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septimusbrown 's review for:
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia
by Ursula K. Le Guin
This book is fantastic. It is a story of a conflicted physicist who tries to bridge two very different worlds, all the while he works out the theory and equations that will become the basis for the ansible, a technology that will transform the Hainish universe, allowing for instant communication between any two points in space.
There are so many layers to this story. The subtitle, an ambiguous utopia, refers to two very different societies on the twin planets Anarres and Urras -- a socio-political utopia with few resources and a resource-rich material utopia still struggling with war and corruption. It's a plodding adventure. It's a love story. It's a political philosophy. It's an anthropological reflection on our own governments and power structures.
Give the book a chance – the beginning is a bit slow, and like some other books in the Hainish Cycle, I wasn't immediately clear who the main character was. But once the narrative found its feet, I was thoroughly invested in the world, the characters, and the theoretical roundabouts.
Follow me on Twitter! @SeptimusBrown
There are so many layers to this story. The subtitle, an ambiguous utopia, refers to two very different societies on the twin planets Anarres and Urras -- a socio-political utopia with few resources and a resource-rich material utopia still struggling with war and corruption. It's a plodding adventure. It's a love story. It's a political philosophy. It's an anthropological reflection on our own governments and power structures.
Give the book a chance – the beginning is a bit slow, and like some other books in the Hainish Cycle, I wasn't immediately clear who the main character was. But once the narrative found its feet, I was thoroughly invested in the world, the characters, and the theoretical roundabouts.
Follow me on Twitter! @SeptimusBrown