

The Telling
Books | Fiction / Science Fiction / General
3.9
(292)
Ursula K. Le Guin
Winner of the Locus Award • Winner of the Endeavor Award"[Le Guin] can lift fiction to the level of poetry and compress it to the density of allegory—in The Telling, she does both, gorgeously." —Jonathan LethemSutty, an Observer from Earth for the interstellar Ekumen, has been assigned to a new world—a world in the grips of a stern monolithic state, the Corporation. Embracing the sophisticated technology brought by other worlds and desiring to advance even faster into the future, the Akans recently outlawed the past, the old calligraphy, certain words, all ancient beliefs and ways; every citizen must now be a producer-consumer. Their state, not unlike the China of the Cultural Revolution, is one of secular terrorism.Traveling from city to small town, from loudspeakers to bleating cattle, Sutty discovers the remnants of a banned religion, a hidden culture. As she moves deeper into the countryside and the desolate mountains, she learns more about the Telling—the old faith of the Akans—and more about herself. With her intricate creation of an alien world, Ursula K. Le Guin compels us to reflect on our own recent history.Though The Telling is often considered the eighth book of the Hainish Cycle, Le Guin maintained that there is no particular cycle or order for the Ekumen novels.
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More Details:
Author
Ursula K. Le Guin
Pages
272
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published Date
2000-09-11
ISBN
0547545622 9780547545622
Ratings
Google: 5
Community ReviewsSee all
"I was gifted this book years ago and didn't pick it up back again until now that I went through a thorough cleansing of my bookshelf. <br/>I've seen some people complain that this book is not paced well enough as in it lacks speed on its actions but I would argue that rather than judging a book for how fast or slow it is, we should actually be looking at whether the writing itself is well conceived or not.<br/>This is the only book I've read by LeGuin so far so I don't have any other point of reference about her but I find this novel to be extremely satisfying. While the basic story is of this woman that works on gathering the knowledge of the worlds, it involves a much more spiritual journey of acknowledging the past and coming to terms with it. <br/>Thinking about this, I believe that it is natural that this book is slow paced since nobody is able to change their attitudes about life in a matter of seconds and this is presented very well in this novel.<br/>Some also complained that this was not a notable book since they couldn't remember anything about it. And although it is true that I didn't remember anything about it at all before reading it once more, it felt good to rediscover the path that layed in it."
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