Book Review: A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula K. LeGuin

[kilroy]

Print date: 1994 (20s: 1, 60s: 1, 70s: 1, 80s: 2, 90s: 2, 00s: 3)
Page count: 207 (3743 total)

I was all ready to throw this book away. The first six or seven stories went beyond merely not interesting me-- they felt like they were excluding me. Like the story was over there and I was over here, and the author wasn't going to provide a bridge for me. "Oh yes, we have a point," the stories seem to say, "You're just not clever enough to get it." Meanwhile I'm thinking, "Oh, I see your point; I'm just baffled as to why you think I should be interested."

(It should be noted for the purposes of literary honesty that LeGuin is one of those authors I've tangled with before and lost. I know so many people who deeply love Earthsea, but I practically fell asleep reading it and gave up after fifty pages.)

So anyway, I'm about to break one of my longstanding rules and get rid of a book of short stories when I hit the title story: a novella nestled last in the book, the third part of a set of stories in the same universe. As soon as I saw the word "churten" I was thinking "Oh no, not again," but... this one actually worked.

It does what science fiction is best at: it builds a world just different enough from our own, and situates us in it. This story is about love and loss, about home and identity, stories and second chances. The science fiction part of it is secondary but necessary, and unlike every other story in the book the human half of the equation carries its weight. The characters make me feel nostalgia for a place I've never been to.

So I'll keep the book. I know enough about the whims of publishing to know that I will never find another copy of this story again unless I am very lucky. And that one is worth keeping.


Verdict: Keep for that one novella. (6/12 keepers)

Next book due: 4/17