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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An anarchist and a propertarian walk into a bar. The propertarian buys a drink. The anarchist just gets tap water. Don’t understand the joke? Well I’m still trying to fully understand this book. A masterclass in world building, The Dispossessed feels like somebody said “What if anarchists lived on the moon?”, then Ursula responded “Oh, lemme tell ya…”. This is a story that makes you consider the current state of the world you live in, the positives, the flaws, the horror, and proposes an alternative. Not a utopia, an alternative. We are so caught up with the fear of change, things getting worse than they already are. Well, if we want to change, we require growth, experimentation, risk, with the focus being on improvement and centered on people as people. There’s a lot to unpack in this book that I can’t get into with this review so I’ll end by saying this…good book!
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
slow-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:
Complicated
„It is not until an act occurs within the landscape of the past and the future that is a human act. Loyalty, which asserts tha continuity of past and future, binding time into a whole, is the root of human strength; there is no good to be done without it.
So, looking back on the past four years, Shevek saw them not as wasted, but as a part of the edifice that he and Takver were building with their lives. The thing about working with time, instead of against it, he thought, is that it is not wasted. Even pain counts.“
This book will stay with me for a long time.
So, looking back on the past four years, Shevek saw them not as wasted, but as a part of the edifice that he and Takver were building with their lives. The thing about working with time, instead of against it, he thought, is that it is not wasted. Even pain counts.“
This book will stay with me for a long time.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
thoughts to be added after book club
it was just ... boring. the concept and characters and setting aren't boring, but the execution just included so much physics nonsense, an overabundance of politics, and lacked any real characterization or development (aside from shevek, i'll admit, his development was basically the entire point of the story but every other character might as well have been a silent extra for all they mattered) i get that the "story" isnt the point, its the questions le guin is asking the reader about society/possession/greed/etc, but i guess i prefer a bit more meat to my fiction, and this was not it. like nothing happens for the first 3/4 of the book, aside from shevek walking around and having thoughts. i wont say this is a bad book because i think it has important things to say but god was i glad to be done with it once i finished
I had read ahead of time that this book was more a collection of conversations than narrative story and was prepared for something a bit more dense and slow but my god I missed this book every time I put it down. the alternating timelines is so wonderful for the pacing and for the dual exposition of these two worlds, the scientific and political language while being highly intellectual never feels alienating, nothing is presented as an agenda (not that it would be entirely wrong to do so) and leaves so much room in its neutrality for the reader to think for themselves. and on top of all that it is a beautiful story with a beating heart at its center. it is impossible for the compassion and intelligence of this woman’s soul to not shine through in everything she writes
adventurous
challenging
reflective
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