Customer Reviews

Voices (Annals of the Western Shore)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Much more fast paced than I am used to for LeGuin's novels. As always though, the writing is amazing, she really does show her family's background in anthropology when she creates these new peoples. They are so realistic. I had the feeling while reading this that it is very much inspired by some contemporary events. It deals with the effects of war--and not just war but an occupied people (in a city) and how the cultures of the occupied and occupier clash due to willful misunderstanding and ignorance.

Memer is the narrator and hero(ine) (though that depends on what outfit she is wearing). Right away you are pulled into her world and the suffering it has been through having to hear only second or third hand of the glory her city once knew.

Not only does the book touch on contemporary issues but it also is very much about the power of the written word and oral communication. (Memer might not realise the power of the oral herself being very biased towards written, but the story has several points where it stressed how the two can work together).

The book has some mature themes though no truly explicit scenes (it does acknowledge the existance of sex and rape however). I enjoyed it and finished it in a couple of hours.

It was only when i was part way through it that I realised it was actually the second book set in that world, and the store didn't have the first. So I can say for a fact that not having read the first one doesn't lessen one's enjoyment or understanding of the second (though there werre probably a few things I missed or didn't pick up on due to that literary hole.)

This is a YA novel set in the same world as Le Guin's earlier Gifts, and Orrec and Gry, from the previous book, do figure in the story. The story is completely separate, though, and it's not necessary to have read that one in order to read this.
Memer is a young girl growing up in a city under occupation. Ansul was previously a city of learning and culture; the conquerors have looted the university and destroyed all the books in the city. Writing is demonic, because it takes words, the breath of Atth, the Alds' god, and traps it. Memer's household, Galvamand, was one of the leading households of the city before the Alds arrived, one of the most learned households, and a bit more than that, as we and Memer gradually learn. The house has a secret room, where some of Ansul's books have been preserved, and the head of the household, Sulter Galva, teaches Memer to read. It's the one bright spot in a hard and impoverished life, and for everyone's safety they keep it secret even from the rest of their own household.
Two things upset this precarious stability. One day when she's out doing the marketing, trying to avoid the notice of the Ald soldiers who can be capriciously violent, Memer witnesses the arrival of a Maker, a storyteller--Orrec, with Gry, and a pet lion they've acquired. Because of the Alds' ban on books, and because both Alds and the citizens of Ansul greatly admire storytellers, Orrec's arrival would have been a major event even if the lion hadn't panicked one of the soldiers' horses. Memer, with great presence of mind and a sense that the god of luck has taken charge of her for the day, manages to get control of the horse before it runs anyone down. In the aftermath of this, Orrec and Gry are invited to stay at Galvamand while they're in Ansul. Since Orrec has been invited to perform for the Gand Ioratth, the Ald commander, this brings Memer into closer contact with the occupiers than she has ever experienced.
The second disruptive force is that some of the other formerly-prominent citizens of Ansul are plotting a rebellion against the Alds, and they're consulting Sulter Galva, even though he won't commit to taking part and isn't convinced it's wise to make the attempt.
Orrec and Gry offer to take Memer with them for Orrec's performances for the Gand, and despite her own reluctance, Sulter encourages this, both so she'll hear his best material, and so she'll learn more about the Alds. Memer becomes one of the few people in the city with contacts on both sides. Almost against her will she starts to learn both more about the Alds, and more about the history of her own city. When word arrives that the Alds' Gand of Gands has died, and political changes are coming that could have major repercussions for Ansul, even while the plans for rebellion are coming to a head, Memer is forced into a critical role in the crisis.
Very enjoyable.

A companion novel to Le Guin's Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore), VOICES looks in on the life of a teen growing up in a city controlled by an enemy people. Memer has never known a life when hostile soldiers didn't patrol the streets and the possession of a book was not a crime punishable by death. The invading army believes that written words are evil, and that the city of Ansul is full of demons. But Memer knows that the Waylord, the man who raised her after her mother's death, has a hidden library in his house. There, he teaches her to read, and then, to use her understanding to help the city face its greatest crisis.

For a novel that has a lot to do with story-telling and reading, VOICES has more action and excitement than readers might expect. The arrival of Orrec, a great storyteller (and the narrator of GIFTS), rekindles the courage of Ansul's people, and they attempt to rebel against their oppressors. Memer finds herself caught in the middle, torn between her loyalty to the Waylord, who wishes to find a peaceful solution, and her hatred for the soldiers who destroyed so many things that she treasured. With many twists and turns along the way, VOICES delivers a conclusion that is both satisfying and unpredictable.

Perhaps the strongest element of the novel, however, is the way it moves from black and white to shades of gray. Orrec believes that all people have some good in them, and as Memer is forced to get to know the invaders she despises, she realizes that they are not all terrible and cruel. Some of them are simply different, and unable to understand her way of life. The message seems to be that it is far better to reach an understanding with others, even if you dislike them, than to take revenge. In a time when cultural and religious clashes make news almost every day, this should hit home with many readers.

