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: This book reminds me of what is possible in fiction.
Review: This book, like Le Guin's other work, is a treasure. The title story will not be forgotten, and yet it comes last in the collection. You have to read the whole book to really understand how you arrived at the point where the author started: wondering how our lives are shaped by our choices, by our culture, by our families - in short, by story. The collection also has good balance, from the hard parable of "Newton's Sleep" to the silly joke of "The Ascent of the North Face." As a bonus, Le Guin offers an introduction brimming with her views on science fiction, yet touches on her own work only long enough to say what she didn't mean and leaves the rest for the reader. Le Guin is one of the best writers in any genre, and I think this book proves the claim.
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.
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.
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.
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