What do you think?
Rate this book
The Unconquered Country
First edition hardcover with unclipped dust jacket in very good condition. Jacket is scuffed. Edges are creased and nicked. Page block and page edges are lightly tanned. Boards are clean, binding is sound and pages are clear. LW
134 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Geoff Ryman
97 books208 followersGeoffrey Charles Ryman (born 1951) is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and slipstream fiction. He was born in Canada, and has lived most of his life in England.
His science fiction and fantasy works include The Warrior Who Carried Life (1985), the novella The Unconquered Country (1986) (winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the World Fantasy Award), and The Child Garden (1989) (winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Campbell Award). Subsequent fiction works include Was (1992), Lust (2001), and Air (2005) (winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, the British Science Fiction Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and on the short list for the Nebula Award).
His science fiction and fantasy works include The Warrior Who Carried Life (1985), the novella The Unconquered Country (1986) (winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the World Fantasy Award), and The Child Garden (1989) (winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Campbell Award). Subsequent fiction works include Was (1992), Lust (2001), and Air (2005) (winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, the British Science Fiction Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and on the short list for the Nebula Award).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 17, 2023
The Unconquered Country won several awards after it appeared in 1984, and I've meant to read it for years after reading several recommendations. It's based on Cambodian history and has some unremittingly horrific instances of life for the civilians in a conquered country. There are some elements like walking houses that I found confusing and that I thought detracted from the overall story. I wasn't sure what was going on some of the time and felt there was probably some symbolism that I just didn't understand. It all just seemed sad and pointless, but maybe that was the point.
December 27, 2018
El país irredento fue publicado originalmente en la revista Interzone, y elegido por sus lectores como el mejor relato de ese año, ganando posteriormente el Premio Mundial de Fantasía.
En la obra, de poco más de 100 páginas, narrada en forma de fábula o cuento, perturbadora y mágica a la vez, acompañamos a Tercera, una refugiada en una ciudad llamada Saprang Song, que vende su sangre y otras partes de su cuerpo para ganarse la vida. Alquila su útero a Los Vecinos y al Gran País, para desarrollar maquinaria y armamento: Las armas salían súbitamente de su interior con gran pérdida de sangre, normalmente en mitad de la noche: una avalancha de pececillos viscosos, moteados, marrón oscuro con ojos negros y suaves y brillantes sonrisas de roedor llenas de dientes. No importaba lo enferma o exhausta que se sintiera Tercera, tenía que meterlos inmediatamente en cubos y atar las tapas. Si no lo hacía, al instante, los pececillos se la comerían.
Las imágenes que se nos presentan son sorprendentes, aterradoras, de pesadilla en numerosas ocasiones, y a pesar de que el autor deja claro en el epílogo que lo que narra es la tragedia ocurrida en Camboya en los años sesenta y setenta, por desgracia vemos aquí reflejada la realidad de muchos otros países hoy en día.
En la obra, de poco más de 100 páginas, narrada en forma de fábula o cuento, perturbadora y mágica a la vez, acompañamos a Tercera, una refugiada en una ciudad llamada Saprang Song, que vende su sangre y otras partes de su cuerpo para ganarse la vida. Alquila su útero a Los Vecinos y al Gran País, para desarrollar maquinaria y armamento: Las armas salían súbitamente de su interior con gran pérdida de sangre, normalmente en mitad de la noche: una avalancha de pececillos viscosos, moteados, marrón oscuro con ojos negros y suaves y brillantes sonrisas de roedor llenas de dientes. No importaba lo enferma o exhausta que se sintiera Tercera, tenía que meterlos inmediatamente en cubos y atar las tapas. Si no lo hacía, al instante, los pececillos se la comerían.
Las imágenes que se nos presentan son sorprendentes, aterradoras, de pesadilla en numerosas ocasiones, y a pesar de que el autor deja claro en el epílogo que lo que narra es la tragedia ocurrida en Camboya en los años sesenta y setenta, por desgracia vemos aquí reflejada la realidad de muchos otros países hoy en día.
