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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Saved from Drowning, August 20, 2002
In 1969, LeGuin shattered the standards of science fiction with "The Left Hand of Darkness," an accessible, amazing story set in a universe she had developed in earlier romances. "Left Hand" explored the meaning of sexuality and its implications in an entirely new way. If you haven't read "Left Hand," you should. She has returned to that universe many times since, most recently in "The Telling," but only in "Birthday of the World" does she approach issues of humanity and sexuality and its implications with the brilliance and sheer elegance that she brought to "Left Hand." The short stories of "Birthday" are as good as short science fiction gets. One of LeGuin's many gifts is to tell a fine story, while at the same time holding a mirror to our own world. By creating relationships that are different from our own - sedoretu, a complex marriage system, for example - she allows us to see from a new viewpoint, and more clearly, the express and implied values in our own culture. Don't misunderstand; there is no preaching or lecturing, only a very fine set of stories very well told. Another of her gifts is to take an intellectual structure and wrap a marvellous story around it. In her fantasy novel "Wizard of Earthsea," it was Jungian psychology. Here she takes her background in cultural anthropology to explore the modalities of human relationships. Her storytelling is so deft that you can read these stories for the superb writing that they are and enjoy them immensely. But they work at other levels, too, and seeing the intellectual structure cleverly crafted into the narrative gives the perceptive reader additional pleasure. LeGuin's brilliant characters, her spare writing and her eloquence are as evident here as in her longer writing. This amazing woman has been writing at this level for more than 30 years. In the last three years she has produced this and an earlier collection of short stories - "Tales from Earthsea" - and a novel - "The Other Wind" - very nearly as delightful as this collection. If she wrote in the so-called "mainstream" genre, she'd have a stack of Pulitzers by now. But it is our luck she hangs with us in the science fiction ghetto, and graces us with tales like these. If the last line of "Unchosen Love" doesn't make you blink back tears; if the grace of the first paragraph of the title story doesn't astound you; well, we must not like the same kind of literature. Bravo, Ms. LeGuin!
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A story-suite plus one, August 20, 2002
To coin a term for a form of prose that's lacked one, Ursula K. Le Guin as chosen "story-suite" for a collection of short stories that are connected by theme, location, or events. This book mirrors her last SF story-suite, Four Ways to Forgiveness, in connectivity by theme but diverges from connectivity by place. At least, it makes wide ranges 'round the setting of many of her SF stories, called her "Hainish Universe." (Le Guin, typical of her self-deprecating humor, talks of her laziness in re-using this setting in her forward.) The theme of these stories is relationships. With ourselves. With our lovers. With our society. They use various tools to explore this topic and reveal the complexities of being human. Stories range from a first-contact tale with a deeply anthropological tone to a "comedy of manners" among some of the most complicated relationships in the universe. Along the way, we touch on some familiar settings (the world of Left Hand of Darkness, that of Four Ways) and get a look at some new. The final tale in this collection, a novella entitled Paradises Lost, is a bit of a divergence from the rest. It does not reside in the Hainish universe setting but upon a ship bound for a distant planet. Generations are born and die upon the ship as it crosses the vastness of space towards its destination. We watch one of those generations grow up and deal with a crisis of faith. In the end, we are presented with the answer chosen by the characters through whom we see the story. Typical of her skill, however, Le Guin does not present this solution as an absolute. That these people are protagonists does not make them absolutely right; other choices remain valid and are not demonized. Most refreshing for me, is the number of stories in this collection that have, for at least part of their narrative, the voices of children. For her last couple of books, Le Guin was excercising a mature voice, one of parents, grandparents, rulers burdened with great decisions. I suspected the trend followed Le Guin's own aging; that she was now writing the books of her maturity while previous ones were the books of her youth. In this collection, however, we see that her talent cannot be so easily pigeon-holed. The youthful voices speak with vigor and candor. The ideas are fresh, whole; they make a maddening sense and immerse you fully in their gossamer worlds. With each new release, Le Guin demonstrates that she is master of her craft.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Le Guin at her best, August 23, 2002
In this collection of short stories, Le Guin returns to her fictional universe of the classics "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Disposessed." The stories in this volume equal the power of her best works. Le Guin discusses superstition and religion in the title story; however, it is surpassed by the novella "Paradises Lost," in which she portrays human nature, sexuality, and deontology vs. teleology in a stunning way. Although this book is not appropriate for young children, all other Le Guin fans and newcomers to her work will certainly enjoy it.
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