LeGuin

[vaneramos]

Two quotes from The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula K. LeGuin:

The Earth is beautiful, and bright, and kindly, but that is not all. The Earth is also terrible, and dark, and cruel. The rabbit shrieks dying in the green meadows. The mountains clench their great hands full of hidden fire. There are sharks in the sea; and there is cruelty in men's eyes. And where men worship these things and abase themselves before them, there evil breeds.

Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upwards towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.

Comments

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

The austere religious order and the labyrinth create a dark and brooding atmosphere. I didn't find the book depressing though. The writing style is more personal. I appreciated how Tenar/Ahra had difficulty facing her freedom after she left the Place of the Tombs. It reminded me of my own emotional and spiritual journey since coming out of the closet and abandoning fundamentalist Christianity. LeGuin avoided simplistic idealism.