Intellectual adolescence
Rating:
4 / 5
We've all been there. He knows where hes going most of the time, but thanks to a spontaneous burst of social interaction he finds his way isn't as clear or as outrageous as he once thought. Le Guin does an excellent job incorporating the angst, the anger, and the astonishment that is a coming-of-age book. Sweet for children and interesting enough for adults. Listen to some violin while reading this book and sip some weird tea. Highly recommended.
What I think the title means
Rating:
5 / 5
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.
Why is this out of print?
Rating:
5 / 5
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.
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