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Los desposeídos

(Hainish Cycle #6)

Ursula K. Le Guin

4.20 · Rating details · 91,681 ratings · 5,864 reviews

Los desposeídos narra la historia de Shevek, un físico brillante que vive en Anares, un planeta aislado y 'anarquista', que decide emprender un insólito viaje al planeta madre, Urras, en el que impera el 'proletariado'. Shevek cree por encima de todo que los muros del odio, la desconfianza y las ideologías, que separan su propio planeta del resto del mundo civilizado, tien ...more

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Paperback, 384 pages

Published July 28th 1995 by Minotauro (first published May 1974)

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Nov 20, 2008 Manny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, if-research-were-romance, strongly-recommended

First of all: if you haven't already read The Dispossessed, then do so. Somehow, probably because it comes with an SF sticker, it isn't yet officially labeled as one of the great novels of the 20th century. They're going to fix that eventually, so why not get in ahead of the crowd? It's not just a terrific story; it might change your life. Ursula Le Guin is saying some pretty important stuff here.

So, what is it she's saying that's so important? I've read the book several times since I first came First of all: if you haven't already read The Dispossessed, then do so. Somehow, probably because it comes with an SF sticker, it isn't yet officially labeled as one of the great novels of the 20th century. They're going to fix that eventually, so why not get in ahead of the crowd? It's not just a terrific story; it might change your life. Ursula Le Guin is saying some pretty important stuff here.

So, what is it she's saying that's so important? I've read the book several times since I first came across it as a teenager, and my perception of it has changed over time. There's more than one layer, and I, at least, didn't immediately realize that. On the surface, the first thing you notice is the setting. She is presenting a genuinely credible anarchist utopia. Most utopias are irritating or just plain silly. You read them, and at best you shake your head and wish that people actually were like that; or, more likely, you wonder how the author can be quite so deluded. This one's different. Le Guin has thought about it a lot, and taken into account the obvious fact that people are often selfish and stupid. You feel that her anarchist society actually could work; it doesn't work all the time, and there are things about it that you see are going to cause problems. But, like the US Constitution (one of my favorite utopian documents) it seems to have the necessary flexibility and groundedness that allow it to adapt to changing circumstances and survive. She's done a good job, and you can't help admiring the brave and kind Annaresti.

Another thing you're immediately impressed by is the central character, Shevek. Looking at the other reviews, everyone loves Shevek. I love him too. He's one of the most convincing fictional scientists I know; I'm a scientist myself, so I'm very sensitive to the nuances. Like his society, he's not in any way perfect, and his life is a long struggle to try and understand the secrets of temporal physics, which he often feels are completely beyond him. I was impressed by the alien science; she gives you just the right amount of background that it feels credible, but not so much that you're tempted to nit-pick the details. You're swept up in his quest to unify Sequency and Simultaneity, without ever needing to know exactly what they are. And his relationship with Takver is a great love story, with some wonderfully moving scenes. There's one line in particular which, despite being utterly simple and understated, never fails to bring tears to my eyes. As you also see in The Lathe of Heaven, Le Guin knows about love.

What I've said so far would already be enough to qualify this as a good book that was absolutely worth reading. What I think makes it a great book is her analysis of the concept of freedom. There are so many other interesting things to look at that at first you don't quite notice it, but to me it's the core of the novel. What does it mean to be truly free? At first, you think that the Annaresti have already achieved that; it's just a question of having the right social structures. But after a while you see that it's not nearly as straightforward as you first imagined. Real freedom means that you have to be able to challenge the beliefs of the people around you when they conflict with what you, yourself, truly believe, and that can be painful for everyone. But it's essential, and it's particularly essential if you want to be a scientist; I know this from personal experience. Another theme that suffuses the book is the concept of the Promise. If you can't make and keep promises, then you have no influence on the future; you are locked in the present. But promising something also binds your future self. There are some deep paradoxes here. The book folds the arguments unobtrusively into the narrative, and never shoves them in your face, but after a while you see that they are what tie all the strands together: the anarchist society, the science, the love story, the politics.

It's a much deeper book than you first realize. As I said, it might change your life. It's changed mine.

...more

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Nov 29, 2007 Joe S rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction

Oh, Ursula. No longer will I love you in a vaguely ashamed manner, skulking through chesty-women-blow-shit-up-also-monster! book covers in the sci-fi/fantasy aisles with a moderate velocity as though I am actually trying to find Civil War biographies but am amusingly lost amongst all these shelves, that's so like me, need a GPS for Borders. Today, I will begin loving you publicly, proudly, for you are the Anti-Ayn Rand. You do not skullf**k Ayn Rand and make her your bitch, no, too easy. You tak ...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Lyn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-most-favorite-books

There are some books that even with my untrained, unskilled and inexperienced eye can detect and confirm are true works of art, mastery in literature.

Other works, perhaps less skillfully written or not as masterfully created, still strike a chord within me and I can grasp the vision and voice of the author as if we were friends, as if we shared a thought. It is truly rare when I can see that a book is both a work of art and that also touches me in a way that leaves a mark on my soul, perhaps ev ...more

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Feb 05, 2012 mark monday rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi-60s-70s-80s

Why America Is Full of Toxic Bullshit and Why Ambiguous Utopias Need to Check Themselves Before They Wreck Themselves Going Down the Same Fucked-Up Path
by Ursula K. Le Guin.

this excellent novel-cum-political treatise-cum-extended metaphor for the States lays its thesis out in parallel narratives. in the present day (far, far, far in the future), heroically thoughtful protagonist Shevek visits the thinly-veiled States of the nation A-Io on the planet Urras in order to both work on his Theory of Why America Is Full of Toxic Bullshit and Why Ambiguous Utopias Need to Check Themselves Before They Wreck Themselves Going Down the Same Fucked-Up Path
by Ursula K. Le Guin.

this excellent novel-cum-political treatise-cum-extended metaphor for the States lays its thesis out in parallel narratives. in the present day (far, far, far in the future), heroically thoughtful protagonist Shevek visits the thinly-veiled States of the nation A-Io on the planet Urras in order to both work on his Theory of Simultaneity and to pave the way for change on his homeworld. in chapters that alternate with this trip to Urras, we watch Shevek grow from boy to man on the anarcho-communist Anarres - the "Ambiguous Utopia" of the novel's subtitle. Urras and Anarres form a double-planet system within the Tau Ceti star system. The planets have a difficult relationship: 150 years prior, revolutionaries from Urras were given the mining planet of Anarres in order to halt their various revolutionary activities throughout the Urran nations. Upon establishment of their colony, Anarres cut off all but the most basic contact and trade with the despised "propertarians" of Urras.

The Dispossessed is a fiercely intelligent, passionate, intensely critical novel - yet it is also a gentle, warm and very carefully constructed novel as well. ideas do not burn off the page with their fiery rhetoric - everything is deliberately paced; concepts and actions and even characterization are parsed out slowly. its parallel narratives are perfectly executed, with different plot themes and character backgrounds brought up, expanded upon, and often reflecting upon each other. ideas are unspooled in multiple directions and serve to continually challenge reader preconceptions. overall this is not a novel that quickens the pulse (although there is some of that) but is instead a Novel of Ideas. if you are not in a contemplative mood, if you have no interest in systems of government or human potential or theoretical physics, then this is probably not the novel for you. it is a book for the patient reader - one who actually enjoys sitting back and thinking about things. Le Guin's prose does not jump up at you; nonetheless, she is a beautiful writer - equally skilled with the little details that make a scene real and and with making the Big Concepts understandable to dummies like myself. and Le Guin is a sophisticated writer. she seems constitutionally unable to write in black & white - everything is multi-leveled, nothing is all bad, nothing is perfect. humans are fallible; ideas are fallible. everything must change and yet the past is ever a living part of the present.

America as A-Io is where much of Le Guin's passion is displayed. however, the time spent in A-Io (roughly half the novel due to the alternating chapters) did not exactly challenge me. perhaps because i am already critical of the good ole U.S. of A., and have engaged in plenty of political shenanigans throughout my life, i wasn't reading anything new. i am the choir to whom the novel preached. still, i'm not sure i would say that this is Le Guin's fault. it's probably my fault, being an unpatriotic asshole who both loves and hates this crazy place, and who is in agreement regarding all the negative points - and the positive ones too (introduced fairly late in the novel by a Terran envoy). i am automatically sympathetic to all the points made about the ivory tower of education, hypocritical politicians, unncessary wars, the poisonous yet hidden class system, the demeaning of women, etc. still, despite my lack of enthusiasm about A-Io, this is also where some of the most wonderful writing occurs, and where some of the most mind-expanding concepts are described.

where the novel really shines is in the depiction of the Ambiguous Utopia, Anarres. everything is not peachy-keen on this arid, sadly animal and grass-free desert world. the ideals that created Anarres are indeed admirable; it was awesome to see my own (and countless others') anarcho-socialist jerkoff fantasies about how perfect it would be if we were all truly able to share, all able to chip in to help each other, if materialism was seen as an abomination, if we were able to give up on ridiculous hierarchical structures, etc, etc, et al enacted in a fairly realistic way and in a very positive light. but of course this is an "Ambiguous" Utopia, so Le Guin also shows how basic, power-craving, territorial human nature will always surface... how cooperative, communal living can also stamp down the individual, how it can make being different seem like a threat... how other-hatin' tribalism is ultimately toxic, no matter the tribe, no matter the utopia, no matter if the tribe is an entire nation - or world. Le Guin makes a utopia, then she nearly unmakes it by unmasking all of its issues and ugliness... but she does not denounce it. i loved that. Le Guin and Shevek still see the beauty in this culture, in a place that is anti-materialist, anti-capitalist; their goal is to explore how such a system can truly be maintained - in a way that is genuine and that respects the invididual, a society that is continuously revolutionary. and the true enemies of revolution are complacency and stasis.

a closing word and quick circle-back to the sophistication of Le Guin's writing: i loved how Shevek's Theory of Simultaneity was reflected within the book's structure and by the political and moral themes as well. an example:

"But it's true, chronosophy does involve ethics. Because our sense of time involves our ability to separate cause and effect, means and end. The baby, agan, the animal, they don't see the difference between what they do now and what will happen because of it. They can't make a pulley, or promise. We can. Seeking the difference between now and not now, we can make the connection. And there morality enters in. Responsibility. To say that a good end will follow from a bad means is just like saying that if I pull a rope on this pulley it will lift the weight on that one. To break a promise is to deny the reality of the past; therefore it is to deny the hope of a real future. If time and reason are functions of each other, if we are creatures of time, then we had better know it, and try to make the best of it. To act responsibly."

...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

When I started this novel I was a little worried because the prose seemed clunky and I was having a hard time settling into the novel. After a few pages that all changed, either I adjusted to her writing style or the writing smoothed out. If you experience this, hang in there, it is well worth sticking with this book.

I see some reviewers think of The Dispossessed as an anti-Ayn Rand book. I didn't come away with that impression at all. I thought LeGuin did an excellent job of showing the fal ...more

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Oct 29, 2016 Matthias rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Matthias by: Manny

Shelves: favorites, my-reviews

More than two months have passed since I've closed this book. While my traditional reviewing habit was one of immediately rushing to the closest laptop after reading the last line and sharing my excitement or the lack thereof in some hopefully original way, I felt a need to really let Le Guin's words sink fully into my mind and make them my own. (Actually, I've mostly just been very lazy in the reviewing department lately, but "letting words sink in" just sounds a little better.) But when it com More than two months have passed since I've closed this book. While my traditional reviewing habit was one of immediately rushing to the closest laptop after reading the last line and sharing my excitement or the lack thereof in some hopefully original way, I felt a need to really let Le Guin's words sink fully into my mind and make them my own. (Actually, I've mostly just been very lazy in the reviewing department lately, but "letting words sink in" just sounds a little better.) But when it comes to making words my own, as this dear author evoked so well in this book, longing for possession is mostly futile, and so it is with ideas, impressions and most of all, inspiration. At least in my case good ideas tend to go and come as they please and if I'm lucky they can be grasped when there's something close at hand to write them down, just as the motivation and energy to write has chosen to quickly pass through my hands. Currently, the energy is there, but apart from some sparse notes that I now have to re-interpret myself, I only have a few central take-aways that I would like to share. This review can thus be considered as a barrel of some of the reflections I managed to retain before they too evaporated into untranslatable little figments of thought.

The first take-away is that this is one of my favorite books. It is engaging, it is exciting, it teaches and it entertains. Le Guin's prose is nothing short of wonderful. While the plot is not exactly extraordinary, it provides the perfect mobile in which to transport some important messages on life and civilization that this author has chosen to share.

