Currently reading; check back later!
Currently reading; check back later! Don't expect a normal notes section for this one.
A rare case of a movie being split and it actually working. The romance sort-of subplot thing was stupid (mostly in reference to the not-love triangle), but other than that, how did it take me so long to watch this??
I liked this one more than The Tombs of Atuan—I think it might relate to this one returning to focus on the balance of Earthsea and relatedly, death. The section in the Dry Lands was particularly poignant for me, especially with it's semi-philosophical-ish dialogues on it that form the "last battle" of the book.
On a small side note, I've recently been reading some science studies related stuff, which has had me thinking a little bit about approaches to knowledge and knowing, so, Cob's destructive and dominating approach to pursuit of knowledge was fairly notable to me. Will probably return to analyze that a bit more.
Hmmm... to be completely honest, I don't really know what to say about this book. It wasn't bad by any means, but I just don't have any strong opinions on it.
I imagine that this is a book that I will enjoy more once I re-read it.
I'm so glad that I finally got around to reading it (note: my friend gifted me a copy around a year ago)!
While it is a fantasy novel, it is definitely light in the actual fantastical elements—the physical manifestation of the Mandate of Heaven and the existence of ghosts were pretty much all of it, and even then, those were fairly minimal. Not that I think it detracts from the novel, it's just slightly funny to me in the sense of "this sort of concept but with more modern history would feel really bizarre."
In regard to the novel's gender stuff, which to my knowledge is what interests quite a few people in the book, I thought Ouyang was kind of a different approach. While limited by what I've read, I don't actually think I've seen representation of "self-loathing that leads to hardcore misogyny" in fantasy before. He's very much a foil to Zhu in this (and in their views of fate). I wouldn't say that it's the focus of the book, but it's still a fairly prominent element.
Currently reading; check back later!
There's something about this book that makes it so pleasant to read—I think it might be from its focus on "smaller things" than the fantasy I usually end up reading. There's no scheming, there's little violence: it's just Ged figuring himself out and I think that's beautiful.
I suppose that the patience and reflection + understanding of the natural world that is required for magic also draws me in. Ged needing to learn that reminds me so much of my somewhat tendency to do the same thing and seems so relevant to a society where people really like instant gratification.
On a different note, while I have not read too many books by Le Guin (...yet), the patriarchal nature of Earthsea kind of surprised me in comparison to her other works.