Ursula K. Leguin's - Always coming home

Good morning! It's another early morning before we open, so let's get moving. You might see some of our cleaning folks in the background -- don't worry about them! So ... today, I was thinking about what to review. I've been reading a bunch! And I came up with one; remember my review of "Left Hand of Darkness," a few months ago? It was written by Ursula K. LeGuin, who wrote another very similar book, called "Always Coming Home." The story's set in a future society; this is really, really far in the future, by the way. It takes place in Northern California, so far off that they don't even remember the apocalypse that destroyed our civilization. There are some stories left, and there's obviously a bunch of technology still lying around. They have a computer network that's spread all around the Solar System, plus trains, electricity, and a bunch of other stuff. But for the most part they tend to focus on the natural world and live very simply and sustainably. And the story's about the Kesh, a culture that lives in a valley of seven interrelated towns. It talks about their social structure, and includes poems, short stories, myths, legends, and a lot of essays about their culture in general. It's really fascinating, and based on the concept of a hinged spiral. It's truly interesting to see how they've established themselves; their towns are built based on the hinged spiral, which separates two main areas according to function. They have different groups based on their occupations; some might focus on hunting, and others on woodworking and carpentry. They all work together and it's really interesting to see how their culture is set up. And at different intervals of weeks, months, or years, the whole town turns out for specific dances. Some might say farewell to the dead, while others welcome spring, with very specific steps and roles for each group. And specific roles for each gender; some might be switched around according to need. It's really a bunch of cultural analysis and poetry and stuff. It's really neat! There's also a story following a woman named Stone Telling. Her father's from another society far to their north. That society's much more focused on machines, technological advancement, and aggressive expansion. They're very warlike. As she grows up, those people start undertaking incursions into the Valley of the Kesh, which they don't take very well and actively resist. When she gets a little older, she finally joins her father in the society he was born in for a few years. She doesn't like most of what she sees. It's very oppressive for women; men can have multiple wives, lock them up, and forget about them until it's time to have fun. It's ... just really not that great in general, so she escapes and returns to the Valley. The joy doesn't last long, because now the military is on the march toward the Valley; the Kesh are peaceful and harmonious by nature. But some of their men begin arguing that the oncoming army is dangerous and they will have to go to battle. The older Kesh counsel patience and adopt a wait-and-see approach. They turn out to be right in very interesting ways. Really some very interesting lessons in there for our society today. It has a lot to say about sustainability, moderation, and just plain getting along. I appreciated that, and thought this was a really good book. I definitely recommend it. It's just important to be patient, because it switches back and forth between different types of materials. You'll be reading along in a story and get interrupted by a poem, a song, other short stories, and a long while later return to the story you were reading. And most of the materials are fairly unrelated to each other except in that they're from the same culture. So it can take a while. Definitely recommended, though!