This is a hard book to summarize and it may prove maddening to people who prefer their stories to be more straightforward. There isn’t much to it; it’s a slim book that can be read in a matter of hours. But it manages to cram its different threads into one compact package.While the protagonists are decidedly adolescent in their behavior and outlook, the nature of their individual dilemmas brings this book very much into the adult arena. Hugh tiptoes around his obsessed, needy, vicious and contradictory mother. Irena is torn between saving her too-faithful mother from her abusive, drunken second husband and steering clear of her family before her stepdaddy gets his way and rapes her.These aren’t children suffering from mere boredom like Alice, Harvey Swick, Coraline Jones or even Pinocchio. But, like these literary counterparts, Hugh and Irena’s discontent brings them into a world of escape, a world of other humans who speak a different language, where time plods at a different pace and it’s always twilight but never day, night, dawn or sunset.Ms. Le Guin has captured the aura that is Tembreabrezi, a nebulous land as impenetrable and mysterious as the spectral not-day, not-night time that always hangs over it. In a few spare chapters, she shows the gradual shift from the supposed idyll that the humans think it to be to the sullen horror that lies at its center. There are double meanings throughout this book, shades and shifting that lie beneath the simplest phrases. Everything seems fraught and heavy with portent, discouraging Irena who struggles to understand and cannot and Hugh, who doesn’t even know that he should ask questions and wait for answers.“The Beginning Place” could have been deeply pretentious in its weighty ponderousness but manages to avoid that fate by the slimmest of margins. (It has an utter lack of humor but I’ve never found that to be Ms. Le Guin’s forté.) The people of Tembreabrezi remain ciphers but the book isn’t about them. They are friendly yet distant, kindly yet ruthless. They love Irena and worship Hugh but they are willing to send them into danger to protect themselves. Without it ever being said by them, they know that Hugh and Irena are outsiders and don’t belong.Thus, “The Beginning Place” is more and less than an adventure story. It’s a long journey, in which the travelling itself is far more important than the destination. In their seemingly bitter wanderings in which direction is meaningless, in a land without animals or insects or flowers, where water refreshes but doesn’t quench thirst, where there is nothing but the endless road, Hugh and Irena at last learn what they needed to all along. In saving Tembreabrezi they save themselves.
As a disclaimer, let me tell you that I’m not much of a science-fiction lover. Ursula K. Le Guin is the goddess of science-fiction, and being this the first book that I read from her, I was hoping that maybe she would convert me to the genre. Well, not yet.First let’s address what I did like about the book:-tThe writing. Usually, when I read something within the fantasy or science-fiction genre, the focus seems to be on the story and the writing usually is not as polished. But Le Guin does have, in fact, a pleasant way of writing. The descriptions are lovely and in the right amount, they bring believability to the entire scenario, which is a plus when reading something that doesn’t not have a correspondence with reality.-tThe characters. Well built and believable. Also, Irena is a strong and tough woman. The “damsel in distress” is something that really puts me off in a narrative, so having such a powerful character was a big thumbs up.Now, onto what I didn’t like:-tThe rhythm. Throughout the entire book there are major differences when it comes to the flow of the story. The first chapters are incredibly slow; it took me almost half the book to feel somehow connected to the story. And then, the pace picks up and everything seems to happen at once. Everything feels rushed. The climax of the story happens towards the end of the book, and then a snowball of events is concentrated in the last 2 or 3 chapters.-tThe romance. The romance in The Beginning Place isn’t believable at all. It seems so far-fetched. The characters seem to be developing some sort of platonic feelings towards the inhabitants of Tembreabrezi, and then, all of a sudden, those feelings vanish and they get enamoured with each other!-tThe translation. I didn’t read the book in English, and probably I would have enjoyed the book much more if I did. The translation in the version that I read what so poor that it made me mad. Some characters’ names were translated, some weren’t. And then, sometimes, I found some “creative expressions” that don’t even exist in the dictionary. Seriously…it’s a bad work from the translator and from the editor as well. Not good.
What do You think about The Beginning Place (2005)?
A coworker lent this to me, and it was... odd. The writing and characterization was beautiful, but the actual quest/plot and romance and gender roles all left me with a bland taste in the mouth. It felt like it had a lot more potential than it lived up to. That said, I was really glad I read it, because I hadn't read any LeGuin in years, and it inspired me to dig out a copy of The Left Hand of Darkness and reread that, which, let me tell you, blew my mind so hard I can't believe I've gone almost 20 years without rediscovering it.
—Megan E. McCarthy
Hugh is trapped in suburbia and a dead-end job by his mother's fear. Desperate for escape, he goes running one night and finds a gateway into an idyllically fresh world. The clean water and air, the lack of humans, makes him return to it again and again. But he's not the only one to have found the gate--years ago, Irena discovered the way through while escaping from her gruesome step-father. She feels betrayed that someone else has found her secret spot, but the villagers who live in this perpetually twilit Arcadia are excited--he's the one they've been waiting for.The roads to the village have been closed by an unamable fear. The villagers are slowly starving, and only Hugh the outsider can get through the roads. Irena demands to go with him, and the two set off together. On the one hand, this is a pleasingly realistic book. Hugh and Irena spend a lot of time getting lost in the woods, and their internal lives are perfectly described. On the other, not a lot happens, and what little happens is never explained. The story is a bit like Steinbeck's writing style crossed with Patricia McKillip at her most elliptical. This is my least favorite book by Le Guin. It's not bad, but it's not all that good, either.
—Wealhtheow
Uuhhh, I guess it was okay. There was a lot about it that rubbed me the wrong way. The ending in particular was absolutely crap. The characters I didn't connect with very much. I'm sure they're realistic, but they're realistic portrayals of bland people.There was potential in this. I was interested in the culture and everything about the other world. Unfortunately, a plot appeared and killed the enjoyment I might have had in exploring the world. That the themes were ultimately quite against the only interesting part of the book really annoyed me.You know - I might give this one star after all.
—Aik
