The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Sep 12, 2008 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: award-nominee-hugo, award-nominee-nebula, award-nominee-campbell, multiple-award-winners, award-winner-nebula, award-nominee-prometheus, award-winner-locus, award-winner-prometheus, award-nominee-locus, science-fiction

4.0 to 4.5 stars. A truly exceptional novel and one of the best explorations of political theory and individual freedom ever in science fiction. Too often, an author will "beat you over the head" with their beliefs and make thinly disguised speeches through cardboard characters that leave no doubt that one side is very right and the other side is very wrong. Not so in this novel.

LeGuin's ultimate message is that individual freedom is the most important commodity in the universe. In conveying th ...more

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Jan 12, 2009 Liz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, speculative-fiction

Ursula K. Le Guin was next on my 'sf authors I really should read' list, so I looked for The Dispossessed or Left Hand of Darkness at my local library. I found the former first and read it in a day. Granted, a substantial portion of that day was spent in a doctor's office, but still. I found that Le Guin's prose is, as always, very readable and engaging and her characters, though they seem cold and reserved towards the reader at first, soon open up. I felt for Shevek as soon as we met him as a t ...more

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Sep 02, 2009 Frank Taranto rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 14, 2011 Rachael rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book seems like it belonged in the early 70s, socialism, communes, criticism of property, etc. The book isn't sci-fi at all really, the only thing that makes it so is that the two societies are on different planets (moon/planet), it could just as easily be two different countries.

It's well written, I can see why it was so acclaimed, but for me, it just doesn't have the same effect as it would have if I had read it 40 years ago. ...more

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Jun 26, 2010 Alice Lee rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, dystopian-fiction

I'm not sure what it was that I expected from this book - revelation, emotional impact, or intellectual enlightenment - but I didn't get it. Overall it was an interesting read, and there are a few moving passages, but I could never quite feel invested in any particular character. I didn't even remember to review this when I finished it a month ago. The writing itself was also nothing spectacular, just your somewhat-above-average science fiction literary level. I also found Le Guin rather repetit ...more

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