The second take-away is that this is the best dissection of our society that I've read. I've read great books on the nature of human individuals on the one hand, and abstract philosophical meanderings on time and infinity, but never felt warm to the idea of reading about one of the levels that are in-between, namely society and civilisation. The reason why I never did is that there often seems so much more stuff wrong with society than right, so that it's hard to know where to begin complaining, and even harder to know where to stop complaining and inspire change. The building is showing so many signs of decay it's hard to dispel the idea to just throw it down and start all over.

Ursula Le Guin found a great starting spot in this book with which to make a nice filet out of our civilisation: the idea of possession. The need of people to "own" stands central in our way of life, and the illusion of ownership pervades much of our thinking and doing. I myself am not immune. To give just one example, I prefer to buy books rather than to go borrow them at libraries. To give another example: I just bought an apartment. Now it would be unfair to point the finger just at people here. Animals do it too, on a certain level. They want to own territory, but instead of throwing money around, they urinate all over the place or emit certain smells. For all the faults our society has, I'm glad we evolved away out of that particular habit, if only for the sake of still readable books.

Do I own these books because I gave money for them and they will soon by surrounded by MY walls? I guess so. Until a fire or a flood consumes them, until the hand of time consumes me. Yet, even though the banality of ownership during our short lives is inescapable, our ways of living are so much focused on exactly that futility it's no surprise so many people feel unhappy and wronged when they see their mission to that end either obstructed or sabotaged by those around them, or recognise their endeavors as futile once the mission seems largely fulfilled.

This is just a personal take-away of course, because if Ursuala Le Guin is doing one thing exceptionally well, it is the convincing way in which she gives each perspective on the matter a stage in this book. I can easily see the staunchest proponents op capitalism (and as someone who profits of that system's fruits it would be hypocritical and outright dishonest of me to claim that I dislike it myself) like this book as much as a dirty hippy or clean-shaven commie.

Possession isn't just about capitalism and material goods. It's more pervasive than that. Just think about how people refer to each other. "My" son. "My" girlfriend. "My" mother. Or how Jason Mraz chose to sing of his undying love by proclaiming "I'm yours". It's innocent most of the time, but when there's problems in relationships of any kind, quite often it is a question of a certain dominance, where one is under the other, where one is partly of the other. We like to own but we don't like to be owned. Except for Jason Mraz, that is.

While writing this review I was faced with another example of the futility of possession. I had made notes while reading this book that I intended to use to inspire this review. There are some interesting one-liners, some runaway thoughts, some links to real-life experiences. I would call them "my" notes. But what the two month span between writing them and reading them has shown is that even my thoughts are not entirely my own. Some lines I wrote down there are now perfectly incomprehensible to me. Others I can give an interpretation, but without the guarantee it will be the same as intended back in the day. How are these alien words still my notes?

"The Dispossessed" touches on many more themes than the one I evoked here, and Le Guin shows her genius on basically every page with throwaway wisdoms that pack a punch: on prisons, on the education system, on laws, on the press, on the world of art, the army, the list goes on. She can seem cold and pessimistic sometimes: "Life is a fight, and the strongest wins. All civilization does is hide the blood and cover up the hate with pretty words." or when she states that suffering, unlike love, is real because the former ALWAYS hits the mark. Despite this recurring pessimism, I found this book to be widely uplifting by looking through that veil of coldness and finding there the beauty of life, of all the things that transcend possession. Her criticism has an inherent warmth and is not above criticism itself. It's a criticism that has channeled my own apathy towards many of society's ways into something that seems more helpful: an understanding and even a renewed love. Yes, you read that right. I love society. There's nothing I'd rather live right next to.
...more

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May 12, 2018 İntellecta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

You question a lot of things when you read this book. Loyalty, freedom, desire to own, work, family concept .... I think the author has written a great book.

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Jan 19, 2016 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, science-fiction

4, maybe 4.5 stars. This classic SF novel kept me glued to my chair the whole time I was reading it. Granted, I was on a cross-country airplane flight from Washington DC to Utah, but still!

It's very thought-provoking SF, set in the same universe as Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, but even more politically inclined. Almost 200 years earlier, a group of rebels left a highly capitalistic society on the planet Urras, to form their more utopian government on the moon Annares. Now a man named Sh ...more

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Apr 11, 2017 Ivan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, sci-fi, dystopia-and-postapocalyptic

This is one of my favorite books if not THE favorite and on third read I like it even more since I notice details I haven't first time around. I feel I should say something about the book but I'm not sure I can do this book justice. Review hopefully might come at some point. ...more

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May 12, 2013 Darwin8u rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014, aere-perennius

“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution.”
— Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed.

description

Ursula K. Le Guin's 'The Dispossessed' represents the high orbit of what SF can do. Science Fiction is best, most lasting, most literate, when it is using its conventional form(s) to explore not space but us. When the vehicle of SF is used to ask big questions that are easier bent with binary planets, with grand theories of time and space, etc., we are able to ...more

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Sep 07, 2009 notgettingenough rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommended to notgettingenough by: Manny

Shelves: science-fiction

Thoughts on The Dispossessed

Of the various layers of content in The Dispossessed, the most obvious is the socio-political: capitalism vs. anarchistic-communism. The claim often made is that, even though her heart is with the latter, she nonetheless treats the two structures impartially. The claim or presumption is to be found in the reviews of fantasy/science fiction devotees, those with a particular interest in anarchism and, I suspect, also those who simply read it with an uncritical eye.

I don ...more

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Mar 26, 2008 Brad rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: political, speculative, sci-fi, to-read-again, the-best, anarchism, faves, mieville50, revolution

As a semi-retired actor, there are many literary characters I'd love to play, and for all kinds of reasons. Cardinal Richelieu and D'Artagnan spring immediately to mind, but there are countless others: Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin (Perdido Street Station), Oedipus, Holmes or Watson (I'd take either), Captain Jack Aubrey (I'd rather Stephen Maturin, but I look like Jack), Heathcliff, Lady Macbeth (yep, I meant her), Lady Bracknell (nee Brancaster), Manfred, Indiana Jones. But none of them are people ...more

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Jan 09, 2014 Eric rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommended to Eric by: Manny Citron

Shelves: book-club, science-fiction, classic, dystopian

This discourse on dystopias won Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and National Book awards, and almost every single one of my Goodreads friends that has read it has it tagged with a 4 or 5 star rating. So clearly, the problem here is with me, because I really hated this book -- and it isn't because this book is dated or aged poorly, because the Cold War era slant of this book plays perfectly to a modern audience considering the current state of Russian-U.S. relations.

I'm giving it two stars b This discourse on dystopias won Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and National Book awards, and almost every single one of my Goodreads friends that has read it has it tagged with a 4 or 5 star rating. So clearly, the problem here is with me, because I really hated this book -- and it isn't because this book is dated or aged poorly, because the Cold War era slant of this book plays perfectly to a modern audience considering the current state of Russian-U.S. relations.

I'm giving it two stars because I do appreciate the big ideas Le Guin brings up. The vision behind the "profiteering" cultures of Urras -- with subdivisions for the capitalists of A-Io (U.S.) and the authoritarian state of the Thu (Russia) -- and the anarchist outcast settlement of Anarres was a solid and interesting foundation for the book. But the weak characterizations, uninspiring writing, unnecessarily non-linear storytelling, lack of action, and disappointing ending all added up to a very difficult and unrewarding reading experience for me. To address those points specifically (mild spoilers may follow):

- There is only one character, Shevek, who is more than one-dimensional. The rest fill out the story as needed -- corrupt bureaucrat, radical friend, loving partner, etc. As for Shevek, for as brilliant as he is, he is naive to the point of incredulity. And I don't mean just after he leaves Anarres for A-Io. It takes him decades longer than his friends to see the corruption in his own anarchist world. He is willfully ignorant of what is going on around him for someone involved in something as deep as theoretical physics.

- The writing was clunky throughout the entire novel, and had no rhythm. There were tedious lists, long sections of discourse about the various imperfections in the various imperfect societies, and unnecessary word invention -- although I will grant calling the toilet a shittery is funny, if nothing else.

- Another aspect of the storytelling that did not agree with me was the alternating chapters, where one chapter would be a flashback to Anarres, and the next a current day chapter on Urras. I would have minded this less if anything interesting or noteworthy happened on Anarres -- what little did happen could have easily been worked into flashbacks in the current day chapters, which could have greatly shortened the novel, and likely, my enjoyment of it.

- There was one action scene in entire novel, and, if you include the aftermath, maybe ten pages are spent on it in total. There were also two other scenes that contained somewhat tense conflict. I don't need every book I read to be paced like The Hunger Games, but I need more of an action-driven plot than this, especially if you expect me to sit through endless info dumps on your imaginary dystopias.

- The book ends right before another action scene -- or at least a scene with great potential for conflict -- that Le Guin either didn't know how to write her way out of, or didn't want to go out on a limb and make a stand for, which I see as a cop-out either way.

- The overall feeling I was left with after reading this book was that capitalism sucks, anarchism sucks in different ways, and the only hope forward lies in benevolent aliens. This could have been improved if the ending to the novel went one chapter further, however it turned out.

I could go on, but I believe my opinion is already more than clear. I will leave you with a quote from this book that sums up how I felt about reading it:

He tried to read an elementary economics text; it bored him past endurance, it was like listening to somebody interminably recounting a long and stupid dream.

Goodreads friends, in all seriousness, tell me what I am missing that led you to rate this so highly. I feel like I am the only one seeing the Emperor's bare ass here. ...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Bradley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: political, dystopia-yes-pls, sci-fi, 2017-shelf, worldbuilding-sf

The first time I read this book back in the early nineties, I would have given it a four star rating because I was slightly annoyed with the prose and the steadily boring pace where nothing really big happens (mostly) except a general living of a life. This is despite our following a very interesting character escaping his pragmatic moon to gift his very advanced physics that would lead to not only an ansible for faster-than-light communications but also faster-than-light travel.

The world-buildi The first time I read this book back in the early nineties, I would have given it a four star rating because I was slightly annoyed with the prose and the steadily boring pace where nothing really big happens (mostly) except a general living of a life. This is despite our following a very interesting character escaping his pragmatic moon to gift his very advanced physics that would lead to not only an ansible for faster-than-light communications but also faster-than-light travel.

The world-building is pretty amazing on both the political and socio-economic levels, the discussion of what men and women are to each other and just how amazingly different (and similar) it is between both worlds. The novel easily tackles six different heavy themes and does it with heart and no hammer in sight.

On one hand, I know the author couldn't have tackled the whole gamut of two worlds without a very light touch, but it was this same light touch and frustrating lack of progress, the descent of the sense of utopia into desperate and dire dystopia, that eventually made me distrust this novel.

It frankly took me two hundred pages, the first time, to even get into the novel. It requires a learning curve.

Now that I'm reading this as a full adult with a lot of ideas under his belt, I eased into the read much more, expecting certain things and realizing it was primarily a novel of ideas and deep commentary. It's not just a political mirror or even a mirror between true communist idealism and anarchism. It's also a damn unique exploration of sexuality and how sexuality necessitates certain kinds of thinking, how a social structure informs it and how it can kill a real germination of ideas.

I'm talking about two halves making a whole here. Men and women are just a half of it. The two political makeups of the moon and the planet aren't whole until they finally find a mix. It's Taoism and a mix of opposites and equals creating something more than the sum of its parts.

And that's what is so tragic about this novel. There's distrust, revulsion against new thought, a nearly impossible wall between the sexes (and the obvious exception to that rule in this novel is noteworthy also because it occurs with the Dispossessed scientist). If people opened up their minds to new ideas, so much of this would have been avoided.

During my original take, I was going to college at the time and I saw a lot of the same approbations and stifled thought in the academic arena. The Dispossessed brings up the plight of ourselves in science, the fact that certain ideas get heavily entrenched and new ones are mercilessly cut down at least until a new generation takes over.

It all comes back to a germination of ideas. The call in the text to keep the flow of information going was really breathtaking, if not that unique. I think of the internet and how that has been such a boon to science now, but even in '92 when I read this, the weight of bureaucracy was immense. I'm sure things aren't all that different now. Aren't we still enamored with string theory and colliders and aren't we all getting rather upset that it hasn't been panning out as we would have liked? Well, alas, this isn't the forum for that but this book makes very good points all over the place.

I ramble.

The fact is, I'm increasing my rating on this book merely because it is gorgeous in conception and form. It carries on multiple narratives on so many aspects of our lives here and now and also within the fictional boundaries of political systems that don't exist anywhere except in our minds. She even goes on to conceive a world without cause and effect, where all things can and will be explored at the same time. How often can we have a cogent discussion about that, rooted firmly in the events of normal lives, and yet not have the text explode in handwavium and weird science? She keeps things real. And brilliant.

