BOOK REVIEW: THE TOMB OF ATUAN

By: Honey Rey P. Baclig                  Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Introduction

This story was organized by A bantam books/published by arrangement with atheneum publishers.

Printing history: Atheneum edition and published in the month of September 1971, a shorter version of THE TOMB OF ATUAN appeared in the magazine WORLDS OF FANTASY, winter, 1970-71 published by UPD Publishing Corporation. Bantam edition/September 1975, 22 printings through August 1989.

Characterization

                Tenar was a 6 years old child and she was a beautiful and it seems like perfect so that her mother was keep on protecting her, the mother was unnamed she was only protecting her child. And the father was not mentioned in this story. Manan was the warden in Tenacbah and she was the priestess she was competing the monster and the one who was attempting to kill the monster and planning to burn the tomb of the monster were he monster was living, and Awabath was their God, it means the resurrection and the life.

Atuan was the monster and the most evil ogre in the place of Tenacbah, he eats children, thus for him its smells good and he smelled it specially the new born baby and that’s what he want to eat.

He was also known as the great terror and the killer. And his only weakness was the mushrooms

Plot

            Tenar was playing outside their house; their house was filled with mushrooms all around because that plant was the protection for them to the ogre. For a min while she was running and playing around their house then her mother didn’t watch her because she was busy. At that moment in the deep green fields of Tenacbah, near to the tomb of a monster, Tenar did not felt that she didn’t know that it has a monster her mother felt that Tenar was missing and gone and her mother was shocked. In Tenar’s side, after he ran she pause for a while and she hear something big and giant that almost fell her in her position, she was nervous at that time and she run into their house and while she was running he feels like the big foot step of the giant was running unto her also and finally Tenar arrived in their house and she enter to the circle of mushroom and the monster stopped and he didn’t smell it anymore because of the power of mushrooms and Tenar hugged her mother while she’s crying and shaking, her mother was shocked and said “it nothing, be calm baby”

                Her mother knew that the mushroom is the weakness of the monster and she ask her neighbors to plant the mushroom around their house to protect their children but her neighbors ignored it and laugh at her and Tenar’s mother go home and cooked for their dinner and that moment their neighbors was laboring a baby it seems to dark and quiet. Tenar’s mother knew that the monster was coming and she asking for help on Manan the priestess and trying to protect them. The ground was shaking and the monster smelled the new born baby and the monster roar for hunger, and the people was panicking and they are shouting for help, and suddenly the monster named Atuan was broke the house of the labored woman and get the baby, then Tenar was is in the window inside their house and she saw in her two eyes that the monster ate the baby and the monster finding another babies or children, in that moment, Tenar was so afraid then her mother covered her eyes and hugged her while crying each other. For the mean while the monster broke the whole town and ate many children and babies except the house of Tenar because the monster didn’t see the house of Tenar because for him it’s invisible and it because of the mushrooms. After that scene all of them are mourning and cursing for anger to the evil monster named Atuan and they are also praying to their God Awabath to resurrect their children and Awabath replies “yes I will resurrect them after in a hundred years were no evils come”.

Art and Delivery

            The author uses very descriptive words and very meaningful stories and characters also. He described the houses, the God, Warden and the child the parents and all the characters especially monster, he defined well in order to understand the readers. If you will read it critically, you will understand what the authors did want to imply on and the meaning biblical meaning of the story. Ursula used fantastic characters in order to entertain the readers and it catch attention to the readers even you read the title.

                The author uses rare name and a fantastic place and if you read the first page of the book it has a map that was drawn in this book and its look like a real place and it is similarly parable that written in the bible, although it’s not true but it’s meaningful and this story was like in the other dimension that has a lot of terrible objects.

Final Verdict

            If I were to rate this story, out of 5 stars my score is 4 stars because I didn’t understand some instances in this story and seems too deep and its making me tired but all in all this was great and understandable at all.