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A review by lottiegasp
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
In this novella we meet the peaceful Ashtheans, a humanoid species living on a planet covered in forest. The planet has been colonised by Terran humans, who log the planet to return the wood to the now-arid Earth. We meet a selection of the humans living on Ashthe from the garishly evil Davidson who sees the Ashtheans as an inferior animal species, to Lyubov, an anthropologist who has studied, learnt the language of, and befriended the Ashtheans, and many in between with varying levels of respect or disdain for the Ashtheans. The main Ashthean we get to know is Selver, who leads the resistance against the humans.
Written in the 1970s, the story is an allegory for the Vietnam War, where the Ashtheans represent the otherwise peaceful Vietnamese who, when driven to it, fought for their country's self-determination. I liked how the story depicts a range of humans (representing Americans), but that even those who mean well are still complicit in human supremacy that hurts the Ashtheans.
I think stories like this that deal with speciesism against alien species and human supremacy function both represent the racism/colonisation of the past (blatantly defining non-white people as subhuman. These days the forms of racism tend to be more subtle) and also give us food for thought when considering how we treat non-human animals- making assumptions about their intelligence, feelings and value.
I always find Le Guin's writing quite dense, such that I struggle to get excited to go back to her novels while I'm reading them. Compared to her full-length novels I've read, this one was short enough to feel like less of a slog, but also meant it did not have the same build and climax that I enjoyed for instance in The Left Hand Of Darkness. But overall I recommend the book for its pertinent political themes.
Written in the 1970s, the story is an allegory for the Vietnam War, where the Ashtheans represent the otherwise peaceful Vietnamese who, when driven to it, fought for their country's self-determination. I liked how the story depicts a range of humans (representing Americans), but that even those who mean well are still complicit in human supremacy that hurts the Ashtheans.
I think stories like this that deal with speciesism against alien species and human supremacy function both represent the racism/colonisation of the past (blatantly defining non-white people as subhuman. These days the forms of racism tend to be more subtle) and also give us food for thought when considering how we treat non-human animals- making assumptions about their intelligence, feelings and value.
I always find Le Guin's writing quite dense, such that I struggle to get excited to go back to her novels while I'm reading them. Compared to her full-length novels I've read, this one was short enough to feel like less of a slog, but also meant it did not have the same build and climax that I enjoyed for instance in The Left Hand Of Darkness. But overall I recommend the book for its pertinent political themes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and War
Moderate: Rape