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A review by alleseter
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin
2.0
'The Dispossessed' is about a civilization on a planet called Urras and its moon Anarres. Urras is pretty much like Earth, but Anarres hosts an anarchistic society. The power of 'The Dispossessed' lies in Le Guin's plausible description of how such an anarchistic world would work. Certainly, it's not without its flaws, although I'd suspect these would have crept in much sooner than they do in Le Guin's world. Le Guin cleverly leaves it to the reader which world he prefers. Moreover, Le Guin eschews long descriptions and weaves her ideas into conversations between her protagonists.
Less successful is Le Guin's story, which tells about brilliant physicist Shevek who leaves Anarres to visit Urras and who runs up against the limits of both worlds. Unfortunately, Shevek's story never becomes really compelling, and his story arc is left pretty inconclusive. Besides, Le Guin's writing style is quite commonplace and dull. Moreover, in its description of Urras (which clearly has two blocks fighting each other, one capitalist and one communist) and gender issues (some of which certainly have improved since the book was written) the book is more typical a product of the 1970s than a timeless classic.
Less successful is Le Guin's story, which tells about brilliant physicist Shevek who leaves Anarres to visit Urras and who runs up against the limits of both worlds. Unfortunately, Shevek's story never becomes really compelling, and his story arc is left pretty inconclusive. Besides, Le Guin's writing style is quite commonplace and dull. Moreover, in its description of Urras (which clearly has two blocks fighting each other, one capitalist and one communist) and gender issues (some of which certainly have improved since the book was written) the book is more typical a product of the 1970s than a timeless classic.