The Telling

I am somewhat puzzled by the lukewarm responses by many readers to this book. I absolutely loved it; Le Guin has many intelligent things to say about the processes of cultural change and economic development, and wraps them in a wonderful story. She also does what many of the supposed science fiction masters are rarely able to do; develop interesting, three dimensional characters to go along with her ideas (male AND female characters to boot! What a concept!). I read this shortly after finishing The Left Hand of Darkness, and I actually enjoyed this one a bit more. Highly recommended for anyone who wants something entertaining and thoughtful, regardless of whether you usually enjoy science fiction.

This is a book of psychologically-developed science fiction. Quoting Le Guin in 1975's 'The Wind's Twelve Quarters': "Unless physical action reflects psychic action, unless the deeds express the person, I get very bored with adventure stories; often it seems that the more action there is, the less happens. Obviously my interest is in what goes on inside. Inner space and all that." I own and have read most of her career's work. She currently writes like the wise old crone she is, no longer "like a man", which readers may or may not appreciate. 'The Telling' illustrates the ways LeGuin's characters are forced to confront themselves psychologically, making choices based on experience, need, limitations: the old woman taking in her neighbor the political exile; the smartass diplomat chick trapped in a cell with the bodyguard she'd misunderstood from day one (and he, her); a man leaving the village and home planet as historian-adventurer, to the grief of his family. Thoughtful stuff set in the Hainish Cycle of Le Guin's created future.

In this book Ursula K. Le Guin creates a world where technology is the all seeing, all doing God of the people. A world where the old ways are condemned and literature and art are "corpse rotten" and have to be destroyed. There are no books to read and no history to remember. Only a consumer-producer society is acceptable, and anyone who deviates from this path is condemned, punished and forcibly re-educated. Enter Sutty Dass a young girl of East Indian descent who is desperate to hold onto the past whilst living in the future. On the plant Aka as an official observer she gets the chance to see the past as it used to be, in fragments so tantalizingly small you can only get a taste of what used to be. But Sutty is an intelligent young woman and she realizes very quickly that the old ways are not as dead as the technology-controlled government would like to believe and an underground system of "telling" the past has sprung up in order for people to remember what once was. What starts as a job of work for Sutty, becomes a spiritual quest for redemption in the guise of story telling and mystical encounters. Sutty herself is being reborn from the flames of the past, as her name implies, as Suttee means death by fire for widows and Sutty is a widow of sorts. We find ourselves gently drawn into this illicit world of Guru's, mystics and ancient wise ones, whilst looking over our shoulders for the ever-present danger of Government Monitors whose task it is stamp on everything to do with the past. We are eventually led to a hidden library high in the Aka mountains and it is here that Sutty learns the true meaning of the past and how she as an outsider can help redress the balance for those who hanker for the old days, and those who fear the loss of technology. A vibrant book, filled with laughter and tears, and a host of characters who are larger than life and totally memorable. This is a novel for those readers who like a book to get their teeth into, a novel, which makes them think and wonder, and then think so more. An excellent and understated read that deserves six stars out of five in my opinion.

This book is not destined to be one of Le Guin's classics. It is not The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed. It is, however, a wonderfully written tale. The plot is captivating, the writing is exquisite. What more can you ask for? I enjoyed it from the first page all the way to the last page. If you have never read Le Guin before, you might want to start with one of her earlier books. But if you are already a Le Guin fan (and who isn't?), you won't be disappointed with this book.