- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; New Ed edition (8 Jan 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575075392
- ISBN-13: 978-0575075399
- Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 3 x 17.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 415,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Ursula Le Guin's latest title, The Birthday of the World, is her first short story collection since The Wind's Twelve Quarters (available in the Gollancz yellow jacket edition) and one of the most essential SF short story volumes published in many a while. Long-time fans of Le Guin will be delighted that several of the pieces are set in the already superbly realised worlds of her Hainish cycle, and there is a brand new novella called Paradises Lost.
This is the SF of ideas, a lyrical, organic collection that explores visions of worlds where women outnumber men, where there exist societies without order and lands where sex is not determined at birth, but people slip between genders at a whim and are neither male nor female in between. While the word controversial doesn't really do it justice, the stories and the ideas Le Guin presents are certainly challenging to say the least, and she has some interesting ideas on the evolution of society and our own place in it. All in all a daring and bold collection, breathtaking and beautiful, that confirms why Le Guin is one of the genre's most celebrated writers. --Jon Snow --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
'Her most important book since ALWAYS COMING HOME and her most satisfactory collection since her first, the brilliant THE WIND'S TWELVE QUARTERS. A formidable and rewarding work, a prime candidate for best SF collection of the year. An essential book.' LOCUS Six of the eight piece are set in Le Guin's classic Hainish cycle. The title story, 'The Birthday of the World', stands alone and the final piece, 'Paradises Lost', is a new short novel original to the collection, a major addition to the generation starship subgenre of science fiction.
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I live in the oldest city in the world. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I live in the oldest city in the world. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the first Le Guin I read - although it encouraged me to read much more of her work - and I thought it was wonderful. The stories all share the themes of gender division and of political/social division, and this serves to create a unified thread running through the book, so that ideas produced in one story recur or develop in another. However, at the same time, each story stands on its own and has its own unique feel to it. The title story is quite a simple, feelgood little tale, for instance, whereas parts of 'Paradises Lost' are genuinely chilling. I thought the one piece that really stood out in this collection was the one entitled 'Solitude', which is written from the perspective of a female child brought up in a 'society' that has rejected social ties in favour of, as the title suggests, solitude. It is a weird and wonderful story, and I think it's is one of Le Guin's best.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I fell in love with Ursula K Leguin at the age of 15, when I first read the Earthsea novels. I'm a big SF and fantasy fan, but she is someone special. Her skill is in world building - she can create a world, a culture and an emotional context that enables her characters to spring to life.
The Ekumen is here, and her frequent themes of the complexities of sex and gender. She writes about the stupid and beautiful things people do and doesn't judge, lets the story unfold and leaves you to make your own mind up about what you think.
You can dip into this book and just read a story, or you can do what I did on holiday and devour the lot in one go.
If you like writing that's spare, compassionate and thoughtful, you'll like this.
The Ekumen is here, and her frequent themes of the complexities of sex and gender. She writes about the stupid and beautiful things people do and doesn't judge, lets the story unfold and leaves you to make your own mind up about what you think.
You can dip into this book and just read a story, or you can do what I did on holiday and devour the lot in one go.
If you like writing that's spare, compassionate and thoughtful, you'll like this.
Format:Paperback
as in "the winds twelve quarters", the stories in this collection are at once genuinely alien yet wonderfully humane.these stories are as much philosophy as sci-fi, Le Guins main interest being the nature of sexuality and gender- so don't expect ray guns or space battles.Don't let this turn you off however as Ms. Le Guin is above all a great storyteller.
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