Very Far Away from Anywhere Else

Rating:
Summary: The Drink for a Thirsty Soul
Review: .... Two young teenagers searching for themselves and trying to find a path to the future revel in their friendship. It's a beautiful work. Each character gives an aspect of themselves to the reader and they draw you in so that the final conclusion is not as bitter as it seems. A quick read but one that never finishes. I've read it countless times, every time i need to search through my soul, i read this book. A must read!!!

Rating:
Summary: Why is this out of print?
Review: I have never been able to answer people who say, "You read a lot. So, what's your favorite book?" But if I had to answer, I think I would choose "Very Far Away from Anywhere Else." I found this book when I was a sophomore in high school, and I could not believe how well I understood Owen and Natalie, and how similar their lives were to mine. I still can't believe Le Guin fit so much into such a short book -- my paperback edition has only 87 pages.

The story unfolds like life, following the course of Owen and Natalie's friendship, in their senior year of high school. Owen narrates, at the end of the year, trying to figure out exactly what the year, and Natalie's friendship, meant to him.

But the story itself is not that important. Owen and Natalie themselves are the heart of the book, and are two of the most human characters I have ever encountered. Owen has never fit in with people, wants to be a scientist, and has trouble telling anyone what he really wants from life. Half of his trouble may be that he isn't quite sure what he wants. Natalie is a musician, who performs and teaches, but she is really a composer. Unlike Owen, she knows what she wants from life, and is following a careful plan to reach her goals. Of course, neither is really that simple; no real person can be summed up in two sentences, and neither can Owen and Natalie.

"Very Far Away from Anywhere Else" is a book which is easier to read than to explain, and any summary will lose the parts of the book that make it really worthwhile. If I could sum up the book for you, I doubt I would love it enough to reread it at least once a year. Let me close, then, by telling you how much I love this book. I own hundreds of books, and love at least half of them. Of all those books, this is the only one I brought to college this year. This is the one I take on all my trips. This is the one I read whenever I start to feel my life is pointless. This is the one that is dangerously close to falling apart, just because I read it so much.

Buy this. Read it. Trust me.

Rating:
Summary: Why is this out of print?
Review: I have never been able to answer people who say, "You read a lot. So, what's your favorite book?" But if I had to answer, I think I would choose "Very Far Away from Anywhere Else." I found this book when I was a sophomore in high school, and I could not believe how well I understood Owen and Natalie, and how similar their lives were to mine. I still can't believe Le Guin fit so much into such a short book -- my paperback edition has only 87 pages.

The story unfolds like life, following the course of Owen and Natalie's friendship, in their senior year of high school. Owen narrates, at the end of the year, trying to figure out exactly what the year, and Natalie's friendship, meant to him.

But the story itself is not that important. Owen and Natalie themselves are the heart of the book, and are two of the most human characters I have ever encountered. Owen has never fit in with people, wants to be a scientist, and has trouble telling anyone what he really wants from life. Half of his trouble may be that he isn't quite sure what he wants. Natalie is a musician, who performs and teaches, but she is really a composer. Unlike Owen, she knows what she wants from life, and is following a careful plan to reach her goals. Of course, neither is really that simple; no real person can be summed up in two sentences, and neither can Owen and Natalie.

"Very Far Away from Anywhere Else" is a book which is easier to read than to explain, and any summary will lose the parts of the book that make it really worthwhile. If I could sum up the book for you, I doubt I would love it enough to reread it at least once a year. Let me close, then, by telling you how much I love this book. I own hundreds of books, and love at least half of them. Of all those books, this is the only one I brought to college this year. This is the one I take on all my trips. This is the one I read whenever I start to feel my life is pointless. This is the one that is dangerously close to falling apart, just because I read it so much.

Buy this. Read it. Trust me.

Rating:
Summary: What I think the title means
Review: If you are going to read one book by Ursula Le guin, make it this one. I read this book in school and still retain a fond memory of it though I don't remember the names of the guy and the girl anymore. I think Le Guin's genius lies in the way the story unfolds and the way in which it ends. She has been able to portray a very lifelike description of two teenagers growing up in America. At the end of the story the status of the relationship between the two characters is very tentative. They are not exactly 'boyfriend-girlfriend' but are not 'just friends' either. In other words, their relationship is very far away from any of the conventional tags one could put on a relationship. So in that sense the relationship and the lives of the two chracters, are in fact VERY FAR AWAY FROM ANYWHERE ELSE.

Rating:
Summary: This book keep my Russian heart it's already sixteen years
Review: It are unique in Le Guin works. Two teenagers, the boy and his (maybe!)girlfriend looking for the own future. Such interest to observe for the feelings to give birth to Love. The Real peoples. The Real life. Rising and sinking of Love. And a hard choice of two high school outsiders...

A many quotations that are stored in my small notebook. I was to look like Owen in one's time, but I'm a Russian. I sure that my little son should be glad to read Very Far Away some time.

Rating:
Summary: Every teenager should read this book
Review: This is the best (truest and most moving) fictional account of the experience of being a "gifted" adolescent that I have ever found (although Le Guin never labels her two protagonists as such). I first found this book in college in the 1980s after I had read all of Le Guin's more famous novels, and it made a huge difference in my life and self-concept at the time. Owen is a sensitive, brilliant seventeen year old who feels completely out of place and alone in his life. His parents miss the point with him and, meaning their best, urge him toward an ordinary but stifling (for him) life. When Owen meets Natalie, a driven but lonely eightteen year old with a single-minded devotion to composing music, they form a bond somewhere between friendship and love, and his vision for his own life is transformed. The characters are extremely appealing and realistic, and the book was like a best friend to me. I would highly recommend it for any young person facing simil! ar issues.

Rating:
Summary: Succinct, insightful, moving
Review: This short novel speaks volumes to anyone who has ever felt different, not quite fitting in, but afraid to truly break away from the herd. Owen's doubts, fears and deep longing to be his own person are all too familiar and honest; his struggle toward real manhood, as opposed to the shallow, self-absorbed macho model of his peers, is even more relevant today. Natalie's determination to create and follow her own path is inspiring, never denying the hard work and sacrifice required, but never denying its joys, either. Together, theirs is a genuine relationship, rich, rewarding, transforming. Well worth reading at any age, the sooner this wonderful book is reprinted the better!