| Voices | ||||||||
| Ursula K. Le Guin | ||||||||
| Harcourt, 341 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Rich Horton
The story is told by Memer Galva, a daughter of a prominent family in the city of Ansul. For all of Memer's life, Ansul has been
under the domination of the Alds, a harsh desert people. Indeed, Memer's unknown father is an Ald soldier who raped her mother
during the invasion. Memer's mother is dead, and she has grown up with the remnants of a once thriving household, most importantly
including the leader of her family, the Waylord Sulter Galva, who survived the Alds'
torture without revealing his house's secrets. The most important of these is a secret room, accessible only to the Waylord
and, as it happens, Memer, in which are hidden the surviving books of the people of Ansul. For it seems that the Alds hate
writing, regarding it as the work of Demons. Similarly they oppress women and are otherwise intolerant of any religion but
theirs -- one can hardly fail to see in them a depiction of the worst aspects of fundamentalist religions.
Memer grows up in the company of her beloved substitute father, the Waylord, who teaches her to read -- almost alone among her generation.
When she is 17, change arrives suddenly, with the arrival of Orrec, now a celebrated "Maker," or poet and storyteller,
along with his wife Gry. They are looking for the Waylord, drawn by rumors of his hidden cache of books. But at the same
time Orrec has been invited to tell stories for the Gand of the Alds of Ansul -- that is to say, the local governor -- a
wily man named Iorratth, who seems in general a better man than many of his fellows. His son in particular seems a bad
sort, a religious fanatic who may be angling to displace his father.
Memer spends much time in the company of Orrec and Gry, and therefore learning to know the Alds a bit
better. There is tension between those in Ansul who wish to throw the Alds out with violence, and those who realize
that the military strength of the occupiers is too great for such a course to work. Memer must deal with her desire
for revenge against those who raped her mother (and many others), destroyed countless books, and tortured her
Waylord. But of course the Alds are mostly just humans -- if quite misguided -- and Memer is pushed to recognize
this. And there is sufficient political turmoil among the Alds to further complicate things -- it may be that a
revolution against the Ald occupation will only serve to help the more repressive among them.
The resolution is on the whole satisfying if in some ways a bit convenient. Le Guin urges, with great warmth and
humanism, the value of negotiation -- of commerce -- of forgiveness, and all this is hopeful and moving. Yet at
the same time success depends on a great deal of luck -- the presence of just the right man among the Alds at the
right time, fortunate political developments, and so on. Still, one comes away uplifted, as much by Le Guin's
lovely writing, by the poetry and tales quoted by Orrec (and by Memer), and by the richly depicted central
characters, as by the hopeful conclusion. Le Guin remains a writer in whom we take delight.
Rich Horton is an eclectic reader in and out of the SF and fantasy genres. He's been reading SF since before the Golden Age (that is, since before he was 13). Born in Naperville, IL, he lives and works (as a Software Engineer for the proverbial Major Aerospace Company) in St. Louis area and is a regular contributor to Tangent. Stop by his website at http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton. |
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