VOICES is not a perfect book. It slows down a little more than I'd have liked before reaching its conclusion, and Memer was not as active in those events as I expect from a main character. But those flaws are minor compared to everything else about the novel: the distinctive setting and culture, the vivid language and personalities, and a voice that suggests, softly, without preaching, that there is more than one way to win a war.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

Voices is the second novel set in a new world, unconnected to the Earthsea and Hainish backgrounds of many earlier LeGuin stories. The first book, Gifts, is set in an isolated upland community of families defined by hereditary "supernatural" abilities, some benign, but most leading their possesors to control by threat and terror. The effect of these hereditary anomalies on the development of those empowered/afflicted creates the ground of the narrative. Coming to understand and care about these people lead me to think in unfamiliar patterns about my own reality.
Voices follows two of the gifted into a lowland world of tyranny and hidden resistance, with the forbidden printed word and the rhetoric of belief in conflict and confusion. Both books are full of absorbing action and adventure, both are challenging, but not heavy handed. Both sing with LeGuin's mastery of story telling.

Ursula K. Le Guin's previous novel, Gifts, was a very enjoyable and, on its own terms, a quite complete tale. It told of two young people coming to terms with their ambiguous and dangerous magical gifts. Now Le Guin has returned to the same world for another Young Adult novel, in which Orrec and Gry, the now-married protagonists of Gifts, return in a supporting role. Voices works very well on its own -- it is not in any sense necessary to have read the first book -- and it is a lovely and moving book.

The story is told by Memer Galva, a daughter of a prominent family in the city of Ansul. For all of Memer's life, Ansul has been under the domination of the Alds, a harsh desert people. Indeed, Memer's unknown father is an Ald soldier who raped her mother during the invasion. Memer's mother is dead, and she has grown up with the remnants of a once thriving household, most importantly including the leader of her family, the Waylord Sulter Galva, who survived the Alds' torture without revealing his house's secrets. The most important of these is a secret room, accessible only to the Waylord and, as it happens, Memer, in which are hidden the surviving books of the people of Ansul. For it seems that the Alds hate writing, regarding it as the work of Demons. Similarly they oppress women and are otherwise intolerant of any religion but theirs -- one can hardly fail to see in them a depiction of the worst aspects of fundamentalist religions.

Memer grows up in the company of her beloved substitute father, the Waylord, who teaches her to read -- almost alone among her generation. When she is 17, change arrives suddenly, with the arrival of Orrec, now a celebrated "Maker," or poet and storyteller, along with his wife Gry. They are looking for the Waylord, drawn by rumors of his hidden cache of books. But at the same time Orrec has been invited to tell stories for the Gand of the Alds of Ansul -- that is to say, the local governor -- a wily man named Iorratth, who seems in general a better man than many of his fellows. His son in particular seems a bad sort, a religious fanatic who may be angling to displace his father.

Memer spends much time in the company of Orrec and Gry, and therefore learning to know the Alds a bit better. There is tension between those in Ansul who wish to throw the Alds out with violence, and those who realize that the military strength of the occupiers is too great for such a course to work. Memer must deal with her desire for revenge against those who raped her mother (and many others), destroyed countless books, and tortured her Waylord. But of course the Alds are mostly just humans -- if quite misguided -- and Memer is pushed to recognize this. And there is sufficient political turmoil among the Alds to further complicate things -- it may be that a revolution against the Ald occupation will only serve to help the more repressive among them.

The resolution is on the whole satisfying if in some ways a bit convenient. Le Guin urges, with great warmth and humanism, the value of negotiation -- of commerce -- of forgiveness, and all this is hopeful and moving. Yet at the same time success depends on a great deal of luck -- the presence of just the right man among the Alds at the right time, fortunate political developments, and so on. Still, one comes away uplifted, as much by Le Guin's lovely writing, by the poetry and tales quoted by Orrec (and by Memer), and by the richly depicted central characters, as by the hopeful conclusion. Le Guin remains a writer in whom we take delight.

Ursula K. LeGuin's VOICES will reach the same age group with a fantasy set in a world where a once-peaceful city of scholars has been captured by desert Alds, its residents forbidden to read or write. Teen Memer finds her life changed with poet Orrec and his wife arrive - and finds that as she explores her skills and talents, forbidden in the new world, she may prove her people's last hope. This is the second book of the Annals of the Western Shore - but it stands alone well and needs no prior introduction to prove compelling, with its strong characterization and fast-paced story line.

This book is a return to the Western Shores, the setting of Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore). While the main characters from Gifts make an important appearance, this is an independent story. Starting with Gifts is a good introduction to the world, however.

Voices is the story of Ansul, a city under the rule of oppressive enemies and Memer, a halfblood child born under the enemy rule. The Alds are cruel masters, who despise reading and books - not a good thing for the people of Ansul, known for their wisdom and their books. Memer learns dangerous secrets, when the arrival of storyteller Orrec Caspro sets big wheels in motion.

Le Guin portrays both the people of Ansul and the Alds rather well. The Alds are more than illiterate idiots. It's a very beautiful and touching story and I enjoyed it a lot. Voices may be written for young adults, but it won't disappoint an older reader either. Le Guin is a master of her trade.

The year Memer was born, the beautiful and peaceful University town of Ansul fell under the control of a fierce religious group that feared the demons of truth and knowledge associated with the written word. Priests who orchestrated this fear ordered all books to be destroyed, and possession of any by Ansul residents became punishable by death. The intolerance by monotheistic Alds of all aspects of the polytheistic Ansul's culture forms the premise of this thoughtful novel from Ursula K. Le Guin, the second installment in her Annals of the Western Shore series.

Books were destroyed. Gender equality was forbidden. Learning was punishable by death. Freedom to worship was unacceptable; there was only one god and this was the Alds' god. The Alds overthrew Ansul's government and has occupied the town for 17 years.

VOICES is a coming-of-age story for 17-year-old Memer but is much more. The novel introduces readers to the people of Ansul, their appreciation for education, peace, equality and love of learning. Memer is first met as a young child exploring a library room open only to her and her mentor, the Waylord of Ansul. The room's contraband, a collection of the last remaining books, is hidden from all but Memer and the Waylord. They protect the small library with the hopes of preserving it until a future time when the people of Ansul once again have the freedom to read books in public.

Under the occupation of this foreign power, women fear being seen in public without the company of a man. When caught they could be raped or taken into slavery. The deplorable conditions hint at a previously glorious period. Memer lived in a house that was elegant but is now dilapidated. She moved through her day reading in the magic hidden library, quietly tending the household shrines and running errands while disguised as a boy. It was while buying household supplies 10 years later that her life and the future of Ansul changed.

The great storyteller and poet Orrec and his animal-tamer wife Gry visit Ansul accompanied by the mystical lion Shetar and two majestic horses. The Gand (head of the occupying forces) has invited them, even though he fears books. Memer attempts to listen, but while fate and crowds prevent her from truly hearing the storyteller, it places her directly in the path of Orrec and Gry. They were destined to meet Memer and the Waylord.

VOICES contains numerous thought-provoking parallels to current political events and subsumes multiple themes. Book banning at first seems to be the overarching theme, but in fact it's merely a symptom of the greater condition --- oppression. The Alds' priests tell them what to fear, including knowledge and reading. Memer becomes a voice of knowledge and reading for Ansul, while the great voice of Orrec channels the power of story. VOICES exposes the hungers of the occupying forces, the hunger for home and family, knowledge and story. It demonstrates the powers of peace and cooperation, but it also allows for consideration of the question of defiance and when rebellion is appropriate.

Ursula K. Le Guin has written a simple yet intelligent work of fiction for young adults. While based on events and some characters from GIFTS, her first book in the Annals of the Western Shore, she slowly introduces a complex and riveting novel for interpretation. Silent heroes, subtle magic, strong characters, leaders, friendships and a battle of good and evil encourage readers to consider their own thoughtful solutions. Books must neither be banned nor censored, and the rights to read and think independently should be encouraged. VOICES is destined to become a classic.

--- Reviewed by Patsy Side

Struggling to survive after war and destruction, keeping those she loves safe, and keeping secrets all her own, Memer finds Voices hidden in the words of books, long-forbidden by the desert-dwelling conquerors of her land. Her enemies know the one true god, while Memer's world is loved by many shapes and seasons of god. Mistrust and accidental misrule combine to lay the seeds of rebellion. But what are the weapons of a lover of words, and where does the poet Orrec fit in? Another coming-of-age tale set in Le Guin's wondrously imagined mystical world, Voices beautifully evokes that seeking for truth as childhood turns to adulthood.

Disclosure: I bought it 'cause I had to keep reading.

So, apparently Ursula K. Le Guin has started a new series, and I started reading it on book two. Oh well, it was good anyway. This is a book about literacy and its place in a culture. For such a topic, I can think of no better author than Le Guin, so of course, it's going to work out OK.

Voices starts after a war and focuses on a young girl (Memer) that survived the massacre. She is befriended by an elder and taught to read, which is frowned upon by the invaders. The book then goes on to explore the culture, which is necessary to understand the coming conflict. Once the cultures are adequetly explained, and Memer's role within the oppressed society is understood, the two cultures are brought into conflict through the foil of an outsider. After everything, that occurs, rationality prevails and things settle down and end appropriately.

To describe it like this makes it sound boring, and by many other authors, it likely would be. However, Le Guin has the skill to pull of drama and excitement without resorting to the commonly used stereotypes
that appear in genre fiction. There are no misunderstands and communication difficulties that create the drama. There's none of the "hot-headed kid gets into trouble and out again" that so often appears in bo
oks of this type. Each character reacts appropriately according to their culture, logic and views of right and wrong.

This is book that is clearly fiction, but feels real. It's well written, well paced and ends well. It ends with unanswered questions, but I expect that those will be answered by other books in the series. It seems to be aimed at younger readers, but it doesn't read any poorer for being aimed a tad lower. I'm going to have to get the other books in this series.