Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. Wondrous gifts: the ability--with a glance, a gesture, a word--to summon animals, bring forth fire, move the land. Fearsome gifts: They can twist a limb, chain a mind, inflict a wasting illness. The Uplanders live in constant fear that one family might unleash its gift against another. Two young people, friends since childhood, decide not to use their gifts. One, a girl, refuses to bring animals to their death in the hunt. The other, a boy, wears a blindfold lest his eyes and his anger kill. In this beautifully crafted story, Ursula K. Le Guin writes of the proud cruelty of power, of how hard it is to grow up, and of how much harder still it is to find, in the world's darkness, gifts of light.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
you just can`t stop reading:
when you just get the book in your hand you will not put it down till you finish reading it..
Gifted Writer:
Ursula K. Le Guin brings us another beautiful story with characters we learn to care about and situations that are true to life though contained in a fantasy land. And though I hated to close this book, I was heartened that we get to see Orrec and Gry grown up in another story (VOICES). Le Guin's prose warms like a seat by the hearth.
Usually I love an Ursula Le Guin Novel . . .:
Usually I love an Ursula Le Guin novel, but I just couldn't get into Gifts. The writing is beautiful, as we expect from Le Guin (therefore 4 stars), but I found this novel too dull for me. Most of the story is told by Orrec as it happened in the past (a technique I just couldn't appreciate), and he relates several stories that his mother told him. Orrec and his best friend Gry live in a culture where magical gifts are used for destructive purposes and they are pressured by their parents to develop... more info
Stunning. LeGuin is a master.:
Once past the initial pages full of unfamiliar place names I was drawn, nay enveloped, into the story. Orrec's tale is told simply but with great heart and a lovely hand for the nuances of relationships. The characters are all vivid, interesting and complex. Each of them has difficult issues and choices to deal with. The close relationship between the uplanders and their animals is handled beautifully.
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