mpmkennedy

could not finish

Revisado: 02-08-24

It sounded like fun and had some interesting world building creations but the plot dragged and I'm giving up after the first quarter of the book.

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Tedious

Revisado: 05-09-21

Jane Austen was a brilliant storyteller. The characters in Shades of Milk and Honey felt stiff and their conversations were dull. I wish the author would find a very gifted editor to help her rewrite her characters into "real" people with more Austen-like dialogue, depth, charm and humor rather than these cardboard puppets painfully limping through the plot.

I liked the author's creative use of magic. I would enjoy seeing what the author could do after a very challenging rewrite.

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"It Doesn't Have to Be the Way It Is"

Revisado: 08-06-18

This collection of blogs is bringing me pleasure. Le Guin considers something - in her first blog an alumni survey, and takes it apart demonstrating the absurdity of the questions and the assumption that the recipient will agree with the assumptions of each question. One question is "what will improve the quality of life for the future generation...." and gives a list to be rated, including capitalism, health-care quality, exporting democracy, reducing US debt, etc, and she points out some missing items: climate destabilization, international politics, industrial pollution, control of government by corporations, human rights and more.
Her answer to the last question - what to do with spare time is "I'm going to be 81 next week. I have no time to spare."

She finds lots of things to talk about and I can agree or disagree, but it will be worth thinking about her subjects. She covers aging, storytelling, ("so much non-fiction is awful hokum....we can learn so much truth from reading novels..."), swearing ("I remember when swearing, though tame by modern standards, was quite varied and often highly characteristic"), readers questions, sexism, society in general, Homer ("the two basic fantasy stories: the War and the Journey.") the cat, Pard, (I'm a cat person so I enjoyed these alot) and much more.

Le Guin reminds us that "it doesn't have to be the way it is" and I feel encouraged by her musings.

I also very much appreciated the reader who becomes the voice of Ursula K. Le Guin.

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

The story is dated

Revisado: 02-14-18

I read this years and remembered enjoying it. However times have changed and I have changed.

The general plot of the story was fine but it never added any complexity other than some circular introspection of "why oh why" by Gerald.

I was distressed about the casual statements indicating white race superiority when referring to native South Africans working in diamond mines. This was apartheid South Africa.
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I was also uncomfortable with the inconsistent character of Elizabeth. She was strong and had made her way in the theater and managed her life efficiently. That she wanted to marry a man she loved and have children leaving the stage behind may be an excellent choice but the desire to be taken care of and submit to a stronger wiser person rather than entering an equal relationship did not fit.

Geralds naivety and vasilation between despair and courage seemed over done. Sir Walter was strong and smart and wise. In general the characters in the story are described more than demonstrated and developed into seemingly believable people.

I was disappointed in the book and have returned it. It is a book written for different era -- and era with casual assumptions about colonialism, race, gender, and character that I believe have changed in some of us.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas