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Apr 05, 2009

Lisa rated it:

This was just a tiny little novel, but just packed with stuff I love. Individual characters, compelling and interesting, but also embodying different political dogmas, the plot itself so packed with inherent symbolism that it shouldn't have been so light and natural. All coming together in a clean fast believable push through another world with the goal of freedom. It was beautiful.

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Jan 11, 2012

Emily rated it:

Le Guin has developed yet another “peaceful” society on another planet. This one, though, originated on Earth many years into our future. The Victoria Settlement was at first a penal colony, but about 50 years later The People of the Peace were sent. Obviously, there’s a lot of conflict between the two groups. The latest confrontation has arisen because the Peace People would like to start another settlement. The criminal descendants don’t want to let them go because they do a lot of the menial More...

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Mar 16, 2010

Eric rated it:

I thought this book was pretty fun. I read it with a class of 6th and 7th graders, who did not like it at all, but I didn't think it was that bad. I do agree with my students, though, that there is something frustrating about Le Guin's prose. For them, I think it is the many lines seemingly containing deeper meaning you can't really put your finger on and the general subtlety of her narration (which is akin here to the narration of the other novel of hers I've read, The Left Hand of Darkness) th More...

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Jan 21, 2009

Brian rated it:

So, I admit, I didn't actually finish this. I lost it while I was about 15 pages away from finishing it. Unless something super amazing or stupid happened, though, my rating would have stayed the same.

Someone who wrote a review below me was right, you can tell this was written in the 70's. It is not one of my favorite Ursula books. It has parts that are good, the concept is really amazing, but the actual story is not well executed. The People of Peace and the City People are so extre More...

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May 22, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Not my favorite LeGuin novel, but still (of course) lovely. Not sure what didn't appeal to me - nothing, maybe, but nothing really grabbed me, either. I wanted more of the principles of the People of the Peace, more of the history, more of the world? I loved the telling of the story of the great march - that was the core of the whole book, and could have stood alone as a short story, but was more powerful integrated as the core story of the people in the novel. This was a bit like a combination More...

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Mar 30, 2009

Aubrey rated it:

I was pleasantly surprised by this book although I shouldn't have been since it's an Ursula K. Le Guin book and that means that of course it was good---I love how it's very clear in every book that she is tackling a philosophical question----and the best part is that she can do this in 179 pages, not a thousand---every word is carefully chosen, each thought is concise. Her language is simple, her thoughts clear. This book in particular discussed the many aspect of freedom and what happens when More...

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Jul 21, 2011

Ryan rated it:

Of the three Ursula K. Le Guin books I read in quick succession, this was my least favorite. I didn't particularly love any of them, although I did enjoy A Wizard of Earthsea. It was much more, shall we say, exciting than The Eye of the Heron.

It's not that it's an awful book. I don't quite know what went wrong, but whatever it was, it severely hampered my enjoyment. I would say that I was bored with this book, although it had its moments. I couldn't even tell you what bored me--the con More...

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Jul 21, 2010

Trixie rated it:

I picked this book up mainly for the Le Guin story/novella, but read all of the stories. I actually got stuck in the middle of one, "Mab Gallen Recalled", and set the whole book aside for a couple of months, but it was worth finishing. It was a little difficult for me, though, reading all of these pieces from different voices because I have a hard time switching gears like that.

Even if they were written by "THE MOST EXCITING WOMEN WRITERS IN SCIENCE FICTION TODAY" More...

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Apr 30, 2009

Nikki rated it:

Ursula Le Guin's The Eye of the Heron looks like an easy, short book. My copy is quite slim, the writing is a reasonable size, and the prose is as polished as hers always is, and it's easy to read. There are some absolutely amazing quotes, that I loved to read just for the perspective she always brings to the discussion. These are the ones that struck me the most (in parts of them, description has been taken out to make them more universal).

a. "You know, if we sit in the back ro More...

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Aug 26, 2008

Robert rated it:

The people of the City arrived on the planet Victoria by one-way spaceship, exiled from Earth, convicted criminals. Many years later the People of the Peace arrive in the last such spaceship, also exiled, but by choice. They form a town and call it Shantih, but the people of the City call it Shanty - deftly contrasting the views of the City folk and the townfolk. Over time the People of the Peace have become the peasants of a feudal society in microcosm but now confrontation is coming. The P More...

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Jan 21, 2011

Liz rated it:

i didn't like this one that much. it was about a weird annoying race of pacifists. one of the things about le guin that sometimes diminishes my "yeah! right on, sister!" reaction is her tendency towards quietism. however, it actually ends up being kind of an interesting take on pacifism. there is a good deconstruction of the macho and theatrical nature of a lot of nonviolent passive resistance tactics. in the end the pacifists basically run away. I'm still not sure if that's a wi More...

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Jan 26, 2012

Juan Carlos rated it:

Un libro que cuenta una historia de una forma simple, sin mayores descripciones, un mundo minimalista, una política con pocas ideas en juego. Aún asi, esta narración tiene todos los elementos para emocionarnos, llevarnos a otro mundo donde los seres humanos solo son una pequeña mancha en la inmensidad e igualmente arreglarselas para sostener disputas y ponerse las cosas difíciles los unos a los otros.
Fácil de leer, ameno, una personalidad femenina fuerte, hombres que no llevan sus ideales h More...

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Aug 05, 2010

Rob rated it:

...Despite one of the characters getting away from the author this book was an interesting introduction to Le Guin’s writing for me. The Eye of the Heron is a well written story that has a lot to offer for reader's of various ages. I would say it is one of those books that you can read several times and discover something new on each reading...

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May 11, 2011

Swallowfeather rated it:

Very good. I found it interesting how in the ending of this one she seems to locate hope in the act of starting over, starting fresh. Not sure I agree, because it's so easy to hope when you start over and can be so deceptive, but it certainly came across compellingly. I also loved the characters, and the way she can make a world feel so alien and yet so real, and her prose. And the irony in the name "Shantih Town"!

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Dec 16, 2010

Laura rated it:

This book is a stellar example of why I love Le Guin. Her ability to capture the little details of life, the rhythm of her words, using speculative fiction to hold up a mirror to our world and cultures, developing rich and complex characters, the importance of freedom.

In addition, this book is a compelling coming-of-age story, and an exploration of the cultures of peace and nonviolence. Highly recommended.

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Sep 22, 2009

Silvio rated it:

This book is set on a planet which is a penal colony. It's only human inhabitants were sent there from Earth on one-way spaceships. They came in two batches. The second one was banished from Earth for being nonviolent, the first evidently for something else. The first group is oppressing the second group. The book is about what happens when the second group mounts a nonviolent resistance movement to try to free themselves.

Le Guin characterizes of masculine and feminine ways of dealin More...

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Oct 12, 2009

John Ivey rated it:

Very interesting, especially having been raised Quaker. It felt basically like she read about Quakers and said, "Whoa, these guys are weird. I wonder what would happen if they were stuck on a future-planet with a bunch of ass-holes." And then she wrote a book about it. So it feels a bit contrived sometimes but she's a very good writer though and she makes it work.

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Sep 02, 2010

Wealhtheow rated it:

Victoria is an alien world, colonized through the blood and sweat of convicts and political dissidents. When the men of power push too far, a group dedicated to peace decides en masse to oppose them. A very interesting look at the good and bad aspects of pacifism as a way of life. I wish this was at least twice as long--the denoument felt rushed.

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Nov 22, 2010

Rainbowgardener rated it:

Still re-reading--sick for three weeks and doing comfort reading. This is her most Quakerly book. she is not that I know of a Quaker, but she clearly knows about us and our values and practices. Her colonists on a new planet, do not call themselves Quakers (they are "People of Peace"), but they call their church/ services Meeting. She is wonderful as always at exploring ideas/ ideals (in this case non-violent resistance and how it does and does not work in actual situations with ac More...

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Apr 30, 2009

Pamster rated it:

Uuuuuuuursula . . . I, loooooooove you! (To the tune of Kool and the Gang's Joanna.) Nice look at conflicting forms of societal organization, how a society based on peace would operate and would resist oppression, and hardships and rewards of giving up privileges with which you were born. Thrilled about how the romantic spark was treated.

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Jan 15, 2012

Michael rated it:

I rounded up from 1.5 stars. This felt like a fragment of a book. For Le Guin, the characters weren't very well fleshed out and the plot could have been summed up in a few pages without losing anything. This was a short book for Le Guin and I wonder if she was distracted by another so that she didn't really put her best foot forward in this one. I recommend skipping it.

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Nov 30, 2008

Otter rated it:

Very interesting point of view about society and change. I found it very interesting in the power of people to make changes and decisions of change when faced with the fact they are not their past but must become their future.

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Jul 23, 2010

Becca rated it:

Unusually approachable for one of Le Guin's earlier books. I usually have more trouble identifying with the characters than this; maybe it was easier because this was a human culture, one with familiar patterns?

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Aug 16, 2010

Will rated it:

To be fair, I think this was intended for a younger audience, but it lacked the energy and creativity of the Earthsea books, which I still enjoy reading. A good book for teens, pretty dull for grown-ups.

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Dec 29, 2009

Lauren rated it:

Not as good as her usual work; the ending just kind of trailed off and I felt like there wasn't enough of a conclusion. I felt it was too short to really develop the characters.

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Jan 05, 2010

Maria rated it:

Nice, short but sweet science fiction tale. Had an interesting underlying message... don't remember what it was though...

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Jul 04, 2011

J.T. rated it:

Extremely well written, good story line. But the sense that I've heard this story told before keeps it from a 5.

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Jul 05, 2009

Chet rated it:

An interesting play out of civil disobedience pitted against violence among exiles on another world.

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Aug 03, 2011

Rebeccameder rated it:

It felt like the whole book was just setting up the premise for a story that never happened.

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Jun 06, 2011

Sam rated it:

Touching short story of a man who fights (in his own way) for the liberation of his people.

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