The Dispossessed: an Ambiguous Utopia (Hainish Cycle)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

One of the very best must-read novels of all time - with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle

'A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again' THE TIMES

'The book I wish I had written ... It's so far away from my own imagination, I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin' Roddy Doyle

'Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power' OBSERVER

The Principle of Simultaneity is a scientific breakthrough which will revolutionize interstellar civilization by making possible instantaneous communication. It is the life work of Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the arid anarchist world of Anarres.

But Shevek's work is being stifled by jealous colleagues, so he travels to Anarres's sister-planet Urras, hoping to find more liberty and tolerance there. But he soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.

• ISBN10: 0061054887
• ISBN13: 9780061054884
• Publish Date: 9 November 1994 (first published 1 January 1974)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperPaperbacks
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

Sublime. Carefully constructed, nuanced, warmly empathetic, passionately human, complex. If you want a rose-colored ideologue that purports to fix problems with simplistic utopias, look elsewhere. If you want an accounting of our society’s ills, and alternatives that are just as complicated and imperfect, you’re in the right place. She doesn’t shout, preach, or point, just shifts the frame of reference in order to examine our assumptions. Each word choice has weight. Quiet, lovely, and profound. And just as timely now, nearly 50 years later.

[teachergorman]

Considering the newfound popularity of 1984, this book should be getting a lot more attention. Though it’s not structured in a similar way, it explores some of the same concepts with a nuance that is worthy of Orwell. It tells the story of a traveler who comes from a harsh world that has perfected a kind of anarchist collectivism who travels to a world of capitalism. What I loved most is that it shows the flaws in both systems with a brutal honesty most novels about political systems avoid because they are promoting one over the other. I came away with a newfound respect for anarchists, who I’d always dismissed as utopians with no sense of how to create a functional system. It could work, but, as LeGuin points out, it would have to be culturally coercive to be maintained, and it would have other significant flaws. This novel’s construction mirrors the ambivalence of the protagonist (and maybe the author), as it weaves back and forth in time, starting with his arrival on the new world, then flashing back to his childhood, and then back and forth, telling two parallel stories. It’s done very well. Overall, this novel will stick with me, and it’s changed the way I think about what kinds of political systems could be functional without making any one seem like a utopia.

[lovelybookshelf]

This was my first Le Guin (I now have a new favorite author). The Dispossessed is like all those great Star Trek episodes where societies with different cultures and political hierarchies meet and try to understand each other. It's all about nuance: Even though the author is anarchist, the anarchist society in this novel is NOT perfect. It portrays an unflinchingly honest (and more interesting) "utopia," rather than [singing] "everything is awesome."

I listened to the audiobook, but I think I'll reach for print when I read it next. It jumps back and forth in time/location (odd/even chapters) and that was a bit hard to keep track of when listening.

[adamfortuna]

Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the biggest names in science fiction that I've never read anything by -- until now. The Dispossessed exists in Le Guin's "Hainish Cycle" world, although there is no required order for the the series as each book is self contained. The world The Dispossessed includes a pair of worlds -- a planet and moon. The planet is like Earth in the 70s, with major power in a communist and a capitalist power. The moon, however, is a communist utopia where there is no violence, need, or want and everyone pursues what they want. When a scientist from the moon is brought to the planet, the superpowers battle over scientific control while struggling to change.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

I must admit I groaned a bit when I started The Dispossessed, a book about aliens and their different social structures. I’ve read books like this and I wasn’t really in the mood for another Sci-Fi book about anarchist societies. It is a bit dry and difficult to read but I did end up finding this book really interesting. I did end up finding the most interesting parts of this book was the different societies and how no could ever be perfect. The Dispossessed is just a giant metaphor about the world we live in. It’s not an easy read but rather interesting anyway.