The Other Side of the Page

Ursula K. Le Guin is a speculative fiction author from the US. This book is the second in the collection ‘The Unreal and The Real’ of her short fictions, one that includes the well-known ‘The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas’, which poses a moral philosophical question similar to that of the Trolley question long debated till today and probably has no end. 

 

The story takes place in a utopian country known as Omelas, where the people live happily and carefreely without a single worry, but it turns out that there is a child locked in an underground basement somewhere in town and it is when the child perishes, the rest prosper. If anyone ever tries to release the child from the darkness and sufferings deep in the basement, the happiness that forms the base of everyone’s lives in Omelas will vanish in just one second, for all of that smiles and hopes are based on the child’s pain. 

 

Other than ‘The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas’, ‘The Matter of Seggri’ was also particularly interesting. It presents a completely, bizarrely different gender landscape from our social norms. Borne out of Ursula’s question challenging the Darwinian principle of having equal numbers of men and women but giving them unequal power. It was an enjoyable, eye-opening, and sometimes heart-breaking read which might become your stepping stone to see the gender culture in our society which we have taken for granted since human history started, in a different light. 

 

Besides the two short stories abovementioned, this book also includes pieces such as ‘Semley’s Necklace’, ‘Solitude’, ‘She Unnames Them’, and many more. 

 

In short, “The Unreal and The Real: Outer Space, Inner Lands” is a graceful, profound depth of humanity that I hope you will be happy to have this chance to come across, delve into, and flourish in.

“The Noonday Demon” is a huge book, not merely in the physical sense with its dimensions of 155 x 234 x 41mm but also by the depth and breadth of the content it discussed, which is depression. 

 

As a society, we tend to see mental illness as taboo. But in reality, depression itself, as a feeling essentially before it becomes an illness, is so profound, so complex, yet so individually variable. We don’t talk about sadness enough as much as we talk about happiness. Happiness might be common to all, but sadness is special to one. We might be happy because of the same reasons, like getting good grades, gathering with friends, and buying new stuff, but my sadness is not the same as your sadness, and vice versa. And believe it or not, we all need sadness at some point in our life. As Solomon quoted from Schopenhauer, “We require at all times a certain quantity of care or sorrow or want, as a ship requires ballast, to keep on a straight course”, for it is in sadness that “I learned my own acreage, the full extent of my soul”. 

 

A disclaimer though, as much as somebody might be enlightened by this discussion of the depth of sorrow in the first chapter, depression is still an illness. If at any point, you feel that the period of sadness has been way too long to be called a phase and it has snatched from you the capability to think and live and feel, please seek help as soon as possible. 

 

“The Noonday Demon” is not a book to depathologize depression, it is a book in which Solomon lies everything he knows about depression under the bright sun, to encourage learning and understanding, so that if unfortunately, someone we love is caught by the noonday demon, we could be at least a little bit more orientated to be a much-needed companion to stay with them throughout the journey, and eventually lead them back home.

“Life Lessons” is the comfort book to read whenever you temporarily lost your way in life, whenever you experience great losses, whenever you are too captivated by things you shouldn’t be, or when you are simply bored.

 

In this book, both the authors, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler take turns to write about their insights or experiences regarding a particular topic, such as ‘Authenticity’, ‘Love’, ‘Relationships’, ‘Loss’ and many more in a span of twelve chapters, with great grace and delicacy.

 

My favorite chapter, which is also the first chapter “Authenticity” talks about how we are all on our journey of discovering who we are and finding our real happiness. And sometimes, what blocks us in our way are all the roles that we have picked up along the way to be where we are today. It might be a son or daughter, a good student, a good friend, listener, cheerleader, rebel, or anything that you and I have ever been. It is always important to recognize the truth that we aren’t labeled by our roles, and there is absolutely no need to always be the nice person in others’ eyes, for “life is about being, not doing”.