The Beginning Place

I'm not really a fan Le Guin, to be honest. I found this book in a used book store many years ago for a quarter and bought it on a whim. I won't praise this book and give you high expectations of a blockbuster 'can't-put-down-till-I-finish' book. It's not that in the least. It's just a slice of someone's life, a person just like the people you probably bump into everyday, people you have no interest in knowing, people you greet out of politeness, and forget they exist before the hour is up. This is a short book but a slow read. Take your time, there's really no hurry. It is a story of an unhappy person, who is only able to escape his unhappiness for short periods of time, nothing more. He stumbles into a 'way out' and desperately tries to not to lose what he's found. (BTW, the cover artwork is very misleading and the sooner you strip away these preconceived images of the characters, the more you'll enjoy the story.)

The Beginning Place is classic Le Guin and you either love her writing or you hate it. I love it. First consider this book was published in 1980 and then consider how fantasy has changed in 26 years. At least she writes a book that has a beginning, middle, and end. She doesn't expect you to hang with her for a decade to find out the end of the story...all the while hoping she doesn't croak before it is complete. Ursula K LeGuin is the ONLY author who I can compare with the master Theodore Sturgeon when it comes to telling a story that is the story. She doesn't bore you with long histories, detailed descriptions of the Queen of Zunderlund's dress or the poor street rat's rags. In fact you might acccuse her of being parsimonious, but if you read her story you will see the faces, the shapes, the dresses, the trees and all the other details in that theatre of your mind and you will see it in richer detail than any "Wheel of Time" book. Why? Because she doesn't force you to see it her way. She isn't building the Ark of the Covenant, she is giving you just what you need to spark the old imagination. Try this book. You won't regret it.

I found this book accidentally, a few years ago (as an adult) and read it based on my previous reading of the 'standard' Le Guin (read in college): "The Dispossesed" & "The Left Hand of Darkness". This is a story of a young person growing up -or fighting against growing up in the conventional societal sense. I was rapidly taken in by the story and mesmerized, I could hardly put it down. Somehow this book touched my soul. Maybe because I also was once a grocery clerk... . It seems to be a polarizing book, some other reviewers were lukewarm or disliked it, I guess that makes it special if it can speak in different ways to different people. I recommend reading "The Beginning Place", and see for yourself.

When I read this as an adolescent, I felt like someone else knew how I felt. Adolescents hardly ever feel this way. This is a great book for anyone who just wants to get away from his life. The end surprises you by showing you the only way to really escape.

The Beginning Place appeals to those of us who have ever felt desperately the need to get away from the mundanities and fears in our lives. Le Guin is extraordinarily skillful in showing Hugh and Irene's search to break free of restraints and fears; and she does it with a very complicated yet compact metaphor for their maturation. The book is beautifully written, lyrical... it is literature for those science fiction/fantasy fanatics who have forgotten what good writing is really about. It begins with a modern world and rapidly takes you into the alternate reality world, about which you really learn only enough to wish there were more detail. It is a short book, but so full of meaning it's best read several times. One of my all-time favorites.