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A review by storyorc
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A little slow in parts but was any other work of fiction in the 70s making an honest effort to imagine an anarchist society like this? Equal parts optimistim and realism, The Dispossessed explores how we might try to set up such a society and the pitfalls of human nature we would have to overcome.
Flashbacks to our main character, Shevek's life on his anarchic moon are as touching as they are fascinating, filled with imperfect but quite human characters who are really trying. Reading constantly that they work because they want to and that everything they do, they choose it, has the curious effect of making the reader feel they are in a dark little box watching the lid crack open bit by bit. In seeing our anarchists sacrifice for their society, we understand how they can trust that the same society will sacrifice them. The capitalist notion of freedom - "financial freedom", aka "fuck you money" - pales in comparison to a model of freedom where you can trust that you will be able to take what you need. By the end of the book, you've absorbed enough of their outlook to feel sickened by the capitalist planet Shevek visits instead of relieved by the familiar.
The anarchists still struggle with the power of peer pressure and environmental hardships from living on a barren moon. It is said repeatedly that anarchism is a process, not a destination - a constant vigilance and revolution against power. Their moon is no oasis yet you yearn to return along with Shevek.
(Not sure how this ties in yet but another motto of their movement's leader was that there is no journey without return. Thought it runs counter to the spirit of exploration we're used to, it is effective in instilling that yearning as well as presenting an interesting challenge to the ego of the explorer - why explore? Selfishly, or for home?)
Check content warnings of this review if sexual assault is a trigger.
Flashbacks to our main character, Shevek's life on his anarchic moon are as touching as they are fascinating, filled with imperfect but quite human characters who are really trying. Reading constantly that they work because they want to and that everything they do, they choose it, has the curious effect of making the reader feel they are in a dark little box watching the lid crack open bit by bit. In seeing our anarchists sacrifice for their society, we understand how they can trust that the same society will sacrifice them. The capitalist notion of freedom - "financial freedom", aka "fuck you money" - pales in comparison to a model of freedom where you can trust that you will be able to take what you need. By the end of the book, you've absorbed enough of their outlook to feel sickened by the capitalist planet Shevek visits instead of relieved by the familiar.
The anarchists still struggle with the power of peer pressure and environmental hardships from living on a barren moon. It is said repeatedly that anarchism is a process, not a destination - a constant vigilance and revolution against power. Their moon is no oasis yet you yearn to return along with Shevek.
(Not sure how this ties in yet but another motto of their movement's leader was that there is no journey without return. Thought it runs counter to the spirit of exploration we're used to, it is effective in instilling that yearning as well as presenting an interesting challenge to the ego of the explorer - why explore? Selfishly, or for home?)
Check content warnings of this review if sexual assault is a trigger.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Police brutality
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Shevek gets drunk and sexually assaults a woman at about 3/4 of the way through. Possibly to show how much the capitalist planet is affecting him? She is more annoyed than distressed but to avoid, just skip ahead to the next chapter when you read him getting drunk and accompanying a woman to her bedroom. All you need to know plotwise is that he got drunk, assaulted her in private, then threw up in public and was taken home.