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A review by laimab
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Another interesting story by Ursula K. Le Guin but for me, it was a bit underwhelming considering her other novels. In "The Word for World in Forest" we are presented with 3 different perspectives on the violent event of colonisation of a world, Athshea. As colonisation in the real world, this involved fiercely exploiting resources – trees for wood, an expensive commodity for a destroyed and infertile Terra, alongside using forced native work.
Curiously, the enslavement of Athsheans was officially a Voluntary action. The truth of what was going on in Athshea was censored and undermined. It seemed as if Terrans had learnt nothing from the destruction of their own planet. The 3 perspectives introduced are:
1) Dr. Lyubov, a sort of anthropologist eager to understand how the Ashtheans lived. However, his learnings were used to take advantage of the Ashtheans, against his will.
2) Davidson, a racist and prepotent military man. A truly unlikable character that we're forced to follow. Every time a chapter was from his perspective we would get introduced to a disgusting bias of race and species. He was intolerant of other humanoid species, like the Urrasti and Hainish, and also intolerant of Asian and European Terrans.
3) Selver, an Ashthean who, due to immense sorrow in witnessing his planet being destroyed and his wife violently killed, adopted violence as a means of defence.
Ashtheans were profoundly changed by their interaction with their colonisers. As a society, they got introduced to violence that started against the colonizers and remained in their society, from then on between each other. We witness Selver becoming insane because of grief and rage. We witnessed a species that was the epitome of peaceful resort to large-scale organised violence. This transformation affects Selver intimately, affecting even his "dream-time", now haunted by Dr. Lyubov. It's sad to see how a good, fair intention led to the corruption of souls. In the journey to justice, to peace, he had to resort to extreme violence, corrupting his peaceful existence.
I think that this is a great lesson on resistance movements, and about how when you engage in resistance, to defend your integrity or of those around you, to act on what you believe in, you are also changed and affected by the injustice. It makes you colder and it taints you. Even when you reach the objective, the violence remains in you. Through memories that won't easily go away due to the way you had to go beyond what you believe in, the way you had to make yourself be understood by using the "enemy's" methods.
1) Dr. Lyubov, a sort of anthropologist eager to understand how the Ashtheans lived. However, his learnings were used to take advantage of the Ashtheans, against his will.
2) Davidson, a racist and prepotent military man. A truly unlikable character that we're forced to follow. Every time a chapter was from his perspective we would get introduced to a disgusting bias of race and species. He was intolerant of other humanoid species, like the Urrasti and Hainish, and also intolerant of Asian and European Terrans.
3) Selver, an Ashthean who, due to immense sorrow in witnessing his planet being destroyed and his wife violently killed, adopted violence as a means of defence.
Ashtheans were profoundly changed by their interaction with their colonisers. As a society, they got introduced to violence that started against the colonizers and remained in their society, from then on between each other. We witness Selver becoming insane because of grief and rage. We witnessed a species that was the epitome of peaceful resort to large-scale organised violence. This transformation affects Selver intimately, affecting even his "dream-time", now haunted by Dr. Lyubov. It's sad to see how a good, fair intention led to the corruption of souls. In the journey to justice, to peace, he had to resort to extreme violence, corrupting his peaceful existence.
I think that this is a great lesson on resistance movements, and about how when you engage in resistance, to defend your integrity or of those around you, to act on what you believe in, you are also changed and affected by the injustice. It makes you colder and it taints you. Even when you reach the objective, the violence remains in you. Through memories that won't easily go away due to the way you had to go beyond what you believe in, the way you had to make yourself be understood by using the "enemy's" methods.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Sexism and Sexual assault