Review: Very Far Away from Anywhere Else by Ursula Le Guin
Very Far Away from Anywhere Else by Ursula K. Le Guin
Recommended.
I stumbled across Ursula Le Guin’s 1976 realistic young adult novel Very Far Away from Anywhere Else while searching for cheap ebooks. Amidst a sea of self-pubbed young adult paranormal, this quiet title stood out—and stood out even more because I’d never heard of it. I’m a fan of Le Guin, as both a writer and a human being, but I never knew that she dabbled in realist YA.
But dabble she did, and Very Far Away . . . , while more a novella than a novel-proper by modern YA standards, is an insightful, painful, and spot-on look at growing up smart in the suburbs. Our narrator is Owen, a lonely senior in high school who dreams of heading off to MIT. But those dreams are nearly derailed by his friendship and subsequent romance with a girl named Natalie, a talented, driven, and career-minded musician.
It’s a bit difficult to talk about the plot here, because, in a way, there isn’t one: this is simply Owen’s account of his last year in high school, stretching from his birthday (when, to his horror, his father buys him a car he doesn’t want) to his departure from his hometown. The narration here isn’t a standard one. Instead, Le Guin utilizes a frame story where Owen is speaking straight into a tape recorder. This means that large chunks of time are glossed over, and many events (including conversations I might have liked to see up-close) are repeated via breezy summary.
All that’s fine, though, because there are really two reasons to read Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, and neither of them are plot-related.
The first is because of the voice. Le Guin does an effective job of capturing the voice a sensitive, intelligent, but still clearly male character. Owen is undoubtedly adolescent (such as when he recounts his decision to fall in love with Natalie), but also empathetic and astute. Even when he’s subtly contrasting the life of Natalie—a girl driven to succeed in a male-dominated field no matter the cost—with the traditional, family-oriented life of his mother, it’s easy to forget that he’s being written by a woman, and, worse, written by such a well-known one. Owen isn’t Ursula; Owen is Owen, and he seems to come to us fully-realized, born in armor out of the head of a god, so to speak.
The second reason to read Very Far Away from Anywhere Else is because of the details. Owen and Natalie live in a sharply-rendered California suburb, a world of foggy beaches and torrential downpours. They discuss their dreams in Natalie’s sparsely decorated, echoing upper-class home, and, though the story takes place in a time contemporary with its writing, Owen’s quest for college financial aid and the off-hand mentions of college applications still ring very true today.
But my favorite detail was that of Thorn, a paracosm that Owen developed as a child and shares with Natalie. This is as close as Le Guin gets to genre writing here, but it’s never indulgent. In fact, Owen recounts his imaginary world with more than a little sheepishness. He knows he’s sharing something that makes him vulnerable, different—but Natalie’s sensitive reaction reveals how strong their connection really is.
This is a slim book, one which would otherwise be a nice palette cleanser between weightier reads if it weren’t for the fact that it has a very melancholy tone itself. Still, it’s a worthwhile endeavor. Though it was written a long time ago, I suspect it will still ring true for modern teens, particularly those who have never felt quite at home in their home towns.
Phoebe
Phoebe is a 20-something writer who lives in New York State with her husband and cat. She is a dork, not a geek or a nerd.
Her debut novel, Starglass, will be released from Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers in Summer 2013.
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