Fisherman of the Inland Sea

Rating:
Summary: Final story is far and away the best
Review: As noted in other reviews here, the collection is mixed. Some of the dabbling in fable styles and neo-primitivism (The Rock That Changed Things, for instance) left me cold. Ursula is an unabashed feminist, and more power to her; but she is at her best when she integrates her ethical and political ideas into her stories, rather than merely proselytizing.

The last three stories, dealing with a bizarre faster-than-light travel method called "churten" (sort of a descendant of Le Guin's FTL communication device, the ansible) are collectively worth the price of the book. "The Shobies' Story" explores fractured views of reality, taking its cue from the uncertainties of quantum physics. "Dancing to Ganaam" is an enjoyable spoof of the smug Captain Kirk-style space hero -- I envision its hapless protagonist as a close cousin to Zap Brannigan in the "Futurama" TV show. The final story, "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea," works a strangely paradoxless time-travel thread into its exploration of science and human relations. The mild yet intense scientist-hero is reminiscent of Shevek from "The Dispossessed," and Le Guin's suggestion of a workable four-person marriage is quite intriguing. It rivals "Hernes" from "Searoad" as the best short story Le Guin ever wrote.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful surrealistic collection of short stories.
Review: I can't give enough praise for this book. It contains some of the best stories I have ever read, especially the last story, "The Fisherman of the Inland Sea." That story alone is worth the money of the book. LeGuin once again introduces complex and beautiful worlds that are wonderful as our own.

Some of the other stories can be mischievous, fun, and are just stories to enjoyed. This isn't your usual LeGuin, but they are enjoyable nevertheless. But that last story! A Classic LeGuin.

Rating:
Summary: Again and again
Review: I finally bought this book after I checked it out from the library about once a month just to read the last story again. It is my favorite story of all time. The one story is worth the money. The others are OK and a few are fun. I would like to have just the last story in a smaller version.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I love all of Le Guin's work, and this is one of my favorites. I really enjoy her short stories, because they contain so much meaning in only a few short pages.

Rating:
Summary: Sumptuous!
Review: I picked this up at a bargain table at my college bookstore when I was just getting into Ms. Le Guin's work. What a talent! What skill! The stories range from "slap-you-upside-your-head" funny to hauntingly thought-provoking that you feel so deeply and disturbed. And the last gem: I have read and enjoyed many short stories but never one that was so sumptuous I could sink my teeth into it like a blueberry pie. Le Guin should become synonymous with "lyrical". She must compose her own music, or goes into a meditative state to create a prose that ebbs and flows like the sea, wraps you snug in warm familiarity, then pulls back a curtain to let in the light, thus waking you out of your complacency. I don't care what people (who think they know speculative fiction) say. Sure the genre has its space operas, slapstick, and other subcategories, but if you wish to go "deep", you MUST pick up "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea". Look, even the title shimmers as so many pearls!

Rating:
Summary: A refreshing change - both for LeGuin and SF in general.
Review: I was almost ready to give up on LeGuin after reading "The Telling", "Tehanu", and "Tales from Earthsea" in consecution, when I noticed this collection of short stories. I was pleasantly surprised. The heavy-handed moralizing and the sour tone are replaced with a sense of harmony, energy. One gets the impression that the writer simply let herself write to her heart's content.

The first few are short word-sketches, demonstrating LeGuin's surprising versatility. "First Contact with the Gorgonids" is written with prosaic wit, "Kerastion" is powerfully poetic, "Newton's Sleep" is a cautionary, postapocalyptic parable, etc. The book also includes a mini-cycle of three Ekumen stories, centered on instantaneous travel and its startling side effect: when intelligent beings are teleported, reality breaks down into individual perceptions (think Rashomon). The first, "Shobies' Story", documents the first-ever experimental flight. The second, "Dancing to Ganam", documents an exploratory expedition where every member gets different impressions of the natives' intent: where one sees ritual, another sees deceit. The last is possibly the first and only of LeGuin's time travel stories, telling of a homesick man who decides to correct the choice he made eighteen years ago. The second and third stories are especially well-written, keeping the reader guessing until the very end.

A very nice collection for disillusioned readers.

Rating:
Summary: Read it if only for the last story
Review: The final story in this book, "Another Story," is almost certainly my favorite short story ever, and I've read a lot of them. Her writing is wonderful, and a lot of the best elements of both her writing and usual themes come together wonderfully in the final story. The other ones are worth reading, too, but the final story stands on its own and is alone worth finding this book now that it is, sadly, out of print. (I found two copies in a bookstore's bargain stack 6 year ago, luckily for me!)

Find the book, and at least read the last story. It's truly wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Le Guin's imagination is always a pleasure
Review: These eight stories run the gamut from whimsical to cautionary, most including elements of both.

The three last and longest deal with "churten" travel, which allows instantaneous space travel or "transilience." Le Guin makes no attempt to explain this in technological terms and all three stories explore the early, experimental phases of the churten.

The most interesting, "The Shobies' Story," concerns the pioneering churtenists. Initially, the experiment seems a success, if somewhat disorienting. But soon gaps in perception appear - events change according to who narrates them and in the face of this perceptual chaos the human psyche begins a panicky unraveling.

The most humorous story is "The First Contact With the Gorgonids" in which the ugly American meets the aliens and the grimmest is "The Kerastion," in which an artist's desire for permanence leads to tragedy. These are also the shortest.

Le Guin often deals with hubris. In "Newton's Sleep" a smugly rational man, driven to isolate his family from the pollution of Earth, is himself isolated by his inability to incorporate the irrational. In one of the churten stories, "Dancing to Ganam," a man's oversized vision of himself leads to a not entirely unexpected fate.

Le Guin's writing is, as always, fluid and evocative. While some stories are more predictable than others, each is a pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: Le Guin at her best
Review: Ursula has a true gift with the English language. Her prose and her style of writing all give such life to her stories! All the stories in this collection are gems, masterpieces. Especially "Newton's Sleep" an astonishing tale of an orbiting habitat above a chaotic earth. "The Shobies' Story" starts to turn into surrealist literature toward the end; no doubt Le Guin has had some experience with surrealist literature...the way she handles the churtening experience is virtuoso. And the last story...unbelievable! The way she weaved in the Urashima Japanese myth with that story was fascinating. The whole story was just fascinating, period. If you're into speculative fiction done well, I highly suggest reading this book now.