May 28, 2012
this story could be a metaphor for every war where a technologically more-advanced country waltzed in and kicked the shit out of a more agrarian one. only in this one, the locals are tenacious; even with their butts kicked militarily, they refuse to adopt the culture of the victors. they adapt it--they co-opt it--they ignore it, and they go on believing in their beliefs and continuing their practices.
must be mighty frustrating for the victors, to have those backward sorts refuse to see how superior they are.
vonnegut said, in reference to anti-war books, that one might as well write an anti-glacier book. all anti-war books have the same theme: war is bad. this book is no different there. but if one is going to be run over by a war machine, one might as well remain unconquered, and if you're curious how that might play out day-to-day, this is the book for you.
in the Afterword, the author writes:
"All our words have worn out. Democracy, freedom, socialism, economics. They've all become kitsch. They summon up kitsch images."
i don't honestly know whether that's true, although it sometimes feels like it. two images are summoned up for me: at Tiananmen in 1989, the ersatz Statue of Liberty. it did strike me as kitsch. but then the other image: the anonymous man standing, shopping bags in hand, stopping a whole line of tanks. that is definitely not kitsch.
and the stubborn holding-onto the characters in this book display isn't kitsch; it's identity under the wheels of the machine. given our burgeoning corporatocracy, is something we might all wish to invest some time in thinking about.
must be mighty frustrating for the victors, to have those backward sorts refuse to see how superior they are.
vonnegut said, in reference to anti-war books, that one might as well write an anti-glacier book. all anti-war books have the same theme: war is bad. this book is no different there. but if one is going to be run over by a war machine, one might as well remain unconquered, and if you're curious how that might play out day-to-day, this is the book for you.
in the Afterword, the author writes:
"All our words have worn out. Democracy, freedom, socialism, economics. They've all become kitsch. They summon up kitsch images."
i don't honestly know whether that's true, although it sometimes feels like it. two images are summoned up for me: at Tiananmen in 1989, the ersatz Statue of Liberty. it did strike me as kitsch. but then the other image: the anonymous man standing, shopping bags in hand, stopping a whole line of tanks. that is definitely not kitsch.
and the stubborn holding-onto the characters in this book display isn't kitsch; it's identity under the wheels of the machine. given our burgeoning corporatocracy, is something we might all wish to invest some time in thinking about.
February 16, 2014
Life during wartime. To get by, Third Child sells her blood and rents out her womb to give birth to industrial materials. Birthing weapons pays the best but is also the most painful and bloody.
Ryman’s short novel, based on his earlier novella, chronicles the horrors of a proud and peaceful people who lose everything, abandon their rural existence for life in a city they do not understand, and learn in the end that even the people they support in the war will turn against them in the chaos following victory.
Houses that grow and move with their occupants, those grotesque births Third Child undergoes – Ryman’s novel has many fantastic elements. But when he wrote it in 1986, reports coming out of Cambodia and his own experiences in Southeast Asia provided the framework for his story. You need only read today’s reports from Syria and South Sudan to appreciate his novel’s continuing relevance.
Ryman’s short novel, based on his earlier novella, chronicles the horrors of a proud and peaceful people who lose everything, abandon their rural existence for life in a city they do not understand, and learn in the end that even the people they support in the war will turn against them in the chaos following victory.
Houses that grow and move with their occupants, those grotesque births Third Child undergoes – Ryman’s novel has many fantastic elements. But when he wrote it in 1986, reports coming out of Cambodia and his own experiences in Southeast Asia provided the framework for his story. You need only read today’s reports from Syria and South Sudan to appreciate his novel’s continuing relevance.
March 28, 2009
The best thing about this book is that it is short. So short, in fact, that it didn't even last me a whole day's worth of commuting on the bus. This is supposedly a fantastical version of the relatively recent history of Cambodia. Yes, this was a bad time in history so you might expect this to be an unpleasant story, but everything was made worse here. I found this to be deeply disturbing and unsettling. I don't even want to describe the grossness in this story. I spent the whole book thinking "Ugh!" and counting how many pages were left until I was done. If I had had anything else with me to entertain me on the bus, I might not have finished this book.
July 25, 2011
Just read this on flight to Tokyo. The book was absolutely stunning -- a classic waiting to be discovered. It's one of those perfectly-constructed short novels that deserves to be read by everyone in high school, like Old Man and the Sea, Of Mice and Men, Ethan Frome, etc. Unlike those books, however, this one conveys a sense of the alien, what appears to be a future Earth, yet filled with familiar and heartbreaking realities.
June 1, 2019
Amazing, surreal, fractured, affecting and haunting rendition of a dystopian society under wartime conditions, told from the POV of a woman called Third. Apparently based on a "re-imagining" of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. Accompanied by superb illustrations - just an extraordinary work in all respects. Should really be a 5-Star, but I'm only giving it 4 for now - think it will improve even more with re-reading...
