Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences, Ursula Le Guin
I imagine most of these stories are collected somewhere else by now, but I was also interested in this book for the introductions to each story, which may not be collected elsewhere. It’s interesting to see what Le Guin feels the stories are about, what she thinks is important to know. For example, with ‘The Wife’s Tale’, she apparently warns audiences that it is not a werewolf story at the beginning. But I thought that mistake was kind of the point? That flip-flop moment of, oh. I got it wrong. I assumed.
I’d read most of the stories before, but the poems were new. Ursula Le Guin always has a beautiful clarity about her writing, capturing mannerisms and small moments, crystallising it… and sometimes her plots feel too clever for me, but most of these are pretty accessible, and the introductions helped.
Rating: 4/5
This is one of my favorite of her collections. I have a beat up paperback copy kicking around somewhere. I think it’s stronger as a grouping than the individual stories are alone. Not that they are not strong stories but somehow they add up to more together. Also the old cougar now lives in the back of my head.
Mine looks fairly beat-up too, since I found it in a second hand store in Calgary! And they do make a good collection. They contextualise each other.