I'm going to ignore my stylistic complaints and even the fact that I couldn't really get into it for hundreds of pages because the trip is more than impressive by the end. It's more of a monument to thought. ...more

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May 30, 2020 Lisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

We humans really fail at the system level, don't we?

Try as we might to make a fair collective of independent individuals, we invariably end up crushing those individuals in the process of distributing our homemade booty of choice according to increasingly corrupt rules and guidelines that keep changing in favour of those who happen to have the power to write them down.

The Dispossessed are everywhere. That they dispossess in their specific lives depends on the quirky path of history. It never s ...more

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Sep 01, 2017 Tara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Tara by: Junta

Shelves: 1001-list

I’ve gotta admit, I was initially a little wary of The Dispossessed. I was worried that it might prove to be one of those godawful books whose sole purpose in life is to peddle insipidly idealistic ideology. The derisive cynic in me was prepared for the worst, ready to swoop in with some aggressively bratty eye-rolling and loud, obnoxious sighing at the first sign of trouble. I mean, is there anything worse than those agenda-pushing heaps of garbage that masquerade as literature? Seriously, who ...more

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May 31, 2019 J.L. Sutton rated it liked it · review of another edition

Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed was a difficult book for me to review. On the one hand, I like the ideas Le Guin explores and the fact that she doesn't take shortcuts. Her depictions of utopia, for instance, are interesting and thought provoking, but at the same time they're obviously flawed. That's not a surprise. Still, it's frustrating for the reader that the main character, Shevek, doesn't see those flaws. Even though it's probably perfectly natural for people in a given cultural context n ...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Megan Baxter rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Human nature tends towards, not entropy, but bureaucracy.

I fear my review might focus more on Anarres and less on Urras, as it was the Anarrian sections that interested me more, the attempts to sustain (founding was the easy part) an anarcho-syndicalist society over a long period of time. For Urras, I thought that Urras was painted in clear terms, and avoided a polemic, although it did have very pointed things to say about class, and war, and conscription, and property, and the gendering thereof ...more

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Aug 22, 2016 Simona B rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, in-english, 1900

"He has power over you. Where does he get it from? Not from vested authority, there isn't any. Not from intellectual excellence, he hasn't any. He gets it from the innate cowardice of the average human mind. Public opinion! That's the power structure he's part of, and knows how to use."

I have decided this won't be a proper review, but rather a short, focused comment.

The Dispossessed is one of those books written not to make you lose yourself in the story, but to make you yourself in your thought ...more

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Nov 05, 2016 Manuel Antão rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, favorites

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

Anarres vs. Urras - Ambiguous Walls: “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin Published 1994.

There was a wall. It did not look important…But the idea was real…Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon the which side of it you were on”.

In “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin

"Call me Shevek. Some years ago, never mind how many, I set out to be the tedious, most hypocritic ...more

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May 10, 2013 Samadrita rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: politics, sci-fi-speculative, fantasy-mythology, in-by-about-america, omg-aliens, the-cosmos-beckons, social-justice, adoration, hugo-nebula-locus-awards, sociology

So good. Maybe I'll write a review when I manage to find some free time. ...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Aubrey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reality-check, 5-star, books-are-the-best-invention, r-2013, r-goodreads, reviewed, prose-prose-prose, 1-read-on-hand, antidote-think-twice-read, antidote-think-twice-all

Fulfillment, Shevek thought, is a function of time. The search for pleasure is circular, repetitive, atemporal. The variety seeking of the spectator, the thrill hunter, the sexually promiscuous, always ends in the same place. It has an end. It comes to the end and has to start over. It is not a journey and return, but a closed cycle, a locked room, a cell.

Outside the locked room is the landscape of time, in which the spirit may, with luck and courage, construct the fragile, makeshift, improba

Fulfillment, Shevek thought, is a function of time. The search for pleasure is circular, repetitive, atemporal. The variety seeking of the spectator, the thrill hunter, the sexually promiscuous, always ends in the same place. It has an end. It comes to the end and has to start over. It is not a journey and return, but a closed cycle, a locked room, a cell.

Outside the locked room is the landscape of time, in which the spirit may, with luck and courage, construct the fragile, makeshift, improbable roads and cities of fidelity: a landscape inhabitable by human beings.

It is not until an act occurs within the landscape of the past and the future that it is a human act. Loyalty, which asserts the continuity of past and future, binding time into a whole, is the root of human strength; there is no good to be done without it.

I am a selfish and impractical person when it comes to many things in life, and literature is no exception. It's not enough for the book to be worthy in its own merit, whatever attributes of prose, plot, parcel of fact and fiction it brings to the table for my judgment. For I will judge, but more than that, I will steal and stow away any piece and passage that is worthy of my doing so. More than that, I will build my own string of words and fancies off the standard structure, disguising them under that formulaic word of 'review' and letting them loose on the grandest forum technology has thus far provided. Simply put, appreciation is no longer enough, if there is no room for me to create.

Not a very stable concept, is it? To take a work of seeming completeness and force it into strange and subjective shapes, to be unsatisfied with sitting back and letting the simple phrase of 'This is what I thought of the book...' speak for the full experience of that particular reading. To distrust the shortcuts of words, the 'speculative fiction', the 'Ursula K. Le Guin', all those key terminology characteristics that first attracted me to considering the work worthy of my attention.

Worthy of my attention? What is that? What is my 'attention', per se, one that has made a business of malcontent with institutions, ideologies, and has given up any hope of finding refuge in any one-time ready-made form, anything that does not shift and slither and mutate with every passing second, season, generation?

Exactly that, really. For I am a creature bound by time and its limited infinity, its cyclical progress, its complex web where the facts are as driven by the abstract as by the scientific method, however much people would like to believe otherwise. A person who, by the matters of coincidence and consequence, will be easily won over by any piece of media that considers science as beautiful as it considers art. A simple matter, one would think, but also a lie of simplification, deceptively mundane if one doesn't mention examples of successful media. The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann. The works of Pynchon. Others that I cannot recall for fault of my own limited recollection, a thought as fascinating and as frightful as the void itself, for how much is holding my own opinions worth when I cannot even keep all the parameters of it within the limits of instantaneous retrieval forevermore? And this one, one that's forced me to further expand and complicate my definition of what I 'like', as evidenced by the disparity in complex depth between it and the former works.

