Book Details
“Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea” by Ursula K. Le Guin | The Time Traveler’s Almanac collection
Editors: Ann VanderMeer, Jeff VanderMeer
Total Pages in the collection: 960
Published: March 18, 2014 by Tor Books
My Review
Whew! This was another toughie for me. Ursula K. Le Guin’s story introduces itself to us as a report, being narrated in the first person by Hideo. It appears that he lives in a time of travel between planets and different kinds of technology with even a bit of mysticism thrown in.
Although Hideo is giving a recount, he says he will do so in the form of story, because it fits with the concept of time or time travel. What I think bungled most of the story for me is that it took a long time to get to the actual time travel. Instead of inviting us into his home, Hideo halts the reader at the front door to discuss his family history, and the complicated marriage system of his people.
I was intrigued by the story of the fisherman in the beginning (sort of a story within the story), it had a fairy tale quality to it, but I found myself impatient to get to the point. When Hideo finally reveals how after 10 years of physics studies he discovered a means of time travel, it seemed almost uneventful. And since this is all still being told in first person narrative, I feel it’s imperative to make us (readers) grieve with you, fear with you, feel as if the blood pumping through your veins is our own. And I just didn’t feel that with Hideo.
What I did feel was that I was reading a mash-up of coming-of-age with a little bit of romance and a whole lot of history and tradition to wade through–with just a dash of time travel. You all know how I felt about last week’s Needle in a Time Stack. If I had to compare it to this one, I’d say I’d prefer Needle in a Time Stack.
My Rating:
2 out of 5
About The Time Traveler’s Almanac
The Time Traveler’s Almanac is the largest and most definitive collection of time travel stories ever assembled. Gathered into one volume by intrepid chrononauts and world-renowned anthologists Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, this book compiles more than a century’s worth of literary travels into the past and the future that will serve to reacquaint readers with beloved classics of the time travel genre and introduce them to thrilling contemporary innovations.
This marvelous volume includes nearly seventy journeys through time from authors such as Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, H. G. Wells, and Connie Willis, as well as helpful non-fiction articles original to this volume (such as Charles Yu’s “Top Ten Tips For Time Travelers”).
The Time Traveler’s Almanac Review Group
This review is part of an on-going review series. We’re trying to review a short story per week from The Time Traveler’s Almanac. Please join us and share your thoughts! My partners in crime on this reading adventure includes the following authors and bloggers. Check out their reviews as well:
Yep, it all started downhill with that unnecessary amount of family history and marriage explanations. It’s fine if you want to put that in, to give a little context, world-builiding, and some character development, but it simply went on way too long. What was the point of explaining all that is so much detail? It had no relevance to anything.
I did like the story that Hideo’s mother told him, but all the lessons and meaning from it were lost because of the everything that surrounded it. Then as you also said, it took too long to actually get to the time-travel part.
This had too many problems for me, and just wasn’t a pleasant read :/
I’m right there with you, DJ. I struggled with the same issues while reading.
I knew that many of you would not like it, but it was my favorite so far. I thought, by describing his beautiful life with his family, their stories, the expanse of what they wanted to become, she fostered a deep concern for Hideo’s choice: leaving or staying. And that’s really what it was about, rather than time travel. It was about what one gives up when they leave home. We get to see his life as if he got both and compare his happiness not to what it could have been but what it was. I loved that. Keep in mind that I am not one to balk at details and log explanations, and tend to be overly detailed in my first drafts. lol
HM, I appreciate your perspective on this! I mean, if I can read Robert Jordan (who liked to go into details, especially with clothing), then it would stand to reason that I would have more patience with this read. However, I think I didn’t have the patience with it because it felt like the entire first half of the story was a huge historical-social info dump, and I had to retain the information in hopes that it had a greater impact or relevance once the rest of the story unfolded. Since this is a short story, my expectation was that things would move along a little more quickly versus reading a novel or novella.
But I definitely see your point that the heart of this story is about choice, the choice to leave home vs. staying home, and how different our lives could end up by a single decision.