Reviews

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

puddleglump's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

erinlcrane's review against another edition

5.0

3rd time reading this one. It’s not perfect, but I’ll never give out 5 stars if I wait for perfect. It gets 5 stars for being a book I enjoy rereading and find very thought provoking.

Le Guin has a particular quiet, slow style that just keeps growing on me the more I read her stuff. I find her books cozy in a way that confuses me given the subject matter. But I think it has to do with the thoughtful reflection and calm that comes across in her style.

—————

This is probably the best of the series, at least of what I’ve read so far. It’s really thought-provoking and I think Shevek is an engaging character. There are some aspects that maybe didn’t age well. I didn’t enjoy Shevek’s almost rapist moment. I think Le Guin’s goal may have been to show how far gone he was, how much he had taken in the Urras way of thought without realizing it. But it’s a gross moment and taints my feelings for him.

This book gives us capitalism vs anarchism. It seems to land on the side of the anarchists as far as I can tell. I’m not sure I’m convinced

yeehaw_agenda's review against another edition

5.0

Le Guin does it again!! I'd been wanting to read this for years and finally got to it this year. What a richly built world and deep, beautiful, flawed characters. Not enough utopias in fiction are ambiguous and upfront in the book about the flaws. Le Guin balances it all masterfully as always.

poppysmic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

dmlb's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.75

alutiiqace's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

goblinhearted's review against another edition

5.0

 

[I]f no direction is taken, if one goes nowhere, no change will occur. One’s freedom to choose and to change will be unused, exactly as if one were in jail, a jail of one’s own building, a maze in which no one way is better than any other.

A physicist born and raised on an anarchist planet travels to a capitalist planet for his work and experiences the culture shock of a lifetime.

This is quite honestly one of my favorite books of all time. That being said, it is incredibly intimidating to write a review that I feel could possibly do this book justice - so I’ll keep it basic.

Annares is a planet with a society without the concept of ownership or possession, a society which discourages excess.

“Excess is exrement. Excrement retained in the body is a poison.”

Shevek’s work as a physicist leads him to attempt to visit Annares’ “twin moon”, known as Urras. On Urras, society values not only property and ownership but gratuitous excess to an extent that results in sharp economic inequality.

I enjoyed every last chapter of this book. While Annares is the so-called “utopia”, Le Guin approaches this concept more on the side of realism than idealism. I saw so much of Earth in Urras.

Like always, Le Guin creates multifaceted and nuanced characters set against rich backdrops. Everything I have read by her has been, at least in some way, a very real and sharp reflection of the human experience - and this novel is certainly no exception.

This is an amazing pick for a book club. It will foster lively discussion and spark complex interpretations about the various events that unfold within.

What drives people crazy is trying to live outside reality. Reality is terrible. It can kill you. Given time, it will certainly kill you. The reality is pain– you said that! But it’s the lies, the evasions of reality, that drive you crazy. It’s the lies that make you want to kill yourself.

With certainty, I will return to this book again in the future for a re-read. 

kaizenagility's review against another edition

3.0

Re-read this book after more than ten years. I love Ursula Le Guin's utopic thinking, but it does feel very different as an adult reading this classic. Some of the ideology comes on too strong and feels too simplistically now. I find myself hungering for more complex characters that have more to say, more contradiction, more suffering. But it's a great distraction for a sad summer day, when denser journalism rooted in present-day real-world injustices, feels too heavy to stomach.

abysscourier's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lightiron's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0