Very Far Away from Anywhere Else

Ursula K. Le Guin

Oct 2004 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

A slender, realistic story of a young man's coming of age, Very Far Away from Anywhere Else is one of the most inspiring novels Ursula K. Le Guin ever published.

Owen is seventeen and smart. He knows what he wants to do with his life. But then he meets Natalie and he realizes he doesn't know anything much at all.

“Like all Le Guin’s work, Very Far Away from Anywhere Else is about the invisible structures of society and about the challenge to live honestly. On a Sunday years ago I was lucky to encounter a book that could show me the breadth our lives have—that the discovery of what leads us on is better than the goal of perfection.” —Emily Schultz, Bustle

“An engaging, well written novel.” —New York Times

Ratings and reviews

This book never grabbed me, and proceeded on seemingly without caring whether the reader was involved. The story is about an 18 year old boy named Owen living in Oregon (I think), basically telling the story of his last year in high school. The whole book has a depressed feel to it, as if there is nothing to aspire to in life. Soon after getting a new fancy car (which inevitably he doesn't want), Owen meets a girl named Natalie, who "changes his life." Owen seems to like her as a friend, but wants something more, then doesn't. It goes on like this throughout. I have a feeling LeGuin is a good writer who is capable of illustrating a good story, but this one just never caught on. It's a bit outdated as well (for example, Owen's fancy car only costs 3,000 dollars), and I personally couldn't relate to it. The ending was a bit unclear and a bit sad, but I never really felt attached to the characters anyway, so I just put it down. Overall, a fair effort, but a bit of a flop.

About the author

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (1929-2018) was a celebrated author whose body of work includes twenty-three novels, twelve volumes of short stories, eleven volumes of poetry, thirteen children’s books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. The breadth and imagination of her work earned her six Nebula Awards, seven Hugo Awards, and SFWA’s Grand Master, along with the PEN/Malamud and many other awards. In 2014 she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 she joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.