December 31, 2017
This disturbing modern fantasy reads like the darkest fairytale one can imagine. Ryman has recast the tragedy of Cambodia during the 1960s and 1970s in a world just next to ours. The protagonist is Third, a country village girl, who as a young girl had the ability to “see” numbers until it was educated out of her. She never does learn to read or do math properly. She lives in a country referred to only as The Unconquered Country. In this worl, objects such as houses and advertisements are grown rather than manufactured, and are in a way living beings. It feels like a setting for a Hayao Miyazaki film. The Unconquered Country is swiftly conquered by The Neighbors (North Vietnam) and Third ends up in the big city, where she must sell her body to produce objects needed in a continuing distant war. Later in the novel she and her people are seemingly rescued from the oppression of the Neighbors by the Rebels (the Khmer Rouge), only to find themselves more thoroughly oppressed. The narrative relates well the world as Third sees it, a world in which nearly everything is alive and spirits of dead loved ones guide and protect. If there is one drawback to the novel it is that Third’s life is so unremittingly horrible. Though in his afterword Ryman tries to mitigate this by mentioning “joys” of that life, the joys are few and always undercut by some horrible event. It is definitely not a novel for a reader seeking escape into a magic kingdom.
February 20, 2011
A poetic and deeply personal view of Cambodian history during the Khmer Rouge regime, set in a slightly fantastical/metaphoric universe, told through the eyes of Third Daughter. Absolutely heartrending.
August 18, 2011
A fairy tale of modern politics and the unfortunate children it leaves marooned in a sea of terrible choices, this story is told in deceptively simple narration. While elements of this story may be considered disturbing, it was also what rendered it thought provoking and memory.
May 10, 2016
An anti-war political fairytale with has a strong sense of magic realism.
April 10, 2015
Well-written fantasy about war from the point of view of the undertrodden. Very depressing - no surprise there.
April 6, 2023
I've read it—my tags are too specific to me not have read it—I apparently liked it—but I don't remember a single thing about it.
April 24, 2024
I bought this book almost 20 years ago at this time of writing. I bought it because someone, possibly Gardner Dozois, possibly others, lauded it as something memorable and iconic, pushing forward what was possible within the scope of fantasy and science fiction. I remember reading similar accolades attributed to Samuel Delany's _Dhalgren_. In both the case of _Dhalgren_ and this book, the accolades I believe are appropriate but in neither case did I particularly enjoy reading the book.
I recently read one of Ryman's stories and the preface mentioned this book again so I decided if I hadn't read it already (I didn't recall), it was short enough to read it quickly now. Before I read the afterword, it was pretty clear the story was a parable for the wars and globalization that blasted through Southeast Asia during the 20th century. I placed the story in an alternate Vietnam, but according to the author it was inspired by Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.
The writing is at times lyrical and definitely evocative, the imagery evoked brutal and relentless. Even when there is hope and change, it comes at a great cost, with only some delusion of happiness or peace to drive one forward. By the end of the short book, I could taste the ashes of everything. The accompanying illustrations are fantastic: they capture both the fantastic and surreal elements, and are imbued with a certain flavor, almost as if the People in the story chose to record the true violence and misery of their history as colorful but muted versions, palatable to their descendants.
Although the story is ultimately depressing and not exactly a pleasure to read, it was nonetheless very evocative and well-done.
I recently read one of Ryman's stories and the preface mentioned this book again so I decided if I hadn't read it already (I didn't recall), it was short enough to read it quickly now. Before I read the afterword, it was pretty clear the story was a parable for the wars and globalization that blasted through Southeast Asia during the 20th century. I placed the story in an alternate Vietnam, but according to the author it was inspired by Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.
The writing is at times lyrical and definitely evocative, the imagery evoked brutal and relentless. Even when there is hope and change, it comes at a great cost, with only some delusion of happiness or peace to drive one forward. By the end of the short book, I could taste the ashes of everything. The accompanying illustrations are fantastic: they capture both the fantastic and surreal elements, and are imbued with a certain flavor, almost as if the People in the story chose to record the true violence and misery of their history as colorful but muted versions, palatable to their descendants.
Although the story is ultimately depressing and not exactly a pleasure to read, it was nonetheless very evocative and well-done.
December 14, 2016
Advance Notice: Summaries tell about the story, if you dont want to be spoiled then dont read summaries :P lol.
It takes a good bit to get used to the way the story is being told. It is like being in a fantasical asian mythological world where a war is happening (inspiration was from a real asian war). You are reading from a suvivor of that war who lost everything due to it (home, family, dignity, love, even pet...though in story it was ghost of her dead fiance, then her home again, and maybe even her life in the end).
The end of the book was rather confusing, not sure if she began hallucinating on her journey home or if she died and that was her version of afterlife....or if it was a mismatch of both being as she had begun to believe she was psychic with the dead. Many parts of the book didn't make sense. The main story is touching if you just focus on her tragedies and emotions.
