Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, by Ursula K. Le Guin

[rivenwanderer]

Very Far Away from Anywhere Else is the book that got me through high school. It's by Ursula Le Guin, who's well-known for her feminist sci-fi/fantasy work, but this coming-of-age YA book--novella, really--tends to slip through the cracks. It's about a nerdy, intellectual high-schooler struggling to find direction, and the friendship he develops with a quiet musician.

It's hard to overstate the impact that this book had on my inner development in my teens. Suddenly I had a data point for what might go on inside the head of another nerd. The fumbling-around that one does when trying to connect with other humans--really connect, with heart and mind and barely-understood social skills--became slightly less uncharted territory for me. The second-guessing over opposite-gender friendships, half driven by hormones and half by the pervasive cultural assumption that "man + woman = sex" was especially familiar and relieving to read about.

Has anyone else out there read this book?

Comments

[shanaqui]

Hmm, this book isn't on my wishlist, but it's by Ursula Le Guin, so that kind of puts it there by default. I haven't read it -- yet!