The Eye of the Heron / The Word for World Is Forest

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Contains two novellas:
- The Eye of the Heron (1978)
- The Word for World is Forest (1972)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

301 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1991

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.

Reviews

[Rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to escape comparisons to Le Guin’s other SF novels. Eye of the Heron especially feels like a reworking of Planet of Exile, to be reworked in turn as The Dispossessed. Word for World is Forest is a pretty straightforward anticolonial allegory; it does the Star Trek “alien culture with one big core concept” thing like Left Hand of Darkness but isn’t concerned with developing that concept to the same extent. The result can be a bit vague and New Agey but does the job.

[Ricky Lomas]

strangely parallel to the dispossessed versus the left hand of darkness for me. the first story, the eye of the heron, seems too stuck in obvious 60s/70s utopian tropes to really draw me in. beautifully written, but didn’t capture me. the second story, the word for world is forest, is FANTASTIC! I loved the different POV chapters, whose characterizations felt lived in and real, super interesting ideas were explored with the world vs dream time and the writing was beautiful as it always is with le guin. highly recommend that story if you are a le guin fan

[Paul Kater · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The word for world is forest" is one of the books that is contained in the rumour that it influenced James Cameron to make his Avatar film. While I can see some similarities, there are not more in this book than there are in e.g. Fern Gulley, or Dances with Wolves (also contained in the rumour).

"The word for world is forest" introduces us to a planet with lots of forest, inhabited by a species of small creatures who call themselves the Ashthean, and who are related to humans. This species has a special way of interacting with their world, through dreams. Their peaceful life is disrupted when the humans arrive and see a lot of potential in this planet, being the trees. This is the start of an interesting number of events, where humans and Ashthean learn a lot.

[Gr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Ursula Le Guin and while I do not think this was one of her best, every year I try to read some books from the classics. Le Guin's writing is always eloquent and poetic.

While the story and the social norms and ethics are a bit dated when considering today's standards in the developed world, one can certainly draw parallels to human history. From the colonization of the new world to the settlement of the West, it is unfortunate that often the members of humanity that gravitate towards exploration fail to consider the impacts they are having.

This book was definitely ahead of its time, and I can see the influence that it had on the writing of the Avatar script and other works in the exploration SCIFI genre. Probably a 3.5-rounded down.

[Louise Hewett · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Eye of the Heron' is a breathtakingly beautiful novel infused with vision, and the tenderness that comes from wisdom as Le Guin shows us something about ourselves both devastating and hopeful.

[yana · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 stars for the eye of the heron, 4 stars for the word for world is forest.

some of the least subtle of her work i've read so far but no less effective, particularly so with the second story

[Luke Dylan Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A/A+

Video review: https://youtu.be/_D5gjZmb6w8

This book (The Word for World is Forest) and The Lathe of Heaven are my two favorite books by Le Guin, out of around 5-7 I have read so far.

This book is fairly obviously a commentary on and an allegory concerning the Vietnam War. The creechies are the Vietnamese natives: they are decentralized, engage in guerrilla warfare, and did nothing to bring all this violence down upon them. Selver could be viewed as a Ho Chi Minh type guy.

Davidson is a stand in for the US military industrial complex: an overly confident misogynist and misanthrope who thinks his every intuition is correct. Davidson is also as xenophobic as a modern republican.

Lyubov seems representative of the protest movement: he sees the humanity of the natives and is interested in exploring their culture.

The book does feature a fair amount of sexual assault and wanton violence. It seems like it is set shortly after the events of The Dispossessed, early on in the Hainish Cycle timeline.

The ending of the book is quite haunting and seems like a commentary on how violence and war are like Pandora’s box: you never know what will happen after you introduce those possibilities into a situation previously empty of them.

I would grade this book at A/A+.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

not the best of her stuff ive read but there is good material here and no regret in having read it. eye of heron being the more sophisticated work but word for world pretty satisfying in its way. both being in large part varieties of political disquisition revolving around questions of pacifism. well i am a bit of a pacifist so i enjoy these sorts of explorations.

it seems unfair that le guin should not have been recognised through some sort of lifetime achievement award for her sagas like a nobel which she would certainly deserve more than a likelier candidate say peter carey for example. but establishments are stubbornly idiotic about marginalising literatures they cant be fucked to engage with. and thats just life.