Scan barcode
A review by lory_enterenchanted
The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.0
How did murder begin? When did brother first kill brother? On the peaceful forest-world of Athshan, it begins when a colony of men from Earth arrive and, having denuded their own planet, begin enslaving and raping the native inhabitants, and taking away their trees, their life. The Athshan people are dreamers, who walk awake in both layers of reality, and in dream they learn the new thing, how to kill. They fight back against the invaders, and win, but they have lost something invaluable, too.
There are some humans who would cultivate friendship, rather than exploitation, but their way is weak and immature; there is too much force behind the instinct to retaliate against overwhelming trauma, to try to fight back against death by generating more death.
In Davidson, the primary villain, one gets a brief glimpse of the seed of his own genesis as a killer: in the Famine on earth when he was young. Childhood deprivation and abuse breeds murderers.
How will the cycle be stopped? This book gives no answer; rather, it suggests that on Athshan, the killing has only begun. A sobering message.
There are some humans who would cultivate friendship, rather than exploitation, but their way is weak and immature; there is too much force behind the instinct to retaliate against overwhelming trauma, to try to fight back against death by generating more death.
In Davidson, the primary villain, one gets a brief glimpse of the seed of his own genesis as a killer: in the Famine on earth when he was young. Childhood deprivation and abuse breeds murderers.
How will the cycle be stopped? This book gives no answer; rather, it suggests that on Athshan, the killing has only begun. A sobering message.