Always Coming Home
by Ursula K. Le Guin · first published 1985
43% recommend50% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Rich, creative, and humane post-apocalyptic novel set among a future Bay Area tribe, told through anthropological reports and varied voices. Its worldbuilding places it among Le Guin's finest.
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I enjoyed The Left Hand of Darkness and Earthsea, but my favourite of her works is Always Coming Home [1]. Such a rich and varied and humane book. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Always_Coming_Home
on “Curating a Show on My Ineffable Mother, Ursula K. Le Guin” ↗One of the greats. Always Coming Home is one of my all-time favorites of hers. Required reading if you’re in California.
on “Ursula Le Guin has died” ↗Through childhood association, my favourite is the first three Earthsea books, but probably her greatest writing is in her post-apocalyptic semi-utopia Always Coming Home, and maybe her most moving writing is in the 'story suite' Five Ways to Forgiveness (originally Four Ways...) on societies dealing with racism and slavery. Needless to say, her short stories are marvellous…
on “‘The Left Hand of Darkness' at Fifty” ↗If you want to get a sense of her mature utopian and anthropological thinking, then read "Always Coming Home". It's not a conventional novel but more of a series of observations on a post-apocalyptic society in California. The framing device is of an anthropological investigator from another time/place interviewing…
on “Ursula Le Guin’s Writing Was Shaped by Anthropology (2018)” ↗Another really beautiful book of hers is Always Coming Home. Check it out sometime!
on “Ursula Le Guin Books” ↗…at least, really understands and likes people. Perhaps that relates to her deep knowledge of anthropology, mentioned by others. She also deeply respected indigenous cultures. The two are combined in "Always Coming Home". And if you want a fascinating, multi-perspectival take on racism and slavery, the "story suite" "Five Ways to Forgiveness" is masterful. And of course, the "Earthsea" novels are incredible, and have…
on “Ursula Le Guin Books” ↗I want to plug one of her lesser known books, Always Coming Home. It's set among a tribe of people living in the Bay Area way, way after some apocalypse has erased the memory of our civilization. Much of the book is reports from an anthropologist studying the people.…
on “Reading more Ursula Le Guin (2019)” ↗I love Always Coming Home so much. It's so rich and creative. For a shorter story (~50 pages), I'd highly recommend Paradises Lost by her. Many people have written stories about generation ships, but this one is absolutely stunning…
on “Reading more Ursula Le Guin (2019)” ↗See Ursula K. Le Guin's "Always Coming Home": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Always_Coming_Home
on “Transistors are civilization’s invisible infrastructure” ↗Remember "always coming home"? the book by Ursula Le Guin, describing a far future matriarchal Native American society near the flooded Bay Area. There was a computer network called TOK that the communities of earth used to communicate…
on “Moltbook” ↗I found the later books rather boring - she grew away from me. The book where we departed company, I think, was Always Coming Home.
on “Ursula Le Guin Books” ↗Yeah that's a big part of her thing right. She was raised by anthropologists I think? It's very present in a lot of her books and Always Coming Home is like 1/3 straight fictional ethnography.
on “Ursula Le Guin Books” ↗“Always Coming Home” is unique and powerful. I struggled with it many years ago, and could not quite tell if I liked it. All the chants and digressions bothered me and I don’t really remember much of the story. What I do…
on “Ursula Le Guin has died” ↗…Wizard of Earthsea which I feel really works well with an audio format - it feels more like a listening of the Odyssey in its epic style - and that was much better listened to than read. I'm curious how Always Coming Home will be (I read it long ago - enjoyed it then... but I know I skimmed over a lot trying to find the best parts). I throughly enjoyed listening to The Interdependency series by John Scalzi in part because…
on “Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?” ↗…about. A thread running through all of her books is a deep human interest in the ways of peoples, and how their stories about themselves shape who they are and their relationship to a changing world. Always Coming Home is the book of her that is most, almost exclusively, focused on these concerns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi_in_Two_Worlds
on “Reading more Ursula Le Guin (2019)” ↗