Take a photo of a barcode or cover
goodnight_moon 's review for:
The Lathe of Heaven
by Ursula K. Le Guin
I experienced this novel firstly as a discussion of identity and morality, deeply rooted in a comparison of Buddhism and Christianity. (White Lotus S4 was airing during the same timeframe if you want to assign it to that, but Ursula K Le Guin's Buddhist influences are well documented.) I kept hearing Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place) "here's the thing my little chili babies" during reflective pauses between chapters. I found this discussion engaging and enlightening.
I think it's entirely fair to want more from this plot - a characteristically lean text that turns abruptly, ends quietly, and uses a chunk of what is on the page to philosophize. I think her plots take getting used to (this is my 8th Le Guin novel, and I didn't love this about the first Earthsea, which I now realize is a beautiful text). With this story especially, her quote after the Left Hand of Darkness is particularly relevant:
"Strictly extrapolative words of science fiction generally arrive somewhere between the gradual extinction of human liberty and the total extinction of terrestrial life... Almost anything carried to its logical extreme becomes depressing, if not carcinogenic."
She may not touch a lot of the ideas my brain gravitated to when I read "man's dreams are altering reality, doctor is manipulating this ability", but I think those ideas would be dangerously susceptible to her above warning. I think the points she did hit are entirely defensible, and they made me FEEL so much more, where I was previously anticipating an intellectual puzzle. I just love the choices she made, I love how a refreshingly unique premise is still made so human and relatable, and I love that (yet again) the end result is hope for a slightly brighter future stemming from an effort to be a good person and do the right thing.
I think it's entirely fair to want more from this plot - a characteristically lean text that turns abruptly, ends quietly, and uses a chunk of what is on the page to philosophize. I think her plots take getting used to (this is my 8th Le Guin novel, and I didn't love this about the first Earthsea, which I now realize is a beautiful text). With this story especially, her quote after the Left Hand of Darkness is particularly relevant:
"Strictly extrapolative words of science fiction generally arrive somewhere between the gradual extinction of human liberty and the total extinction of terrestrial life... Almost anything carried to its logical extreme becomes depressing, if not carcinogenic."
She may not touch a lot of the ideas my brain gravitated to when I read "man's dreams are altering reality, doctor is manipulating this ability", but I think those ideas would be dangerously susceptible to her above warning. I think the points she did hit are entirely defensible, and they made me FEEL so much more, where I was previously anticipating an intellectual puzzle. I just love the choices she made, I love how a refreshingly unique premise is still made so human and relatable, and I love that (yet again) the end result is hope for a slightly brighter future stemming from an effort to be a good person and do the right thing.