Rosamund Taylor's Reviews> The Telling

Sutty is a lesbian of Indian descent who is from a future Earth that has been racked by a terrible war between those who believe in monotheist religion and those who believe in scientific progress. Sutty trains to become an ambassador to the world Aka, a world of humans which has only just been given access to technology such as computers and aeroplanes. Le Guin writes an elusive narrative about conflict and nuance. On the world of Aka, scientific progress is everything, and the government has banned the world's religion in favour of capitalism, the reverse of the war on Sutty's earth, where science had been forced underground. Le Guin is arguing against any belief system that is totalitarian, that has no room for dissent or subtlety.

But it's also a work about stories, and an evocation of culture. Part of what I love about Le Guin is that her SF isn't very interested in technology or science, but she is very interested in anthropology and biology. She's the only SF writer I can think of who writes about the herd animals of other worlds, who cares where the vegetables come from, or who educates children. The world of Aka feels organic and real -- I could almost feel its cold winds and see its slow rivers, and her descriptions of its landscapes, its mountains, cities, and people are beautiful and compelling. The religion of Aka is known as "The Telling", an elusive belief system that has no deities or afterlife, but involves the telling of stories. It reminds me somewhat of ideas from Zen Buddhism and Taoism: the importance of the moment, of deliberate, thoughtful action, of seeking wisdom from from the natural world, of admitting ignorance. But it's also based on the importance of storytelling. I think it's hard for a writer to write well about storytelling, but when they do it's catnip for me, the avid reader.

I really enjoyed this book, and I loved the study of Sutty, and her slow grappling with her grief at the loss of her partner, and her love for the people of Aka. My complaint is that the ending felt too sudden and too complete. It leaves things fairly open, but I felt in a book that was so careful to think about its characters and consider motivations and reasons that it was too fast and too easy. Another twenty pages would have helped.

Still: this is highly recommended.