6.01k reviews for:

The Dispossessed

Ursula K. Le Guin

4.28 AVERAGE


„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.
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

To be whole is to be part; true voyage is return.
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
challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated

This is a story that will stick with me. Anarchy as an individually fueled collectivism as an idea is something ide never considered. 

Ursula is my Odo. 
adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated