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Joanne's Reviews > Always Coming Home
Always Coming Home
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There are few books I have read, none of them being fiction until now, that have required such a concerted effort of study on my part to even read through the book.
If it wasn't Ursula... I doubt I would have bothered. But it was, and I did, and of course it was well worth the effort.
The woman has created an entire culture. I don't know when I will have enough time to create an entire culture in my own head and then write a novel about it, but the fact that another woman had the time and did it is inspiration by itself.
The book is written in little tidbits, a morsel here, part of a story there, then bits of poetry, history, explanations of various aspects of their society...
Besides a few flips to the back of the book for glossary explanations and then a few flips back near the front for the chart on the different houses of society, I read it front to back. It was tempting, really tempting to skip ahead, especially with Stone Telling's story being cut into three parts, but I trusted Ursula's wisdom to teach me what I needed to know so that I could properly appreciate the next bit of the story as I got to it, and I was not let down.
I thought the review on the cover was a bit much, something about it being "her best work yet", but after finishing the book I just may have to agree.
The clever comparisons to our own societies are an immense banquet of food for thought.
An easy read, it is not. But it is worth every minute you spend.
If it wasn't Ursula... I doubt I would have bothered. But it was, and I did, and of course it was well worth the effort.
The woman has created an entire culture. I don't know when I will have enough time to create an entire culture in my own head and then write a novel about it, but the fact that another woman had the time and did it is inspiration by itself.
The book is written in little tidbits, a morsel here, part of a story there, then bits of poetry, history, explanations of various aspects of their society...
Besides a few flips to the back of the book for glossary explanations and then a few flips back near the front for the chart on the different houses of society, I read it front to back. It was tempting, really tempting to skip ahead, especially with Stone Telling's story being cut into three parts, but I trusted Ursula's wisdom to teach me what I needed to know so that I could properly appreciate the next bit of the story as I got to it, and I was not let down.
I thought the review on the cover was a bit much, something about it being "her best work yet", but after finishing the book I just may have to agree.
The clever comparisons to our own societies are an immense banquet of food for thought.
An easy read, it is not. But it is worth every minute you spend.
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Reading Progress
March 13, 2008
– Shelved
Started Reading
June 25, 2008
–
Finished Reading
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Pattipow
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rated it 3 stars
Feb 27, 2012 10:12PM
Thanks, I feel encouraged to try it again. I LOVE Ursula's work, but I got stuck in my initial reading of it 15 years ago. It's on my list to re-try!
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I make up cultures in my head. Sometimes I write books about them. It's not a matter of having time, it's a matter of this is what my brain does and I can't stop it. I really ought to be doing laundry or something, but instead I'm writing about gender roles in the Nonani Empire or whatever. One of the things I like best about this book is it's evidence I'm not alone!