An excellent thought experiment when it comes to the 'lie of simplification', really. For this book does not attempt to achieve reality through constant bombardment of ideas, or strain the lines of connective tissue between branches of knowledge to the point of nonsensical pride and fearful rejection. Instead, you have the simple elegance of a mathematical proof, bound up in the terms of biological fact and empathetic concern, solving the factor of an ever progressing instant with an ever widening calcification of history behind it, on a ship of constants built by the dead in hopes for the living.

The answer? You'd have a better chance of finding stabilized truth in the Uncertainty Principle, where change is not a means to the end, but one and the same. A theorem that, despite its incontrovertible reality, has not yet led the entire scientific community into a mass existential crisis, but has also not yet led the public consciousness to the realization that there is inherent futility in seeking a life within a label. Of course, the labels that are inherently tied up with a consideration for the unceasing flow of time and all the resulting chaos of such a concept are likely to do better. But the fact of the matter remains that, with every new self, every forward momentum of knowledge and insight, from a child on one side of the world gazing at a cave painting daubed in some unknown past millenia, to a child on the other grasping the instantaneous crossfire of the Internet faster than its makers, the labels are no more than a guideline. Easily fitted, easily discarded, easily broken down and cannibalized by those who only have use for bits and pieces of it. A constant evolution frightening for the majority of those who wish only for balance with the existing structure, and will not or cannot afford to sacrifice livelihood for the inevitability of progress.

A difficult situation, for those who have equally invested their interests in the maintenance of their self and the future of humanity. A simultaneous transience, that requires an ever watchful eye on the facts of the world at large as well as the delicate clockwork of the only mind at one's disposal. An effort sustained by the thought that the effort will never be complete, with the kinder words of uniqueness and altruism inextricably bound up with those of egotism and naivety, where one kith and kind of knowledgeable insight will never, truly, be enough, no matter how much compartmentalization the simple act of socializing in theorized, standardized, economized forms demands.

I read to discover, and write in full knowledge that the discovery will never be enough. I am grateful for what the world can give me, and criticize in full knowledge of my ungratefulness. I balance my consumption with my delivery, and find as much glory in the cold curves of physics as I do in the complex vagaries of philosophy. I am here, and if you try to convince me of a label, or attempt to label me, I will look, and listen, and give you as much benefit of a doubt as fits within the society defined realms of politeness and my personal realms of social behavior. Keep in mind, though, the constant give and take of truth and empathy will always be more fruitful than the demand for an unchanging acquiescence to anything at all, much as the simplistic equations of calculable chemistry disguise a fierce and frothing equilibrium at every level of growth and decay. If you insist otherwise, I will drift away, for I am a selfish and impractical person when it comes my maxim that conventions are never enough, and all my efforts to learn will always hold equal footing with my valuing of personal sensibilities of what it means to be human.

"My race is very old," Ketho said. "We have been civilized for a thousand millenia. We have histories of hundreds of those millenia. We have tried everything. Anarchism, with the rest. But I have not tried it. They say there is nothing new under any sun. But if each life is not new, each single life, then why are we born?"

...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Stuart rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: politics, humanistic-sf, literature, favorites

The Dispossessed: Not simply an anarchist utopia/capitalist dystopia
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
The Dispossessed is a perfectly achieved thought experiment, perhaps Ursula K. Le Guin’s greatest work, but there is little I can say that hasn’t been said more eloquently, forcefully, thoroughly, or knowledgeably by other reviewers. It transcends the genre as a Novel of Ideas. It explores with great intelligence anarchism-socialism vs capitalism; freedom/slavery in terms of politics, econo The Dispossessed: Not simply an anarchist utopia/capitalist dystopia
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
The Dispossessed is a perfectly achieved thought experiment, perhaps Ursula K. Le Guin’s greatest work, but there is little I can say that hasn’t been said more eloquently, forcefully, thoroughly, or knowledgeably by other reviewers. It transcends the genre as a Novel of Ideas. It explores with great intelligence anarchism-socialism vs capitalism; freedom/slavery in terms of politics, economics, society, intellectual endeavor, and personal relationships; the struggle to perfect a scientific theory that unifies time and space; whether human nature inevitably corrupts all political ideals; whether political utopias can ever be achieved to a meaningful degree; whether only hardship and privation can support socialist sentiment; and whether we must therefore settle for capitalism and the pursuit of possessions, money, and power.

Having just read all the many insightful reviews of this towering novel, which remains humble, grounded, and refuses to provide easy answers where there are none, I don’t think I have much to add to the body of discussion and analysis The Dispossessed has generated in the almost half-century since its publication. Rather, I think it has achieved its goal of perfectly integrating a story of Big Ideas with the profoundly-moving story of physicist Shevek in his struggle to pursue his theories in the arid anarchist society of Annares and later in the capitalist societies of the more abundant Urras. It is also a surprisingly powerful love story about Shevek and his partner Takver, as they try to navigate the difficulty of living their ideals within a less-than-perfect anarchist society in which the needs of the group take precedence over those of the individual.

What is really impressive about this book is that is remains gripping and thought-provoking despite a lack of almost any kinetic action or intricacies of plot. It truly rewards the patient reader who wishes to contemplate the ideas presented and examine them in terms of their own life experiences, compare them with their understanding of the political systems that govern their own society, and what aspects could realistically be changed for the better. After all, considering what happened in the disastrous US election in 2016, I don’t think anyone out there could for a moment claim that the US political system is the pinnacle of human achievement.

Having said that, without any viable anarchist social experiments to point to beyond kibbutzes in the desert, it’s hard to say whether that model could ever exist on a large scale in the real world. And that is exactly what The Dispossessed sets out to do — depict a realistic, non-idealized anarchist society that functions with the full participation of its members maintaining continuous revolution on a daily basis. And by showing the flaws and inevitable creep toward bureaucracy, conformism, and petty power struggles, Le Guin is willing to put her anarchist society under stress tests that raise legitimate questions of its viability.

In the end, it’s quite easy for us to see the flaws of capitalism given that it relies on greed, self-interest, consumption, private possessions, and competition between social classes, but it is another thing entirely to create a fictional anarchist utopia and put it through the ringer within the context of a compelling story of real people with complex motivations and ideals. It would be easy to dismiss such a thought experiment as hopelessly idealistic or irrelevant, but I think that would be to miss the point of this book. Le Guin’s book is not a call to arms to discard our corrupt capitalist systems and form anarchist or socialist communities with The Dispossessed as our Little Red Book. Instead, she wants us to examine our own lives and political structures and think about what ideals really should drive society, and then what aspects of our political and social systems should or can be improved upon, since we can all agree they are far from perfect.

