The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
Oct. 21st, 2020 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zorealisI continue to enjoy the Earthsea series. However, I don't think this particular booked resonated with me as strongly.
I've gotten used to Le Guin's adapt hand in making characters that are extremely relatable and Farthest Shore does not disappoint in that regard. I liked the theme of life and death. I loved how she presented the idea that the only way to reject death was to also reject life, and that this ultimately meant to live in this sort of twilight despair where nothing matters. I felt there were some interesting anti-capitalist tie-ins with how people responded to the absence of death by becoming increasingly greedy. It made me think of how obsessed people in power do often being with money-- even when they have accumulated enough wealth that they could simply invest it and live off the interest for the rest of their lives very comfortably.
I think what I related to most strongly was the way despair and hopeless were portrayed. The idea that when one despairs, you cannot see others as real and human (even to the point of forgetting memories that remind us to the contrary) really captured the way I feel when in despair or depression. What I couldn't really relate to much was Arren's journey. While I thought it was well-told, I felt his coming of age was largely about learning to accept the role society had prepared for him. My own experiences have been so different (often fighting against the role I was being forced into) that it makes it harder for me to connect to that kind of story. I did think it was interesting for him to think through what it was he really wanted (even if that was his path of least resistance choice anyways.
On to Tehanu!
I've gotten used to Le Guin's adapt hand in making characters that are extremely relatable and Farthest Shore does not disappoint in that regard. I liked the theme of life and death. I loved how she presented the idea that the only way to reject death was to also reject life, and that this ultimately meant to live in this sort of twilight despair where nothing matters. I felt there were some interesting anti-capitalist tie-ins with how people responded to the absence of death by becoming increasingly greedy. It made me think of how obsessed people in power do often being with money-- even when they have accumulated enough wealth that they could simply invest it and live off the interest for the rest of their lives very comfortably.
I think what I related to most strongly was the way despair and hopeless were portrayed. The idea that when one despairs, you cannot see others as real and human (even to the point of forgetting memories that remind us to the contrary) really captured the way I feel when in despair or depression. What I couldn't really relate to much was Arren's journey. While I thought it was well-told, I felt his coming of age was largely about learning to accept the role society had prepared for him. My own experiences have been so different (often fighting against the role I was being forced into) that it makes it harder for me to connect to that kind of story. I did think it was interesting for him to think through what it was he really wanted (even if that was his path of least resistance choice anyways.
On to Tehanu!
