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novella42's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I read this for the 2023 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, for the entry "read your favorite author's favorite book," because I was able to find an interview with Becky Chambers in which she raved about this collection. I can see what drew her to it, though I'm sad that an author I consider to be really good at disability representation didn't have the same experience I had with this book.
For the record, I did really enjoy The Silence of the Asonu, Seasons of the Ansarac, and Social Dreaming of the Frin.
I have adored LeGuin since I was a teenager, but the more work I do around disability justice the more I find myself noticing the ableism woven into some of her stories and essays. I'd say it detracted from the experience, but more, it is just truly disheartening to learn that a role model you've looked up to for years might have thought or felt some awful things about your disabled body and presence in society.
I know this book was published in 2003 and at least six of the stories date back to 1998, 2000, etc. Likewise, I know if I had read these stories at that time, my own internalized ableism was so entrenched—I wouldn't even learn the word "ableism" until 2018, in spite of having experienced it all my life—that I probably wouldn't have said anything about it. I probably would've felt uncomfortable but in that wordless way when you don't have the vocabulary to explain what feels off.
Some of the moments of ableism seem to come down to vocabulary. Some go deeper into the speculative fiction trope of using a body horror lens on disability to demonstrate the perils of technology/magic.
I'm putting some spoiler-level details behind the cut, if you want them, or you think I'm being oversensitive / unduly harsh on the author.
From The Nna Mmoy Language:
"Like everybody else, I found their language so difficult that they probably thought me retarded."
"I suspect they heard my language as a noise made by an idiot... They recognized me as a human being, but as a defective one. I couldn't talk. I couldn't make the connections."
From The Flyers of Gy:
"[When 1 in 1000 people grow wings in their culture, it is] something every parent and every adolescent dreads: a rare but fearful deformity, a curse, a death sentence... Among the urbanized Gyr, that dread is mitigated to some degree, since the winged ones are treated... with tolerance and even sympathy, as people with a most unfortunate handicap."
"'I wasn't going to let this business eat up my whole life. To me the wings are simply excrescences. Growths. Impediments to walking, dancing, sitting in a civilized manner on a normal chair, wearing decent clothing. I refused to let something like that get in the way of my education, my life... I was fortunate enough to meet a beautiful woman who refused to let my handicap frighten her. In fact she won't let me call it that. She insists that all this'—he indicated his wings with a slight gesture of his head—'was what she first saw in me.'"
Wake Island spends a lot of time with a culture that denigrates people with intellectual disabilities in the pursuit of genetically developing intelligence by inducing sleeplessness. There's a lot of medical trauma and sexual violence in this one, plus some anti-Autism sentiment. (If this is a topic you're interested in, I'd cautiously recommend the 1991 novel Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress, which may or may not have aged well, but I do remember the super-intelligent sleepless characters depicted in far more humanizing ways.)
I'm not going to quote from The Island of the Immortals, but the horror of it is going to haunt me for a long time.
For the record, I did really enjoy The Silence of the Asonu, Seasons of the Ansarac, and Social Dreaming of the Frin.
I have adored LeGuin since I was a teenager, but the more work I do around disability justice the more I find myself noticing the ableism woven into some of her stories and essays. I'd say it detracted from the experience, but more, it is just truly disheartening to learn that a role model you've looked up to for years might have thought or felt some awful things about your disabled body and presence in society.
I know this book was published in 2003 and at least six of the stories date back to 1998, 2000, etc. Likewise, I know if I had read these stories at that time, my own internalized ableism was so entrenched—I wouldn't even learn the word "ableism" until 2018, in spite of having experienced it all my life—that I probably wouldn't have said anything about it. I probably would've felt uncomfortable but in that wordless way when you don't have the vocabulary to explain what feels off.
Some of the moments of ableism seem to come down to vocabulary. Some go deeper into the speculative fiction trope of using a body horror lens on disability to demonstrate the perils of technology/magic.
I'm putting some spoiler-level details behind the cut, if you want them, or you think I'm being oversensitive / unduly harsh on the author.
From The Nna Mmoy Language:
"Like everybody else, I found their language so difficult that they probably thought me retarded."
"I suspect they heard my language as a noise made by an idiot... They recognized me as a human being, but as a defective one. I couldn't talk. I couldn't make the connections."
From The Flyers of Gy:
"[When 1 in 1000 people grow wings in their culture, it is] something every parent and every adolescent dreads: a rare but fearful deformity, a curse, a death sentence... Among the urbanized Gyr, that dread is mitigated to some degree, since the winged ones are treated... with tolerance and even sympathy, as people with a most unfortunate handicap."
"'I wasn't going to let this business eat up my whole life. To me the wings are simply excrescences. Growths. Impediments to walking, dancing, sitting in a civilized manner on a normal chair, wearing decent clothing. I refused to let something like that get in the way of my education, my life... I was fortunate enough to meet a beautiful woman who refused to let my handicap frighten her. In fact she won't let me call it that. She insists that all this'—he indicated his wings with a slight gesture of his head—'was what she first saw in me.'"
Wake Island spends a lot of time with a culture that denigrates people with intellectual disabilities in the pursuit of genetically developing intelligence by inducing sleeplessness. There's a lot of medical trauma and sexual violence in this one, plus some anti-Autism sentiment. (If this is a topic you're interested in, I'd cautiously recommend the 1991 novel Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress, which may or may not have aged well, but I do remember the super-intelligent sleepless characters depicted in far more humanizing ways.)
I'm not going to quote from The Island of the Immortals, but the horror of it is going to haunt me for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Torture, Classism, Colonisation, Body horror, Chronic illness, Ableism, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Death, Racism, Genocide, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Mental illness, and War
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Pregnancy
chelseareads's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Violence, War, and Sexual violence
simonamiller's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
4.25
After Becky Chambers recommended this book in multiple author events, I had to check it out. The premise was delightful and I really enjoyed reading about many of the worlds explored, even if some were a bit disturbing. The Seasons of the Ansarac was hands down my favorite - I want to live on this plane! One of my few complaints is that I wish there had been slightly more of an exploration of gender in this book, as I found it unbelievable that every plane explored actually subscribed to cultural notions of male and female, nonetheless ones that mirror our own. That aside, this book was super unique and enjoyable, and I’m always glad to have read more Le Guin!
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual violence
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