I had picked up this book at a used bookstore almost 20 years ago after reading the author's other book "the warrior who carried life" and enjoying it, but it took me moving and not getting internet/tv for a couple weeks to finally decide to read it since it is a short easy read. It was a feels book for sure, but mostly sad feels and confusing and angry and heartbreaking feels scattered throughout (made even worse since the character was too uneducated/not-smart-enough-or-caring-enough-to-learn to even know how bad she had it at times).
In all, after reading it, I now know this book was not worth the effort of me keeping it and packing with me on all the many moves over the last 20 years. You know what it has to offer just by thinking what a lone survivor of a lifetime long war would feel to have to endure a war's tragedies all over again later in life, leaving them yet again a lone survivor with nothing. To me it would of been worth it if I had felt at the end of it that I could ever read it again and enjoy it the same, but this good book fell into my category of good books that I have read but will never reread. Luckily it is a short book, and even though it is a sad book when seen through logical eyes...the main character I think may of been happy at the end in her death scene/dream/hallucination when she reunites with family and all suffering is over.
Hard to decide on the number of stars, quality of feels in it is a 5, writing is at least a 4-4.5 (im not great at writing so my best guess there), rereadable 1 star or no, enjoyed it yes and no...so 3, and in the end I think a solid 4 (usually only rereadable books get my 5 stars, or really awesome one time reads--which if it didnt put in so much nonsense then it may of made it to a 5, and by nonsense I mean literally things that didn't make any sense no matter how much of story you read). So if you are on the fence looking for a feel good read, pass this one up; but if you want to have a few cries with a nice quick story that makes you also have to think to figure out the story then by all means give this a go (there are a few laughs too, hope, love, and even living walking growing houses).
It takes a good bit to get used to the way the story is being told. It is like being in a fantasical asian mythological world where a war is happening (inspiration was from a real asian war). You are reading from a suvivor of that war who lost everything due to it (home, family, dignity, love, even pet...though in story it was ghost of her dead fiance, then her home again, and maybe even her life in the end).
The end of the book was rather confusing, not sure if she began hallucinating on her journey home or if she died and that was her version of afterlife....or if it was a mismatch of both being as she had begun to believe she was psychic with the dead. Many parts of the book didn't make sense. The main story is touching if you just focus on her tragedies and emotions.
I had picked up this book at a used bookstore almost 20 years ago after reading the author's other book "the warrior who carried life" and enjoying it, but it took me moving and not getting internet/tv for a couple weeks to finally decide to read it since it is a short easy read. It was a feels book for sure, but mostly sad feels and confusing and angry and heartbreaking feels scattered throughout (made even worse since the character was too uneducated/not-smart-enough-or-caring-enough-to-learn to even know how bad she had it at times).
In all, after reading it, I now know this book was not worth the effort of me keeping it and packing with me on all the many moves over the last 20 years. You know what it has to offer just by thinking what a lone survivor of a lifetime long war would feel to have to endure a war's tragedies all over again later in life, leaving them yet again a lone survivor with nothing. To me it would of been worth it if I had felt at the end of it that I could ever read it again and enjoy it the same, but this good book fell into my category of good books that I have read but will never reread. Luckily it is a short book, and even though it is a sad book when seen through logical eyes...the main character I think may of been happy at the end in her death scene/dream/hallucination when she reunites with family and all suffering is over.
Hard to decide on the number of stars, quality of feels in it is a 5, writing is at least a 4-4.5 (im not great at writing so my best guess there), rereadable 1 star or no, enjoyed it yes and no...so 3, and in the end I think a solid 4 (usually only rereadable books get my 5 stars, or really awesome one time reads--which if it didnt put in so much nonsense then it may of made it to a 5, and by nonsense I mean literally things that didn't make any sense no matter how much of story you read). So if you are on the fence looking for a feel good read, pass this one up; but if you want to have a few cries with a nice quick story that makes you also have to think to figure out the story then by all means give this a go (there are a few laughs too, hope, love, and even living walking growing houses).
July 17, 2015
The Unconquered Country is an unusual combination of gruesome and whimsical. The story, which follows a woman's life through the course of various atrocities modeled on the rise and reign of the Khmer Rouge, is relentlessly horrific and poignant. The setting - a fantastical/futuristic version of Cambodia - is anything but. It's Buckminster Fuller meets biopunk meets Eastern mysticism, a world of semi-sentient houses and animatronic advertisements. Unfortunately, that world's hinted-at advancements are inaccessible to the protagonist, who lives a life of simplicity and suffering. It's an effective juxtaposition, though it's not enjoyable to read, and there are plenty of books that describe the cruelties of war and imperialism just as well as this one, or better.
December 3, 2007
Magic realism and this type of heightened symbolism combined with, or instead of, the fantastic (I'm not quite sure which and that's one of the things that bothers me) is not to my taste.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews