is to come home.”
“He had always feared that this would happen,
more than he had ever feared death. To die is to lose the self and rejoin the rest. He had kept himself, and lost the rest.”
Etc.
The whole thing is just a thoughtful study of humanity and freedom and sacrifice and the effects of the society one grows up in and I really recommend.
i dont know what to say to really do this book justice. it was my first “utopic” sci fi. reading about anarres was so fascinating. the flaws present in that society make it all the more realistic which as someone with far left leanings-though not quite anarchist-it really did reignite something inside me. so many wonderful and heartbreaking insights in this book.
“They say there is nothing new under the sun. But if each life is not new, each single life, then why are we born?”
“Loyalty, which asserts the continuity of
past and future, binding time into a whole, is the root of human strength; there is no good to be done without it…The thing about working with time, instead of against it, he thought, is that it is not wasted. Even pain counts.”
“If you evade suffering you also evade the chance of joy. Pleasure you may get, or pleasures, but you will not be fulfilled. You will not know what it is to come home.”
“He had always feared that this would happen,
more than he had ever feared death. To die is to lose the self and rejoin the rest. He had kept himself, and lost the rest.”
Etc.
The whole thing is just a thoughtful study of humanity and freedom and sacrifice and the effects of the society one grows up in and I really recommend.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I love the worlds Le Guin has created here, such a dark and yet hopeful reflection and satire of our world. It’s exactly what I want from this kind of Sci-Fi and in general one of her strengths. There are so many quotable little comments and observations and the framework of going through the main character’s life in two different time periods, slowly realising how things came to be works great and it has a satisfying ending.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
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:
Yes
I wanted to read a sci-fi novel, but instead was fed a series of philosophical, political and sociological essays via the mouths of the book's characters. In my opinion, good sci-fi, with its vast potential for utterly unique world-building, can deliver both a compelling plot, as well as reflections on the real world.. this novel did not deliver on the former.
I loved the comparison between the two societies and all of the lore but the characters don't stick around for very long and the dual structure of the narrative made it pretty difficult to follow.