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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this is a really interesting book that has all the most popular caricatures of typical war stories but like dialled to 11, especially given that the author is a woman. i think i need to reread it again for it to really stick with me but ursula le guin has really interesting commentary within the story and kind of like outside the fourth wall with how she writes certain characters and how the plot moves forward. also mite giving major side eye to male fantasy and sci-fi authors lol
i think my fav quote is: But even the most un-missionary soul, unless he pretend he has no emotions, is sometimes faced with a choice between commission and omission. "What are they doing?" abruptly becomes, "What are we doing?" and then, "What must I do?"
like the prose is so good and ms le guin never fails to deliver. also it’s kind of poignant how at the end the two main parties/species that we focus on have a huge lightbulb moment that’s supposed to change their respective future generations is a lesson that was already known by the other species since the beginning. i don’t know if that makes sense but it would if you read the book.
honestly it’s a lot to think about even though these concepts of good and bad are things we already know as human beings. like honestly the ending kind of gives a not great message now that i think about it but maybe that’s the point. i just need to reread this to get more coherent thoughts
i think my fav quote is: But even the most un-missionary soul, unless he pretend he has no emotions, is sometimes faced with a choice between commission and omission. "What are they doing?" abruptly becomes, "What are we doing?" and then, "What must I do?"
like the prose is so good and ms le guin never fails to deliver. also it’s kind of poignant how at the end the two main parties/species that we focus on have a huge lightbulb moment that’s supposed to change their respective future generations is a lesson that was already known by the other species since the beginning. i don’t know if that makes sense but it would if you read the book.
honestly it’s a lot to think about even though these concepts of good and bad are things we already know as human beings. like honestly the ending kind of gives a not great message now that i think about it but maybe that’s the point. i just need to reread this to get more coherent thoughts
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
In the introduction to the novel, written by Le Guin in 1976, twenty years before I even saw the light of day, she writes: "The work must stand or fall on whatever elements it preserved of the yearning that underlies all specific outrage and protest, whatever tentative outreaching it made, amidst anger and despair, towards justice, or wit, or grace, or liberty."
The word for world is forest is a novel on war, on colonialism, on culture, on identity, and on what happens when your world is ruthlessly invaded. It is, most of all, about what happens when you abandon your own culture to get rid of someone that wants to obliterate it without remorse, and whether or not you can still find your way back afterwards. If there still is a culture or identity left to return to, or whether your abandonment of it changed it forever.
There is this Baldwin quote that circulates on all types of social media these days. I do not know it by heart, but it is something along the lines of "you think your sadness is unique, but then you read", indicating that humanity has experienced all these things before and that the beauty of literature is recognition. It is also a lesson in compassion and empathy, but I will not get into that now.
This book reminded me of that Baldwin quote. Here I am, reading it almost 60 years after it was written, in a world which is just as much affected by war, by dehumanisation, by erasure of cultures. One can argue that it takes a great novel to remain relatable decades after it was written - perhaps it is simply one more argument that history keeps on repeating itself.
Nonetheless, it was a brilliant book, one that will remain with me, one that I will reread and recommend to friends. Perhaps it will be the book I will reread in a couple of decades and think "nothing really did change". I hope by that time I will reflect on the first time I read the book and think of a couple of better endings to current conflicts. Likely not.
The word for world is forest is a novel on war, on colonialism, on culture, on identity, and on what happens when your world is ruthlessly invaded. It is, most of all, about what happens when you abandon your own culture to get rid of someone that wants to obliterate it without remorse, and whether or not you can still find your way back afterwards. If there still is a culture or identity left to return to, or whether your abandonment of it changed it forever.
There is this Baldwin quote that circulates on all types of social media these days. I do not know it by heart, but it is something along the lines of "you think your sadness is unique, but then you read", indicating that humanity has experienced all these things before and that the beauty of literature is recognition. It is also a lesson in compassion and empathy, but I will not get into that now.
This book reminded me of that Baldwin quote. Here I am, reading it almost 60 years after it was written, in a world which is just as much affected by war, by dehumanisation, by erasure of cultures. One can argue that it takes a great novel to remain relatable decades after it was written - perhaps it is simply one more argument that history keeps on repeating itself.
Nonetheless, it was a brilliant book, one that will remain with me, one that I will reread and recommend to friends. Perhaps it will be the book I will reread in a couple of decades and think "nothing really did change". I hope by that time I will reflect on the first time I read the book and think of a couple of better endings to current conflicts. Likely not.
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Genuinely one of the most powerful books I've ever read, one that could have been published at any point and would still feel as compelling and painful and affecting as I'm sure it was at the time it was written.
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
devastating read