Sadly, even when such a hypothetical society is composed of people dedicated to such political ideals as Annares is, it still struggles to hold together over time. It is this willingness to accept the fallibility of all political systems that is Le Guin’s most mature sentiment, one sorely lacking among demagogues or jingo-chanting nationalists. It is the refusal to simplify things that makes The Dispossessed both intellectually-stimulating and politically-unsatisfying, since it is unlikely to galvanize us to action, but rather pushes us to reflect on our own assumptions about ourselves and our societies. It is a masterpiece in the genre and a great book by any measure, one of my all-time favorites. ...more

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Nov 25, 2016 Peter Boyle rated it liked it · review of another edition

My hero David Mitchell frequently mentions The Dispossessed as one of his favourite books, and it is regularly described as one of the most significant sci-fi novels of all time. So I just HAD to see what all the fuss was about.

The story revolves around two distant planets, Urras and Annares. Years ago a rebellion brewed on Urras and in order to avoid conflict, the anarchists left to start a new life on Annares. Urras is a bountiful place with a capitalist, patriarchal society, whereas Annares i ...more

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Aug 13, 2015 Gabrielle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, favorites, mandatory-reading, reviewed, own-a-copy, speculative-fiction, read-in-2019, to-read-again, read-in-2015, book-crush

Updated review after a re-read in November 2019.

---

“Change is freedom, change is life."

"It's always easier not to think for oneself. Find a nice safe hierarchy and settle in. Don't make changes, don't risk disapproval, don't upset your syndics. It's always easiest to let yourself be governed."

"There's a point, around age twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities."

"Those who build walls are their own prisoner ...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Nataliya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Nataliya by: Mosca

Shelves: hugo-nebula, ursula-k-le-guin, 2012-reads, locus-winner, really-should-write-a-review, location-is-the-true-protagonist

Excellent book, and I've dog-eared about a third of its pages - too many messages, too little brain room left! Review to follow.

It's always easier not to think for oneself. Find a nice safe hierarchy and settle in. Don't make changes, don't risk disapproval[...] It's always easiest to let yourself be governed.
...more

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Jun 04, 2019 William2 rated it liked it · review of another edition

Contentment generally doesn’t compel writers to their greatest work. Historian Barbara Tuchman mentions this in one of her books. I think it’s true for fiction, too. The happiness of others— making babies, seeing friends, tying one on, etc— is a bore. Even if it’s happening a million years in the future on two adjacent planets 20 light years away. The writing however is far better than the content, which is why I give it 3 stars. There can be no question that here at least Le Guin has produced e ...more

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Dec 10, 2017 Fran rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, adult, speculative-fiction, science-fiction, thriller

One of the things that always comes to my mind when reading this novel (yes, I’ve read it several times) is this feeling that while Anarres does represent something that feels like a utopian future, it’s a utopia/dystopia of a different kind, one that feels the closets to a future that may work for everyone.

Anarres is a small moon, colonized by humans from the planet Urras. For centuries, Urra’s government contained and served only the wealthy. And the wealthy loathe the poor. So, by ensuring th One of the things that always comes to my mind when reading this novel (yes, I’ve read it several times) is this feeling that while Anarres does represent something that feels like a utopian future, it’s a utopia/dystopia of a different kind, one that feels the closets to a future that may work for everyone.

Anarres is a small moon, colonized by humans from the planet Urras. For centuries, Urra’s government contained and served only the wealthy. And the wealthy loathe the poor. So, by ensuring the masses received only the minimum of education and state support, the wealthy have ensured that no one born in poverty can’t escape it. If this sounds just like the world today, it’s not a coincidence. With academic anthropologists Alfred and Theodora Kroeber for parents and with J. Robert Oppenheimer as close family friend, Le Guin had a clear understanding of the way society works and what the near future would become as fewer came to posses most of the wealth. Moreover, as the excellent science fiction writer she was, she not only predicted the car but the traffic jam as well.

Anyhow, in this world of Urras, public health services had been obliterated, so those who cannot afford private care are crammed into filthy hospitals where they go to die, and any protests are put down with brutal force. That is, until the inescapable inequality provokes an anger that can be repressed. So, little more than a century before the story opens, there’s a huge revolution. Many are killed, but the people keep marching and fighting, so instead of keep killing them, or hazarded being killed by them, the oppressors offer the revolutionary an option: to set up their own ideal society in one of Urras’s orbiting moons.

That moon is Anarres, where the idealists set up an anarchistic society based on principles of shared wealth, shared responsibility and shared lives. Superficially, the society works. But by the time we are slung into the story, things have stagnated. The revolution is in the past. There’s no government, but other institutions play similar roles, and within them new ideas are frowned upon, even feared, and self-interested people have started to hog power. In this new society knowledge is the highest currency, and new, significant, evolving knowledge is all the more dangerous for those who stay in power by presentencing themselves as the all-knowing (who, not surprising, seem to be theoretical physicists). So once again, discontent is brewing.

Among the discontent is Shevek, a brilliant young physicist, who finds his work blocked by a jealous superior, as his theories conflict with the prevailing political philosophy and are therefore disruptive. Nonetheless, is because of such theories that Shevek is granted permission to travel from Anarres to Urras. As expected, Shevek has grown disillusioned with the anarchists of Anarres, and such emotions serve to highlight his even more intense disillusionment of the government (and scientists) of Urras, who want to monopolize his theory for its economic value.

Knowing Le Guin’s belief in writing serving more than one purpose, the way in which she structured her book—chapters alternate between the two planets and between past and future—must be significant. And it is, because as Shevek's big physics breakthrough the "theory of simultaneity” plays with ideas of time, beginnings and endings, and the past happening at the same time as the present, the book’s the structure becomes meaningful as a constant reminder of such theory, and by extension, of the importance of it being recognized.

Similarly, Shevek's journey has a pleasing circularity, from Anarres to Urras and back. And there’s intellectual substance in Le Guin's portrayal of how, given the right conditions, an anarchist society might function and malfunction. And it all happens while we metaphorically run toward a fast paced climax that is hard to imagine but extremely satisfying.

Nonetheless, what brings me back to this book time after time, is this sense of reality enshrouded in possibility. All these very real characters, living very real lives, suffering, loving, laughing, missing and encountering each other within a world that is not real but that feels as real as the world around us. No doubt this remains a challenging and urgent book, and a good reminder of the interplay between human nature and power. And let’s not forget that this is all exquisitely written, in a prose that flows and is engaging, and where each word has earned its place.

