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Prompted by Ursula LeGuin's passing I decided to re-read that much loved book for (probably) the first time in thirty years. It wasn't quite like reading it for the first time because I knew how Ged's struggle against the shadow would end, but I had forgotten a lot of the Journey and how the shadow came to be created in the first place. I first read this in my early twenties and took it as I found it – a great adventure filled with magic. Reading it again I realised how clever the worldbuilding is. Every inch of Earthsea lives. It's a tribute to Ms LeGuin that even when not on the page, you know that the characters are still living their lives. It's a rainbow world. Ged his red-brown. His friend Vetch is black brown. It begins with the boy who is to become Sparrowhawk/Ged (true names hold power and are never revealed except to the best of friends) who leaves his village on Gont to become a wizard's apprentice, and from there he travels to Roke to a serious school for wizards (as unlike Hogwarts as any school could be). Ged is a fabulous character, fully rounded with strengths and flaws. Trying to run before he can walk, he makes a mistake and eventually has to deal with it in his own way. It's a book about balance, responsibility and friendship. He starts out as a “wild, a thriving weed, a tall, quick boy, loud and proud and full of temper,” and grows not only in talent but in wisdom, too. If you haven't read it, read it. If you haven't read it recently, it's worth another look.Jan. 30th, 2018
Prompted by Ursula LeGuin's passing I decided to re-read that much loved book for (probably) the first time in thirty years. It wasn't quite like reading it for the first time because I knew how Ged's struggle against the shadow would end, but I had forgotten a lot of the Journey and how the shadow came to be created in the first place. I first read this in my early twenties and took it as I found it – a great adventure filled with magic. Reading it again I realised how clever the worldbuilding is. Every inch of Earthsea lives. It's a tribute to Ms LeGuin that even when not on the page, you know that the characters are still living their lives. It's a rainbow world. Ged his red-brown. His friend Vetch is black brown. It begins with the boy who is to become Sparrowhawk/Ged (true names hold power and are never revealed except to the best of friends) who leaves his village on Gont to become a wizard's apprentice, and from there he travels to Roke to a serious school for wizards (as unlike Hogwarts as any school could be). Ged is a fabulous character, fully rounded with strengths and flaws. Trying to run before he can walk, he makes a mistake and eventually has to deal with it in his own way. It's a book about balance, responsibility and friendship. He starts out as a “wild, a thriving weed, a tall, quick boy, loud and proud and full of temper,” and grows not only in talent but in wisdom, too. If you haven't read it, read it. If you haven't read it recently, it's worth another look.
Movie of the Week: Downsizing
Jan. 30th, 2018 09:53 pm
What a mess of a movie. The plot meanders and doesn't really go anywhere and even Matt Damon in his 'everyman' role can't quite lend it authenticity. The world's resources are finite but when a scientist discovers that humans (and animals) can be shrunk to a tiny fraction of their original size he thinks the problem is solved. All humanity has to do is shrink itself and the resources will go round a lot easier. But, of course, this is (with one exception) voluntary and only a fraction of the population undergoes the process - and they are relegated to special cities built to accommodate them. Since they don't appear to have any industry I'm not sure where all the teeny-tiny washing mashines and teeny-tiny vacuum cleaners come from, but - hey - let's not get picky. Matt Damon's character is supposed to be shrunk with his wife, but when he wakes up, a mere five inches tall, she hasn't kept her part of the bargain. The rest of this is a meander through his pointless life, a messy divorce and eventually a love story as he meets someone very unlikely and gradually gets sucked into her life. Kudos to Hong Chau for her role as Damon's love interest, a Vietnamese refugee, made small as a punishment for dissidence.