When it was first published in 1985, Always Corning Home was heralded as a brilliant new work by one of Amenca's favorite authors. There were the usual glowing reviews in Newsweek and The New York Times Book Review and the scholarly reviews in journals like Mythlore and The Hudson Review. All of the early reviews and articles said much the same thing: they praised the novel, but also commented on its strange narrative structure and length. Peter Prescott, writing in Newsweek, comments that the novel is too long and the situations cannot bear much examination but is well worth the reader's patience as an example of Le Guin's unique style New York Times Book Review contributor Samuel Delany calls the book "a slow, rich read," advising the reader to savor Le Guin's prose since the storyline itself is weak and not action-filled. Dick Allen, who focuses, as...