Scan barcode
A review by lory_enterenchanted
Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin
challenging
dark
sad
tense
3.5
Five long stories or short novellas set on a world struggling to transform an oppressive, enslaving regime. The enslavement is race-based but posits a dark-skinned enslaving class, a step that may seem insensitive on Le Guin's part, though they are clearly differentiated from dark-skinned Earth-humans, having descended from a common ancestor many ages ago and having a different, bluish skin tone and other physical adaptations.
Aside from that -- these are mainly grim stories with lots of pain and suffering, and faint glimpses of "forgiveness." In the first couple of stories I found it disappointing that sexual union was presented as the solution, equated with forgiveness. Others moved away from this trope, which was good. The story that stuck with me the most was "A Woman's Liberation," with its moving personal narrative of struggle to escape the mindset as well as the physical limitations of slavery. I also enjoyed the glimpse of Hain in "A Man of the People", which was also about a mindset, not of slavery but of insularity and blocking out other ways of viewing the world. It tried to posit a way this could be made the basis of a healthy society, which is fascinating to think about (since this human tendency is not going away any time soon.)
Aside from that -- these are mainly grim stories with lots of pain and suffering, and faint glimpses of "forgiveness." In the first couple of stories I found it disappointing that sexual union was presented as the solution, equated with forgiveness. Others moved away from this trope, which was good. The story that stuck with me the most was "A Woman's Liberation," with its moving personal narrative of struggle to escape the mindset as well as the physical limitations of slavery. I also enjoyed the glimpse of Hain in "A Man of the People", which was also about a mindset, not of slavery but of insularity and blocking out other ways of viewing the world. It tried to posit a way this could be made the basis of a healthy society, which is fascinating to think about (since this human tendency is not going away any time soon.)