Now, anybody who knows me knows I’m a big fan of Ursula K. Le Guin. That’s no secret. But don’t let my fangirl-ism fool you, because whatever good thing I said about this book is well-deserved and you should read it. In fact you should read all of Le Guin's works, her books, and her essays, and her poetry, and her short stories. ...more

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Jul 15, 2019 Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: For those who want to think

Shelves: sci-fi, dystopia-or-utopia, modern-classics

Do I like this book?

I'm really not sure. Maybe I should have followed the GR reading order, as at the start I was very confused. But this tale of two separate planets, seen through the eyes of the intelligent & (originally) idealistic Shevek parallels our own society. Communism or Capitalism? Which system is better?

I particularly like this quote:

“My world, my Earth is a ruin. A planet spoiled by the human species. We multiplied and fought and gobbled until there was nothing left, and then

...more

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Sep 03, 2010 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-that-speculates

It's really weird to me that, even though I'm totally drunk, I can still type just a s well as usual. I might not be able to make it down the hall without running into walls, but I can still compose a review without a problem. Anyway, I'm here today to talk about The Dispossessed. It is a book by Ursula K Le Guin, who is badass. If it hadn't taken me like four mouths to read this book, I would've probably given it five stars. Unfortunately, it took me almost a complete semester to read the damne It's really weird to me that, even though I'm totally drunk, I can still type just a s well as usual. I might not be able to make it down the hall without running into walls, but I can still compose a review without a problem. Anyway, I'm here today to talk about The Dispossessed. It is a book by Ursula K Le Guin, who is badass. If it hadn't taken me like four mouths to read this book, I would've probably given it five stars. Unfortunately, it took me almost a complete semester to read the damned thing because I've been very busy. I'll be back, I have to pee.

Okay, I'm back. Don't you hate how sometimes you pee but you've had so much to drink that you still kinda feel like you have to pee? I hate that.

So, this book is the second one I've read by Le Guin, and I would've probably given it five stars if it hadn't taken me so long to read it. But, as it is, I have to just give it four. This is a story about a man who was born on an anarchist planet who goes to the capitalistic planet that his people originally broke off from, and he's trying to do his physics there because he wasn't able to communicate it with other planets form the anarchist planet he was from. His planet, other than anarchy, is pretty lame. It's a barren wasteland, kind of like Arizona. Except Arizona has cacti, whereas I don't think that Urras does. If it does, they aren't mentioned. Joel was expecting a lot of Urras jokes, but I don't have any. Sorry to disappoint you, Joel.

I'm going to refill my wine glass. Be right back.

The Left Hand of Darkness dealt with some fascinating themes about gender, and kind of blew my mind. I mean, it really brought to my attention how much gender factors into how I think about people. Before I ask myself, "Is this person an old person or not?" I ask myself, "Is this a man or a woman?" Before anything else, we think about gender. This book does something entirely different from that, but equally interesting. The major theme here is whether a society can be successful if it's anarchy. But, it's more than just that.

Through what we see of Urras, we realize that anarchy isn't necessarily going to save the day. Even in this world where money is not a factor and where people aren't motivated by materialistic ideals, you still find people who are motivated by power and prestige. These can become the same kind of selfish force as money and materialism. So, the book seems to be saying that even Anarchy is only an improvement over a capitalistic society where people are suffering and prejudicial.

I'm honestly at a loss. I mean, plenty of philosophies have terrific ideals, but you still have people with selfish, private motives, no matter what the political system is. It's an instinctual part of what it means to be human. It's the reptilian part of the brain, so whatever political system we establish, we're going to be struggling against our own instincts. Some of us will be able to rise above our baser instincts, and others among us, like Caris, who is a douche, won't be able to. It's unfortunate, but that is the reality of the human condition.

I don't know if I'm talking about the book anymore. I should be drinking more water if I don't want to have a hangover tomorrow.

It's really cool to see the way Ursula portrays her conception of an anarchist society, because it's really hard to visualize. My nose is kind of numb. I definitely need to reread this one when I have time to read a book without dragging out the process for months, because, even if I were sober, I'd have a hard time reviewing this shit. It's a shame you don't know ahead of time, and you can't decide to read mediocre books when you're not going to have enough time, and save the really good books for long weekends or times when you're ready for them.

Why did I decide to review THIS book drunk? This book is philosophical as fuck, and I can't talk about politics and philosophy when I can barely find the f key. Oh, and before I forget, I should mention that the edition I have of this book SUCKED hardcore. Typos like you wouldn't believe. The cover looked like it was sharted out of an automatic sci-fi cover machine, and the blurb on the back cover actually got details about the book WRONG. Thank you, Harper Collins, for sucking butt. This didn't do much to detract from the book's excellence, however. Anyway, I may add to this when I'm sober enough to figure out what I've left out.

I always try to finish on a strong note, and I can't think of anything else to say about this book, so I just want to tell all of you that I love this website. You make this website amazing, and I can't tell you how cool it is that we all have a place to talk about books with each other, other than real life. My nose is gaining its sensation back, and I'm trying to drink more water, so I hopefully won't be hung over. I hope this review isn't as inarticulate as I suspect it is. ...more

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Science Fiction &...: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (October 2020)	12	18	Nov 06, 2020 02:31AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Sci Fi short novel. Physicist huge discovery on a communist planet. Published in 1960s/1970s. [s]	6	15	Oct 19, 2020 08:55PM
2nd Annual Dispossessed Marathon now online and on webstream	1	7	May 09, 2020 04:59PM

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About Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Orego ...more

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Books by Ursula K. Le Guin

A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)

The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)

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Articles featuring this book

Celebrate Sci-Fi and Fantasy Subgenres with These 64 Books

Science fiction and fantasy have spawned some of the most imaginative plots and settings in existence. Makes sense, given that these genres are...

Trivia About The Dispossessed ...

15 trivia questions
2 quizzes

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Quotes from Los desposeídos

“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.” — 794 likes

“It is our suffering that brings us together. It is not love. Love does not obey the mind, and turns to hate when forced. The bond that binds us is beyond choice. We are brothers. We are brothers in what we share. In pain, which each of us must suffer alone, in hunger, in poverty, in hope, we know our brotherhood. We know it, because we have had to learn it. We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. And the hand that you reach out is empty, as mine is. You have nothing. You possess nothing. You own nothing. You are free. All you have is what you are, and what you give.” — 472 likes

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