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lunabee34I would really like an icon to use for the reading that TLGN and I do together. My tag is TLGN bookclub for these posts, but I would be open to anything. Anyone want to make me an icon? *bats eyelashes*
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thelastgoodname posted on The Tombs of Atuan HERE.
THE FARTHEST SHORE: SPOILERS
This book surprised the hell out of me and in a very good way. All Le Guin's prose is exquisitely wrought; she has a gift for the lovely turn of phrase, for the apt description, for word play of all kinds. Even when A Wizard of Earthsea was boring me to tears, I always admired the images Le Guin was creating. The Farthest Shore is no different, except that now, we have the addition of vital and interesting dialogue. People actually talk to each other in this book. Tis true. They talk, and the conversations are interesting and character developing. Finally in this book has Le Guin found the mixture of character introspection and interaction that works for me.
Also surprising to me is that Ged has aged in this tale. He is Archmage now and aged 40-50 years. I haven't read the subsequent books in the series, so possibly one or both centers around Ged's youthful exploits, but this one does not. Ged is an old man here and we are treated to the resulting wisdom and growth of his character. Not all, but many heroes are young (especially in books intended for children) and many narratives of their exploits end before the hero has aged. (In Prydain, we leave Taran just as he has crossed over the threshold of adulthood; he has defeated evil and won his kingdom, but we aren't privvy to his reign or the life he builds with Eilonwy. Or again, mining books we've read already: we don't watch Lyra and Will grow up after they mend the holes in the space time continuum. Pullman ends the series after their "triumph" and we are left to speculate what happens to these characters as they age.) I know that the focus and POV of The Farthest Shore shifts to Arren so that we still have a bildungsroman, but Ged is the backbone of this novel (of this series so far) and to read about him as an older man is an unexpected pleasure.
The final shocker to me is the eroticized relationship between Ged and Arren. I am familiar with the tradition of writing in which male characters express fraternal regard for each other with the language of erotic love. I am a Victorianist after all! LOL But I really don't think that's what's going on here (although as Le Guin won the 1973 National Book Award for Children's Books for this volume, I wonder if that's how the relationship was read then). "For Arren had fallen in love," (10) and "But his heart went out utterly to his companion, not now with first romantic ardor and adoration, but painfully, as if a link were drawn forth from the very inmost of it and forged into an unbreaking bond," (97) and "Those who can be most hurt, the most vulnerable: those who have given love and do not take it back, they speak each other's names," (175). That last quote doesn't seem much here, but taken in context it pretty much amounts to Ged's declaration of love for Arren. But wait--there's still more: " 'I have given my love to what is worthy of love. Is that not the kingdom of the unperishing spring?'" (187) and Arren's initial lovestruck desire to do anything, including sweeping Ged's room if only he could be near him always. I, frankly, did not expect this relationship dynamic, but very much enjoyed reading it.
Although we again have very few female characters, there is a shift in tone from the first book. Here women can and do wield magic power and old women are worth listening to rather than mere ridiculous amateurs.
I thought that the wizards' various responses to losing their magic was really interesting. From the clothseller who convinced herself that she never had any power to begin with to Hare who thinks he has traded his power for something better to Akaren who fights against its loss until she is renamed--a very fascinating psychological study of motivation and coping mechanisms.
I love Ged's explanation of action: " 'Do you see, Arren, how an act is not, as young men think, like a rock that one picks up and throws, and it hits or misses, and that's the end of it. When that rock is lifted, the earth is lighter; the hand that bears it is heavier. When it is thrown, the circuits of the stars respond, and where it strikes or falls the universe is changed. On every act the balance of the whole depends.'" (75)
The world of the dead confused me. It seems rather like Pullman's hellish vision of the afterlife--no joy, no emotion, no change. Rather bleak and gloomy and altogether without even the comfort of human relationships that Pullman's version allows. It's unclear to me whether this is so because Cob has screwed the natural order of things up or if the afterlife is always like this. I'm leaning toward Cob screwing it up because in Ged's speech to him about what he's done wrong, Ged seems to imply that reincarnation is what should be happening.
One thing that I disliked is that after Ged reveals his true name, the narrative refers to him as Ged but once Ged knows Arren's true name, Arren is still called Arren. This suggests to me that Arren does not think of himself as Lebbannen but rather as Arren, which seems kinda counter to the concept of a true name.
Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely.
thelastgoodname posted on The Tombs of Atuan HERE.THE FARTHEST SHORE: SPOILERS
This book surprised the hell out of me and in a very good way. All Le Guin's prose is exquisitely wrought; she has a gift for the lovely turn of phrase, for the apt description, for word play of all kinds. Even when A Wizard of Earthsea was boring me to tears, I always admired the images Le Guin was creating. The Farthest Shore is no different, except that now, we have the addition of vital and interesting dialogue. People actually talk to each other in this book. Tis true. They talk, and the conversations are interesting and character developing. Finally in this book has Le Guin found the mixture of character introspection and interaction that works for me.
Also surprising to me is that Ged has aged in this tale. He is Archmage now and aged 40-50 years. I haven't read the subsequent books in the series, so possibly one or both centers around Ged's youthful exploits, but this one does not. Ged is an old man here and we are treated to the resulting wisdom and growth of his character. Not all, but many heroes are young (especially in books intended for children) and many narratives of their exploits end before the hero has aged. (In Prydain, we leave Taran just as he has crossed over the threshold of adulthood; he has defeated evil and won his kingdom, but we aren't privvy to his reign or the life he builds with Eilonwy. Or again, mining books we've read already: we don't watch Lyra and Will grow up after they mend the holes in the space time continuum. Pullman ends the series after their "triumph" and we are left to speculate what happens to these characters as they age.) I know that the focus and POV of The Farthest Shore shifts to Arren so that we still have a bildungsroman, but Ged is the backbone of this novel (of this series so far) and to read about him as an older man is an unexpected pleasure.
The final shocker to me is the eroticized relationship between Ged and Arren. I am familiar with the tradition of writing in which male characters express fraternal regard for each other with the language of erotic love. I am a Victorianist after all! LOL But I really don't think that's what's going on here (although as Le Guin won the 1973 National Book Award for Children's Books for this volume, I wonder if that's how the relationship was read then). "For Arren had fallen in love," (10) and "But his heart went out utterly to his companion, not now with first romantic ardor and adoration, but painfully, as if a link were drawn forth from the very inmost of it and forged into an unbreaking bond," (97) and "Those who can be most hurt, the most vulnerable: those who have given love and do not take it back, they speak each other's names," (175). That last quote doesn't seem much here, but taken in context it pretty much amounts to Ged's declaration of love for Arren. But wait--there's still more: " 'I have given my love to what is worthy of love. Is that not the kingdom of the unperishing spring?'" (187) and Arren's initial lovestruck desire to do anything, including sweeping Ged's room if only he could be near him always. I, frankly, did not expect this relationship dynamic, but very much enjoyed reading it.
Although we again have very few female characters, there is a shift in tone from the first book. Here women can and do wield magic power and old women are worth listening to rather than mere ridiculous amateurs.
I thought that the wizards' various responses to losing their magic was really interesting. From the clothseller who convinced herself that she never had any power to begin with to Hare who thinks he has traded his power for something better to Akaren who fights against its loss until she is renamed--a very fascinating psychological study of motivation and coping mechanisms.
I love Ged's explanation of action: " 'Do you see, Arren, how an act is not, as young men think, like a rock that one picks up and throws, and it hits or misses, and that's the end of it. When that rock is lifted, the earth is lighter; the hand that bears it is heavier. When it is thrown, the circuits of the stars respond, and where it strikes or falls the universe is changed. On every act the balance of the whole depends.'" (75)
The world of the dead confused me. It seems rather like Pullman's hellish vision of the afterlife--no joy, no emotion, no change. Rather bleak and gloomy and altogether without even the comfort of human relationships that Pullman's version allows. It's unclear to me whether this is so because Cob has screwed the natural order of things up or if the afterlife is always like this. I'm leaning toward Cob screwing it up because in Ged's speech to him about what he's done wrong, Ged seems to imply that reincarnation is what should be happening.
One thing that I disliked is that after Ged reveals his true name, the narrative refers to him as Ged but once Ged knows Arren's true name, Arren is still called Arren. This suggests to me that Arren does not think of himself as Lebbannen but rather as Arren, which seems kinda counter to the concept of a true name.
Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely.
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 02:08 am (UTC):)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 02:18 am (UTC)I don't want anything specifically for these books in particular, but rather for anything we read in a book club kind of manner. Maybe something with a book on it? *muses*
http://ebooks.du.ac.in/books.jpg
http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/libraryGoogle.html
Oooooh, this is cool: http://www.wpclipart.com/education/coloring_pages/reading_books.png
(And there is art for these books and it is really awesome woodcuttings.)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 02:21 am (UTC)And - is tomorrow soon enough?
*uses own bookreading icon*
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 02:24 am (UTC)And two months from now is soon enough. LOL :) No rush at all. I hope we'll be doing this for years to come. :)
You are a doll, you know that?
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 02:40 am (UTC):)
I like making icons. I'm not uber-icon-maker! or anything, but it's fun.
*rubs hands*
*smooch*
no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 12:38 am (UTC):)
iconses!
Date: 2008-08-10 05:25 am (UTC)Those last two (http://hingos.com/patches/index.php?pt=080214) are from Patches, which is my favorite (http://hingos.com/patches/index.php?pt=080326) online (http://hingos.com/patches/index.php?pt=080305) comic (http://hingos.com/patches/index.php?pt=080117) strip (http://hingos.com/patches/index.php?pt=071115) ever (http://hingos.com/patches/index.php?pt=071205). And the two guys are from a World War I UN Navy recruiting poster (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3210/2748935816_00a57547e4_o.jpg); I have a strange fondness for World War I recruiting posters, and this one is from Troy. I never lived more than four blocks from the Times Building.
I'd probably go for the first one -- it's from an ad for Jello -- or the third one, which is from a cartoon of well-known horrors; the caption reads, "unread books."
Re: iconses!
Date: 2008-08-10 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 05:41 am (UTC)Because, um, well, see...
I wasn't interested, I wasn't compelled; mostly, it felt like I was reading a pastiche, and not in an interesting fanfiction-y kind of way. This series is not getting much better for me; and unlike with The Dark Is Rising series, I feel like a bad person for not liking these books. I think it's because when I was a kid I had two close friends who loved them -- and Michael and Danny never quite forgave me for not reading the books in the first place. I know I tried, several times, and I have no idea why I wasn't interested then, but I have a feeling it was either the dragons (which I'm sure they tried to use as a selling point; I've never been that interested in dragons) or it was Ged.
He's just not that interesting to me.
If the book were really about Arren, rather than being about Ged from Arren's point of view, I might have liked it better. I think Arren is a fascinating character. In fact, if Le Guin would just write a few books about Arren and Tenar, I think I'd be thrilled.
And I agree that it's nice to see Ged grow up, but, well, he seems really Mary-Sue-y to me. I mean, of course, he grew up to be Archmage, and of course he's going to solve the Mystery of the Lost Magic, and of course in the end he's going to lose his magic because he's just that cool that he can lose all his magic and still be really awesome. (I mean, there are two more books to go, right?)
As for the rest of the book, well. The Sea People were interesting. And the Great Ones.
I had a huge feeling of deja vu reading this book. Everything felt like I had read it before, like it was redundant or repetitive or rehashed. And I know I've never read this book before, and I don't even like dragons, so I have no idea what's going on. Maybe it's that time of the month?
I do agree about the love thing, which was cool, although I was unclear what the purpose of them loving each other was; they stuck together through thick and thin, but it's not obvious to me that it required love rather than duty. If it needed to be love, I'd have preferred some sort of rationale for it.
And I didn't think Cob was as interesting a baddie to me as Ged was in the first book; his motives weren't ever quite made clear to me, and his genesis was completely obscured.
And yeah, the Arren/Lebannen/what-name-does-he-think-of-himself thing bugged me, too.
I seem to have nothing good to say about this book (other than the Sea People), but it wasn't that bad. It's just... really not my thing.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 07:03 pm (UTC)The Sea People were cool! That kind of society is really interesting. I bet they got a lot of play in the movie adaptations.
Maybe the next series we tackle will be more to your liking! :)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 11:09 pm (UTC)I happen to really enjoy despair LOL which is probably why this appealed to me so much.