Only an author as creative as Ursula Le Guin could conceive a story where the protagonist is a ‘murderous’ roadside oak tree. A major theme is change. As the road develops from a bridle trail to a tarred highway, the tree laments differences in the environment (birds are fewer, and the wind’s foul) and human behavior, comparing modern passers-by to beetles always rushing about and never looking up. Another theme is perspective. The tree cannot move and has no concept of life after death. To make sense of the world, it comes up with alternative interpretations of relativity and eternity.
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