Changing Planes
by Ursula K. LeGuin
List Price:
Our Price: $4.15
You Save: $3.84 (48%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ursula K. LeGuinEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-07-26
ISBN: 0441012248
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Ace
Book Reviews of Changing Planes
Book Review: Anthropological Sci-Fi
Summary: 4 Stars
3.5 stars, round to 4
I don't agree with the dystopia tag that someone has given this book. It is the same situation as for Watership Down. The book describes many different societies, and a few of them are dystopian. So it does have dystopian elements, but the book overall is not a dystopian genré novel since most of the societies are not dystopian.
It is a collection of short science fiction stories, all by the same author. They are tied loosely together by a scenario in which someone has discovered that while waiting in airports to catch a connecting flight, people can travel to other worlds by "changing planes," i.e., by visiting other dimensions. Get it? Since the traveler is already "between planes," it is much easier to "change planes." This part of the novel is humor and satire. Some of the requirements needed for interplanetary travel are: indigestion (from bad airplane food), boredom, and tension (about catching your connection.) Very clever!
Most of the stories themselves, however, are serious. Each story describes the culture of a different plane of the universe. It's like reading a beginner anthropology textbook for other worlds. There is virtually no plot or character development at all. So there isn't any thrilling action or characters in whom the reader will become very emotionally invested. It makes for somewhat dry reading.
But I've always enjoyed anthropology, so I found it interesting. The alien civilizations allow for infinite possibilities - it must have been a hoot to write these stories! Ms. Le Guin is very creative, and there is much variety in the different beings and especially in their cultures. Although most of these stories were written in the 2000's - and none before the late 1990's - they have the feel of classic sci-fi from the 1950's - 1970's.
My favorite story was the bittersweet "The Fliers of Gy." A humorous one is "Great Joy" - Cousin Sulie cracks me up - don't we all know someone just like her?
Also included are whimsical, stylized - almost cartoonish - black and white drawings by Eric Beddows.
Changing Planes isn't Ursula Le Guin's best work. It doesn't even approach the quality of some of her other writing, with its extensive character and plot development. (The Beginning Place and Very Far Away From Anywhere Else, both Young Adult novels, immediately come to mind as examples of how moving and wise Le Guin can be; and she is probably best known for The Wizard of Earthsea series.)
But it is a quick read, and not a bad way to spend a few hours.
(246 pages)
Quotes from Changing Planes:
"[The words celibate or chaste] imply a forced or willed resistance to desire. Where there is no desire there is no resistance, no abstinence, but rather what one might call, in a radical sense of the word, innocence."
"By nothing I do can I attain a goal beyond my reach." - King Yudhishthira, quoted in Changing Planes
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Killing Groundby JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowningby Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancyby Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princessby Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Saharaby Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.76
Price in other shops:
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towersby J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Marsby Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Four Ways to Forgiveness: Storiesby Ursula K. Le Guin
Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-12-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.89
Price in other shops:
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (Penguin Classics)by Matsuo Basho
Penguin Classics; Published: 1967-02-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.59
Price in other shops:
The Innocents Abroad: or, The New Pilgrims' Progress (Modern Library Classics)by Mark Twain
Modern Library; Published: 2003-02-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
The Art of Travelby Alain De Botton
Vintage; Published: 2004-05-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Homeby Pico Iyer
Vintage; Published: 2001-03-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.90
Price in other shops:
Anatomy of Restlessness: Selected Writings 1969-1989by Bruce Chatwin
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1997-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Ciao, America!: An Italian Discovers the U.S.by Beppe Severgnini
Broadway; Published: 2003-05-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.82
Price in other shops:
The Vinland Sagas (Penguin Classics)Penguin Classics; Published: 2008-07-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.45
Price in other shops:
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town Americaby Bill Bryson
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 1990-08-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.82
Price in other shops:
The Tellingby Ursula K. LeGuin
Ace; Published: 2003-07-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.93
Price in other shops: