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ceelpayne's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
juup's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
linamaria's review against another edition
4.0
Mi primer acercamiento a esta autora es con esta novela que parte de uno de los personajes de La Eneida de Virgilio, Lavinia. Le Guin nos cuenta la historia de Lavinia, hija del rey de Lacio, quien crece rodeada del amor de su padre y de los súbditos que habitan su casa, su entorno se ve trastornado cuando la joven crece y se convierte en el objeto de deseo de Turno, quien encuentra en la posible unión con Lavinia una forma de expandir sus dominios. Lavinia se ve entonces confrontada con su posible destino como única heredera del rey de Lacio y con su deseo de seguir siendo una mujer libre que actúa según sus creencias; creencias que se ven fuertemente influenciadas por la voz del «poeta», una especie de espíritu que le habla sobre su futuro y que le aconseja casarse con un hombre extranjero, pues solo así mantendrá la paz en los dominios de su padre. Guiada entonces por el «poeta» decide esperar la llegada de Eneas, aun a sabiendas de que él no vivirá mucho tiempo con ella.
Lavinia es sin duda un personaje encantador, lleno de amor, serenidad, inteligencia, astucia y compasión. Una mujer que no se resigna a vivir una vida conforme a los convencionalismos de su lugar de origen, que decide amar sin restricción aun conociendo casi con absoluta certeza el momento de la muerte de Eneas. Una heredera digna del reinado de su padre, tanto para él como para ella la paz era una condición sine qua non para el fortalecimiento del reino de Lacio y esta condición siempre estuvo por encima de sus intereses personales.
Una novela que sin duda recomiendo, en la cual se muestra cómo a partir de un personaje secundario se puede crear el personaje principal de una historia, un personaje creíble, cercano, una mujer que no pretende imitar a los hombres en su ejercicio de poder, todo lo contrario, Lavinia espera dejar su impronta con su forma de ver la vida, una forma muy diferente a la de los guerreros de su época.
Lavinia es sin duda un personaje encantador, lleno de amor, serenidad, inteligencia, astucia y compasión. Una mujer que no se resigna a vivir una vida conforme a los convencionalismos de su lugar de origen, que decide amar sin restricción aun conociendo casi con absoluta certeza el momento de la muerte de Eneas. Una heredera digna del reinado de su padre, tanto para él como para ella la paz era una condición sine qua non para el fortalecimiento del reino de Lacio y esta condición siempre estuvo por encima de sus intereses personales.
Una novela que sin duda recomiendo, en la cual se muestra cómo a partir de un personaje secundario se puede crear el personaje principal de una historia, un personaje creíble, cercano, una mujer que no pretende imitar a los hombres en su ejercicio de poder, todo lo contrario, Lavinia espera dejar su impronta con su forma de ver la vida, una forma muy diferente a la de los guerreros de su época.
gilles's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
yeahnaar's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
The story is well written and generally compelling. However, it is a retelling of the Aeneid from a new perspective and so lacks much tension, urgency, or intrigue. The meta textual elements are also quite boring and forced. It’s still enjoyable but unless you’re super into the Aeneid probably not worth reading compared with Le Guin’s other works
rachsed's review against another edition
3.0
This was well-written but dragged in places. At about the 70% mark, I wondered what else was going to happen -it seemed like the story had reached its peak. I liked the theme of Lavinia's story, about who owns our stories.
nadijya's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
berenikeasteria's review against another edition
3.0
I have never read a book by Ursula le Guin before, though I know her reputation as a giant of the fantasy genre, so I was a little surprised to see she’d written a historical/mythology novel. I don’t think Lavinia is for me. The writing was competent but I was never amazed by it or sucked in to the story. Lavinia as a character didn’t compel me, even though the author works to flesh out what is a bare bones sketch in Virgil’s Aeneid. And I really didn’t like that fact that le Guin drew Virgil into the story as well as some kind of future, fevered ghost to let original writer and his creation interact with one another. That seemed far too meta to me, and I found it broke my suspension of disbelief rather than being clever or cute.
6 out of 10
sandstorma's review against another edition
1.0
I love Ursula Le Guin’s books so much but this was not it. The book follows Lavinia, the girl whose hair catches fire in Virgil’s Aeneid. It was an interesting choice to have Virgil play a character in this book and have Lavinia aware of the fact that she is a character in a poem. It felt like it was trying to follow the style of Mary Renault, but just didn’t work. Lavinia felt so detached from her story; there was very little dialogue and much of the book moved slowly.
squiggly_cj's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is the first of Le Guin's books I've read, after a short story and essays, some of which were about what she values in writing. This context made it really interesting to see her long-form writing in practice.
I love the premise of giving life and character and agency to a woman who was not afforded those by the poet who invented her. I think Le Guin did this very successfully, in what felt like an authentic, informed manner.
There were three ideas I was most struck by in this work. First was the idea of existence contingent on others - where Lavinia's existence was contingent on Aeneas, and Aeneas' on her. Second was of exile, especially the idea that women are raised to understand and nurture their home environments, only to be exiled to the foreign home of their husband. Third was of piety, and how this was used to describe a nexus of personal conscience, religion and community responsibilities.
I love the premise of giving life and character and agency to a woman who was not afforded those by the poet who invented her. I think Le Guin did this very successfully, in what felt like an authentic, informed manner.
There were three ideas I was most struck by in this work. First was the idea of existence contingent on others - where Lavinia's existence was contingent on Aeneas, and Aeneas' on her. Second was of exile, especially the idea that women are raised to understand and nurture their home environments, only to be exiled to the foreign home of their husband. Third was of piety, and how this was used to describe a nexus of personal conscience, religion and community responsibilities.