Very Far Away From Anywhere Else (2015) - Plot & Excerpts
Have you ever walked down an empty street at night and not be able to help noticing the bright lights inside of the warm houses? It's a cliche but people look sad, or happy, or anything else there is to feel. It's that feeling of knowing that people are feeling something and it's got nothing whatsoever to do with you. You're outside, alone, and no one notices you, or your freaking cute dog. Other times are the best. Listening to music on headphones and getting goosebumps from favorite songs. Everybody's souls are parallel and perpendicular. It's a tricky feeling to get a handle of. When it's enough, when it's not. There's possibilities in one and heartache in the other. I fear coming up against the wall. I'm afraid that all that's ever going to be with almost everyone I'll ever meet is the lamp post communication, the there's no one better to talk to communication blankness. (Ever have a conversation with a person who gets up the moment someone "better" comes around? Or constantly checks their cell phone? Depressing.) I dread the token "I see" response. I get so afraid of it that I stop talking altogether.This could have been that story for me. The parallel hard to always grow up story. Sadly, depressingly, it wasn't. I felt left out of Owen and Natalie's connection. It didn't really feel like a connection to me. The narrarator, Owen, is a big part of the problem, from where I'm sitting (alone. By choice!). He's theoretical boy. You know how annoying it was when Winona Ryder announced an attempted alcoholism problem to give weight to her art? Owen does that but with forced girl trouble and his art is coming of age. I think I kinda hated him when he bursts into his parent's house screaming, "I'm an intellectual!" Not even the nonstop whining that they *gasp* had the gall to buy him a car, when he'd rather the money be spent on something else he wanted. Geez Louise. Too much ass patting for my tastes. I didn't like his generic world-view. Take any bad teen movie with a "These are the jocks. These are the preppy kids..." and you have his observations, pretty much. The point of this story was being known, about finding that anchor in another person that you can be stupid or smart with. Yeah? Then why did I never know him? He labeled himself. Maybe it's me. I've never felt like "poor me" smart kid who is unappreciated by the unwashed masses. I just felt alone. Get through today and don't live for a dinner party dream. I didn't become a well adjusted person on a birth date. Wasn't he just using Natalie as a token teen experience of the girl who got away? It wasn't ever about her. He doesn't see her. He doesn't even dream inside himself. It's to say he has one. That's the worst thing of all.My favorite part is when Natalie says "Yeah" in a real way that isn't a token "I see" way. That was the time I felt that Le guin knew what it was to really want that something realer connection. I don't know. For these kinds of stories I feel too seperate because it's not something I decided to be. Owen decides to be in love, he decides to be awkward with Natalie. I felt bad for the girl. I can't understand a girl who can't be silly without Owen, but I felt bad for her. She wanted a friend to talk to and he craps out for no good reason. I didn't buy the "These things happen" world-view. I don't wanna stare in the window and feel an aching loss I can't put a finger on. This is something you DO get to decide. It's okay to want things, right?Dammit, Le guin.
In many cases, the term "Young Adult" can serve as a warning label--"ATTENTION: This Book is Simplistic and Didactic. May cause irritation."Very Far Away From Anywhere Else seemed, at first glance, very much in that mold. But as I read further, I realized two things. First, the simplicity is somewhat deceptive. While it is almost entirely written in simple declarative sentences and filled with very basic observations, the structure becomes more complicated as it progresses. Seemingly banal plot points start to tie together, and by the end the work as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that's a good structure for a Young Adult novel to have. Young young adults get a simple story, older Young adults get something more. So then I thought maybe the problem was that I'm not a Young Adult. One could easily retitle this book "Teenage Angst: Theory and Practice". Frequently, my response was something along the lines of 'tell me something I don't know'. I read Catcher in the Rye (et al) a long time ago. I remember, very distinctly, what being a teenager was like. But of course, I had forgotten one thing: teenagers don't know what being a teenager is like. When you're that age, the experiences you later realize are ubiquitous and cliche are all new and fresh cut. The callouses, the scar tissue, haven't formed yet. They've happened to thousands of people before you and will happen to thousands more, but, very importantly, you don't realize that yet. The particular pain of that time of life is, in effect, the realization, the first awareness, of the pain itself. I had forgotten, and this book reminded me. So that's the second thing.I wish I had read this book when I was younger. I would probably have remembered it fondly. But for now, I would only recommend it Young Adults, to those who remember what it was like to be a Young Adult, or those who feel the need to be reminded.
What do You think about Very Far Away From Anywhere Else (2015)?
Very Far Away From Anywhere Else is written by Ursula K. LeGuin, best known for her fantasy/sci-fi books.But she also writes other material, and this slight novel (a bare 87 pages, more of a novella) is really good. I first read it in 1981, 27 years ago. But time has not diminished this story of a young man who feels different that other high schoolers, and feels quite alone. He finds a friend in a headstrong young woman...someone he really feels himself with. But by his actions, he messes up that important, life-changing friendship.It is a work that really catches that feeling in high school of no one quite understanding you. Of feeling alien. It evokes a time in life before you have truly found yourself, and feel a bit lost. And of a moment, when you begin to see who you are, or at least who you can be.Really nicely written, without being overdone. The first person narrative is not whiny, but stays on an even keel, and is more evocative because of that.
—Andrew
Excellent and honest portrayal of being a teenager. This rang very true to me and my memories of that time in my life. I remember feeling so serious about everything, yet able to be completely goofy; worried about the future but so excited and ready for it I couldn't contain myself; in love with the idea of being in love but not ready for it yet; feeling so close to people yet so alone. it wasn't a prefect book (the end felt slightly off for me, just with how distant the narrator becomes) but it was so honest and realistic that I could overlook that.
—Susan
Esta é a história de um jovem norte-americano durante um dos períodos mais conturbados da sua adolescência. Narrada pela personagem principal, ela marca o leitor pelo cunho emocional, relembrando-nos uma época em que todas as decisões aparentam ser definitivas e em que todas as emoções nos abalam profundamente.Owen é o típico jovem mas não é o típico adolescente americano, relutante em aceitar as imposições sociais dos colegas e da família, ele deseja perseguir uma formação num dos melhores institutos tecnológicos do país (MIT). Atormentado pelos problemas típicos da juventude, uma família que não o compreende, poucos amigos e uma rotina dominada pela sua personalidade introvertida, Owen descobre a sua primeira amizade significante onde menos esperara. Natalie, uma rapariga para quem a música significa tudo, torna-se na sua melhor amiga. São as consequências dessa amizade que despoletam o amadurecimento pessoal de Owen e é esta história que nos permite reflectir de forma um pouco melancólica sobre as consequências de actos e vontades, num período que é por inerência evolutiva o mais conturbado da existência humana.Numa época da tomada de decisões académicas e de vida, confrontamo-nos com a escolha de Owen, entre aquilo que quer ser e aquilo que a sociedade espera que ele seja, assim como com a previsibilidade e facilidade que algumas dessas escolhas implicam. Mais uma vez Le Guin guia-nos, de forma inteligente, pelos significados da vida humana e pelos efeitos da vivência em comunidade. Mais uma vez comprovo que determinadas leituras são aproveitadas de formas diferentes em épocas de vida distintas. E, mais uma vez, agradeço não permanecer agarrada a preconceitos pois poderia ter recusado a leitura de um livro que é uma pequena pérola.Ler original aqui:http://sarinhafarinha.wordpress.com/2...
—Sara Farinha
