2011 Reading #21: The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

[snurri]

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.

21. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin (Re-read). As I noted in talking about A Wizard of Earthsea, I failed to get much out of the Earthsea books when I read them as a young adult. In the case of this, the second book, reading it now was pretty much like reading it the first time--I have some memory of the maps and illustrations, but pretty much none of the story. What struck me as I was finishing it up was how much it reads like a story about battling and surviving depression; I have some small discomfort with Ged's role as Tenar's deliverer from her dark and joyless existence, but I was also very moved by her transformation and her move into the light. I'm beginning to think that I was a particularly shallow and clueless adolescent (and if I told you what I was reading and re-reading during that period you'd probably agree), since I know how big these books were and are for so many people at that age.

Comments

[ombriel.livejournal.com]

This is one of my most favorite books ever. I love the contemplation of naming and the importance of names, for one thing, and its claustrophobic, smothering feel up until the end always strikes me.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how the reader feels just as trapped and weighted down by the Labyrinth as Tenar is, and how much of a physical relief the escape is.

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I LOVED this book the best out of the entire series. It was gorgeous and mythic and, yes, very redemptive and relieving by the end of the journey. Thinking about it makes me want to read them all again. :)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

It's so different from A Wizard that it's difficult for me to compare the two; the first book is certainly brighter and more accessible, but I think Ged's journey is less fraught and less convincing than Tenar's. I'm really enjoying revisiting these, though, and I've never read beyond the original trilogy, so I'm looking forward to that as well.

[hecubot.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to me how often fantasy writers need to find metaphors for depression. Certainly Rowling's Dementors that suck all the joy out of life read as depression. I think much of Sam and Frodo's journey in LoTR is really a large metaphor about depression.