Always Coming Home

A Novel

By: Ursula K. Le Guin

Narrated by: Yareli Arizmendi, Isabella Star LeBlanc

Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

“One of [Le Guin's] most radical novels. . . . A study in what a complete and utter rejection of capitalism and patriarchy might look like—for society and for the art of storytelling."—The Millions

Reissued for a new generation of readers, Always Coming Home is Ursula K. Le Guin’s magnificent work of imagination, a visionary, genre-crossing story about a future utopian community on the Northern California coast, hailed as “masterly” (Newsweek), “hypnotic” (People) and “[her] most consistently lyric and luminous book” (New York Times). This new edition features an introduction by Shruti Swamy, author of A House is a Body, as well as illuminating extra material that includes interviews and liner notes to the book's musical soundtrack.

Midway through her career, Le Guin embarked on one of her most detailed, impressive literary projects, a novel that took more than five years to complete. Blending story and fable, poetry, artwork, and song, Always Coming Home is this legendary writer’s fictional ethnography of the Kesh, a people of the far future living in a post-apocalyptic Napa Valley.

Having survived ecological catastrophe brought on by relentless industrialization, the Kesh are a peaceful people who reject governance and the constriction of genders, limit population growth to prevent overcrowding and preserve resources, and maintain a healthy community in which everyone works to contribute to its well-being. This richly imagined story unfolds through a series of narrated “translations” that illuminate individual lives, including a woman named Stone Telling, who travels beyond the Valley and comes to reside with another tribe, the patriarchal Condor people. With sharp poignancy, Le Guin explores the complexities of the Kesh’s unified society and presents to us—in exquisite detail—their lives, histories, adventures, customs, language, and art.

In addition to poems and folk tales, Le Guin created verse dramas, records of oral performances, recipes, and even an alphabet and glossary of the Kesh language. The novel is illustrated throughout with drawings by artist Margaret Chodos and includes a musical component—original recordings of Kesh songs that Le Guin collaborated on with composer Todd Barton—bringing this utterly original and compelling world to life.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Anyone who would give this a bad score is boring

It’s beautiful, dense, re-readable. I’m not sure if I would recommend the audiobook. There’s so much here. I will be getting a physical copy in the future so I can appreciate the entirety of what Le Guin is saying.

Loved it!!!

If you feel depressed about the future, here is a source of optimism!! This book shows us the kind of people we could become, if we want to!

Unlike anything else, life changing

Expertly performed, a triumph of world building. Be sure to listen to the accompanying original folk music, maybe before you start the 'novel'

Pastoral utopia that is boring

Ursula K Le Guin’s Always Coming Home is less a story and more an anthropological exploration of some future utopia. The overall story structure is a bit awkward with various renditions of folktales interspersed with professional anthropological discussion and commentary, along with one split auto-biography of one woman who has lived in what is presented as the two dominant cultures of the region. The book ends with musical renditions and songs in this futuristic language. The two dominant cultures consist of a matriarchal, pastoral society with a local patriarchal war-like society. While there is some degree of industry, even computers, only warfare and country lifestyles get attention.

Le Guin’s utopia suffers from faulty world building. The basis of some apocalypse in the past to create this world is never presented. Furthermore, the anthropologist is contemporary citing place names which would suggest some continuity with our current timeline, but this seems unknown in these peoples. The pastoral utopia seems a mash-up of Native American themes with an Amish orientation. For sustainable pastoral utopias, there is one major requirement which is homogeneity. Everyone must think alike in order to buy into all the unstated mores and practices. In addition, there is one major consequence and that is the abolition of any progress. The war-like group was a caricature. It was never clear who they were ever warring against or what their ultimate goals included. At the same time, if there were another culture (from which the anthropologist was derived), it’s unclear why they allow this situation to persist. Utopias are hard to pull off.

The narration is reasonable, although the last bits are consumed by funeral dirges with chantings.

A favorite Ursula K. Le Guin

Le Guin is usually unusual and this is unusual.
WARNING: This book is not for everyone – it has little to no action or plot.
If you don’t get it, you will be bored out of your mind.

It is kind of speculative archaeology. It is largely about language, place, and people.
These are myths, songs, and stories told by the distant decedents of Californian survivors of some apocalyptic global catastrophe.
Le Guin is almost always good, and often great.
I consider this one of her greatest works.

The narration is excellent.

Best enjoyed with the visuals or in book form

I don't think the audio format does justice to this impressive anthropological fiction. It has enjoyable short stories and anecdotal glimpses into an imagined society's customs. The printed book has many illustrations, maps, glossaries, and music sheets that are made externally available for this audio version. However, the visuals are important to fully grasping the story portions, and defeats much of the point to opting for an audio format if you're needing to routinely refer to visuals.