March Bookstudy - Lavinia

[ELMontague]

Hello, and welcome to the SF/F Book Study. This thread is for discussion of Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin.

***Spoilers*** will be streaking naked through this thread unpredictably. You have been warned.

Here are the previous book studies:

2008:
Ender's Game (August)
Lies of Locke Lamora (September)
A Deepness in the Sky (October)
A Fire in the Deep (November)
Storm Front (December)

2009:
I Am Legend (January)
The Onion Girl (February)
Lord of Light (March)
Small Gods (April)
Beggars in Spain (May)
The Once and Future King (June)
Foundation (July)
The Graveyard Book (August)
Neuromancer (September)
The Last Wish (October)
The Knife of Never Letting Go (November)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (December)

2010:
Battle Royale (January)
Jhereg (February)
Cyberabad Days (March)
Tigana (April)
Next (May)
Perdido Street Station (June/July)
Boneshaker (August)
His Majesty's Dragon (September)
Never Let Me Go (October)
The Child Thief (November)
Solaris (December)

2011:
Lirael (January)
Blindsight(February)

Thank you to Broken Fingers for starting the book study!

[ELMontague]

Bump.

I don't have moderator privileges on SFF forum. So I can't sticky or unsticky.

A little help?

[AyJay]

I read Lavinia about a year ago, so it's not entirely fresh in my head, but here are my initial impressions.

I thought there was a terrific sense of atmosphere and historical authenticity. It's the only book by Le Guin that I've read, since I'm not a SF buff. My WIP is retold legend from the same time period so I figured I should check it out.

I liked the MC Lavinia and thought she was well realized as a smart young woman with limited options within her fiercely patriarchal society. I remember enjoying the sense of spirituality/otherworldliness--the sacred spot in the woods where she laid with the lamb fleece for contemplation, the hooting owls, all really great stuff.

My criticisms were that it dragged a bit in parts--spans with not a lot of action--and a personal pet peeve, her suitor (forgetting his name right now) is hinted at and mocked as being homosexual. Maybe realistic for the time, but it annoys me, that cliché fallback that every SF/F villain has to have his sexuality called into question as though it's part of his moral failing.

Still, a great example of successful ancient historical fiction--or mythic fiction--I think, and I look forward to other people's takes.

[ELMontague]

I'm ten kinds of behind on this one, but the biggest issue is that I bought it in ebook form and can't get it to read on my Sony. It will pop on my laptop, but... ugh. I'll get it read and comments asap.

[AyJay]

Ok El Montague, looking forward to reading your thoughts.

[ELMontague]

Doh, did we lose the bookstudy in April. It's been a busy couple of months for me. I'll go look for it.

[Fenika]

We chose some short stories. I can still put them up, but I was hoping for more discussion of Lavinia. I haven't had a chance to read Lavinia, but one of these days... I'll bump the poll thread...

[AyJay]

I'm still checking in here from time to time to see if anyone wants to talk about the book. I also jumped into LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness recently. As I mentioned above, I'm not crazy about sci fi, but the themes--bisexuality and gender fluidity--pulled me in. Totally different style from Lavinia - in a blind test, I would never have guessed that it was the same writer.