Very Far Away from Anywhere Else

An enervated wreck at 18, I was casting about for an answer to sorry convictions and an assurance of boyish entitlements when I should have been reading this. I’m not ashamed, and neither should you be. I’m often asking myself where Le Guin has been all my life

I liked this book. I feel like our protagonist, Owen, has depression and maybe something else going on, or maybe not. I know I saw a lot of my thoughts and feelings in his, and I empathized with him. I feel like the ending is a hair quick, and I am left wanting a follow-up book talking about his life and his friend Natalie's lives. Overall, I enjoyed it.

A very brief novel, more of a novella, about two lonely young people who find it hard to figure out how to love each other, while guarding and fostering the light within themselves. I'm not entirely convinced by the voice purporting to be of a 17 year old boy, but as usual Le Guin provides some lovely quotable passages and a thoughtful, richly human story.