The Eye of the Heron
Ratings12
Average rating3.8
From multi-award-winning, literary legend Ursula K. Le Guin comes a speculative fiction classic, The Eye of the Heron.
In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups - the farmers of Shantih and the city dwellers - live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the city, the city bosses rule the Shantih with an iron fist. When a group of farmers decide to form a new settlement further away, the bosses retaliate by threatening to crush the "rebellion".
Luz understands what it means to have no choices. Her father is a boss, and he has ruled over her life with the same iron fist. Luz wonders what it might be like to make her own choices. To be free to choose her own destiny.
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A typical Le Guin novella. It grew on me. The symbolism is sometimes subtle, sometimes less so. It's a clear parallel to the English establishing a penal colony in Australia. This is not a story of action, more so of thoughts: most interestingly, it explores pacifism in a way we all recognize and love from her other works, and shows us the honour in non-violent resistance to oppression.
This had a lot of great quotes in it. It reminded me a bit of The Word for World is Forest, although that one felt much clumsier than this. They both aren't exactly subtle in their metaphors, but at least this one feels more natural.
