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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5★ “Self is Universe.” Is mankind truly incapable of living with unreality? Does perfect society not exist after all? Is it okay to play God? I can never forget the scenes of grey-skinned people and turtle aliens. Ursula K.Le Guin is one of a kind.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
loved it
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love Ursula K. Le Guin so much. The Dispossessed is possibly my favourte book of all time, and The Left Hand of Darkness isn’t too much further down the list. Unfortunately, The Lathe of Heaven didn’t quite live up to my expectations set by those two novels, but it’s okay; I don’t think it was trying to achieve the same goal. The Lathe of Heaven is much shorter than those two (only 184 pages in this print) and seems to be more of a simple exercise in ideas than a grand story. Le Guin is brainstorming here, and in the case of our main character George Orr, that could be interpreted quite literally. Orr has the power to change reality through his dreams, which terrifies him and leads him down a path of abusing dream-suppressing drugs, which lands him in “voluntary” therapy sessions with dream specialist William Haber, who quickly realizes the power of his patient and begins to use Orr’s dreams for his own morally ambiguous means.
I found the representation of the characters and the meaning between the lines of the story to be much more satisfying than the story itself. The then-future world of Portland, Oregon, despite the fact that it changes drastically every time George falls asleep, just isn’t that interesting compared to a world like Annares or Winter. I found myself glossing over a lot of the descriptions of things, and the fact that Le Guin also took a much more straightforward approach to her prose here didn’t exactly help to spruce things up. But her writing is just so charming regardless. The story did absolutely take some turns I didn’t expect, but the problem is that I kind of knew how it would all play out from the jump, which made it hard to feel truly engaged.
The ideas expressed here were much more subtle in their expression than in some of Le Guin’s bigger works, but no less of value. Throughout the story, you can glean Le Guin’s insights on the meaning of life, human nature, ego, social identity, free will, coercion, the ambiguity of evil, property of self, the power of love. The fact that Haber essentially declares himself the owner of Orr’s literal dreams is an obvious metaphor that is both humorous in its stark representation and also deeply relatable. The story of The Lathe of Heaven caters directly to Le Guin’s philosophy, where the real meat is, but that doesn’t mean the story isn’t a damn entertaining ride. It just didn’t feel like there was any real sense of danger or consequence. The last couple pages did make me tear up, though. I could see this maybe being intended for a younger audience, which is why it didn’t fully land with me, but god bless Le Guin for trying to instill some real values in her writing.
I found the representation of the characters and the meaning between the lines of the story to be much more satisfying than the story itself. The then-future world of Portland, Oregon, despite the fact that it changes drastically every time George falls asleep, just isn’t that interesting compared to a world like Annares or Winter. I found myself glossing over a lot of the descriptions of things, and the fact that Le Guin also took a much more straightforward approach to her prose here didn’t exactly help to spruce things up. But her writing is just so charming regardless. The story did absolutely take some turns I didn’t expect, but the problem is that I kind of knew how it would all play out from the jump, which made it hard to feel truly engaged.
The ideas expressed here were much more subtle in their expression than in some of Le Guin’s bigger works, but no less of value. Throughout the story, you can glean Le Guin’s insights on the meaning of life, human nature, ego, social identity, free will, coercion, the ambiguity of evil, property of self, the power of love. The fact that Haber essentially declares himself the owner of Orr’s literal dreams is an obvious metaphor that is both humorous in its stark representation and also deeply relatable. The story of The Lathe of Heaven caters directly to Le Guin’s philosophy, where the real meat is, but that doesn’t mean the story isn’t a damn entertaining ride. It just didn’t feel like there was any real sense of danger or consequence. The last couple pages did make me tear up, though. I could see this maybe being intended for a younger audience, which is why it didn’t fully land with me, but god bless Le Guin for trying to instill some real values in her writing.
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes