Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous Fantastic Fables, January 9, 2004
"The storyteller said..." So begins almost every one of the stories in this charming collection. And what stories they are! Fantastic fables of a mythic empire that has existed, risen, fallen and risen again for countless ages. Stories of emperors, the wise, the foolish, the mad, the bad and the good. And most of all, stories of human folly and madness, stories of how human beings go astray following their thoughts or emotions--anger, bitterness, resentment, lust, greed.The stories can be taken on many levels--as simple tales, or as allegories about the human condition. And because they are always told in this detached way--by a nameless storyteller--they acquire a mythic resonance. It doesn't matter whether any of it "really" happened. The last story in the collection is just a little different, well, surprising. And I won't tell you how it ends. Author Angelica Gorodischer is an Argentine writer, previously unavailable in English, and she is translated here by that engaging fabulist, Ursula K. Le Guin. They must be kindred spirits, for the stories in this collection have a familiar tone to Le Guin's readers. Other worlds, fantastic worlds, with a dark, haunting edge. The book is not perfect. Long, repetitive, almost Proustian sentences make for slow going. There were times when the narrative really dragged, the chatter of the "storytellers" became just a bit much to listen to. Still, this is a great book and worth reading. Don't try to rush it, though. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting, November 2, 2003
This book is a beautiful web of stories told by a storyteller in the streets of an empire that never existed. It rivals Italian Folktales and Damascus Nights. Every one of the stories is lovely in itself, and they form a whole that still haunts me a month after a read this for the first time. This book was published by a small press and is a bit pricy, but it is worth every cent. It isn't the kind of book that can sit on a shelf, because it keeps you thinking about the wise and crazy emporers that dance about it's pages and the bloody and lyric history of the empire.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Believe the Storytellers!!, June 30, 2003
WOW! the combination of Angelica Gorodischer--Argentina's treasure of a fabulist--and Ursula K. LeGuin--one of America's premier sf writers--is too much to imagine, even by the two of them!! Yet it happened and with style. LeGuin has given an English voice to a great writer. Now to discuss the story itself. Kalpa Imperial is an empire that may or may not have existed. The storytellers keep it alive, either in reality or in the imagination. It hardly matters. The stories are engaging, full of wisdom, and larger than any empire that ever existed in any dimension. If you like LeGuin or Calvino or Ecco or Borges, you are in for a treat. Gorodischer will astound you. She is a welcome addition to that list. What's more, this is a book that will live in your own imagination long, long after you've put the pages on the shelf of your own empire wherever that may reside. Enjoy!
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