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birdlawyered 's review for:
The Dispossessed
by Ursula K. Le Guin
UGH!
I'm going to say it - I love Ursula K. Le Guin. She MIGHT be my favourite author. HAPPILY I will have to read all of her other books to determine this.
The Dispossessed was another example of Le Guin using the alien to establish humanity. The themes of the novel had some ties to The Left Hand of Darkness - isolation, brotherhood, love and anthropology. However, where TLHOD established solidarity, The Dispossessed highlighted disparity. It was extremely cool to see an Earth-like world being visited by an anarchist, collectivist alien.
This novel had me feeling ashamed of our society, in awe and totally hopeful. The way in which Le Guin uses 'Science' as the relating point was very clever.
We often consider science as "the people's" - it is therefore the perfect jumping point to illustrate the differences between different ideologies. What does this mean to different ideologies? Can something be "the people's" in a place where anything can be bought, sold or withheld for power? Can something be "the people's" in a place where the concept of ownership does not exist? Can anything be held in higher regard if everything is considered value-less? Do the most highly regarded things deserve that status in a place where everything has a value?
I truly enjoyed the process of reading this book. Le Guin's writing is always a pleasure to read and think about. Highly recommend.
I'm going to say it - I love Ursula K. Le Guin. She MIGHT be my favourite author. HAPPILY I will have to read all of her other books to determine this.
The Dispossessed was another example of Le Guin using the alien to establish humanity. The themes of the novel had some ties to The Left Hand of Darkness - isolation, brotherhood, love and anthropology. However, where TLHOD established solidarity, The Dispossessed highlighted disparity. It was extremely cool to see an Earth-like world being visited by an anarchist, collectivist alien.
This novel had me feeling ashamed of our society, in awe and totally hopeful. The way in which Le Guin uses 'Science' as the relating point was very clever.
We often consider science as "the people's" - it is therefore the perfect jumping point to illustrate the differences between different ideologies. What does this mean to different ideologies? Can something be "the people's" in a place where anything can be bought, sold or withheld for power? Can something be "the people's" in a place where the concept of ownership does not exist? Can anything be held in higher regard if everything is considered value-less? Do the most highly regarded things deserve that status in a place where everything has a value?
I truly enjoyed the process of reading this book. Le Guin's writing is always a pleasure to read and think about. Highly recommend.