The Beginning Place

The Beginning Place Ursula K. LeGuin 7.5/10

I enjoyed this short, simple novel. Somewhere in between fantasy and science fiction, The Beginning Place is a story of growth. It has no pretenses of greatness or extraordinary originality – the tale seems familiar, like I’ve heard it many times before with different variations. What I particular like about this is the type of development that takes place. I’m tempted to call it a “coming of age” story, but I think that title is reserved for youths making their initial forays into young adulthood. The characters that develop in this story are well into their young adulthood – finished with school and living lives that could, potentially, go on forever the way they are going now. The male lead, Hugh, lives with his clingy and overcritical single mother, unhappy but trapped by his love for his mother. The female lead, Irena, is similarly locked in a living situation – she protects her mother and siblings from an abusive father. They’re both waiting for the right situation to begin chasing their own dreams, to begin living their own life.

The majority of the story takes place in a sort of alternate reality – a world separate from ours and accessible only to Hugh and Irena. They both escape to the alternate world for solace and peace from lives they don’t enjoy so much in the real world. Well, I’m not going to give an entire plot summary, but it’s an enjoyable story that’s worth a read if you come across the book.

Light of Other Days

The Light of Other Days Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter 7/10

Two Critically acclaimed sci-fi authors (Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter) cooperated to write this book. I actually picked it up on accident, intending to read a well-known short story of the same name (about something called slow-glass). I don't regret making the mistake though.

Light of Other Days is an excellent sci-fi book. It's been a while since I last read a purely fictional book, and it was a welcome escape. Well, except for the fairly depressing undertones of the book. The near future (2050, or so) is not quite a dystopia, but it's a depressing place to live. Humanity has come to terms with the fact that a moon sized asteroid is headed towards the earth, due to hit in approximately 500 years. Science sees no foreseeable method of averting what will essentially be the extinction of humanity. The effects on culture as a whole are interesting but not overdramatic - just an increased melancholy with the idea that there's no real need to attempt to progress as a race given the impending extinction.

The title of the book comes from an unrelated scientific development. A purely capitalistic (but somewhat evil) entrepreneur develops a sort of super camera - a device that can look anywhere. To put it simply, he develops a screen that allows for real time surveillance of anywhere on earth. The book is partially about the changes to society that result from what is essentially a complete lack of privacy...political changes (politicians simply can't be corrupt, no one can hide anything) and personal changes.

It's a medium length book, and if you're a fan of the genre I recommend it.

Spoiler (highlight to see)

The book ends on an interesting note. Technological developments from the WormCam (the name of the device that allows you to watch anything) expand to allow us to watch the past (and therefore debunk a number of historical and religious myths). Anyway, the epilogue proposes what I thought to be an interesting idea...if all we humans are is our body, then eternal life is certainly possible. If everything that makes us who we are is physical, then the technology could potentially exist to recreate us exactly as is. The book ends with the main character being woken up some 150 years later, and finds out humanity has started a quest to right it's wrongs...by bringing every human being back to life. Interesting idea.