Name: The Dispossessed
Rating: 4.256410256410256 (234 reviews)
ISBN: 9780785764038

Ursula K. Le Guin

An astonishing tale of one man's search for Utopia.

An Ambiguous Utopia

The Dispossessed

Ritik Sahni

Karpe Diez

This is the 2nd book "The Hainish Cycle" that I read, after "The Left Hand of Darkness", and now I'm determined to try other books in the series. Le Guin approaches the sci-fi genre from a sociological perspective, introducing societies built on totally new and unexpected premises from what we've been used to (even in the "weirdest" of cases throughout humankind's history). Her readings gave me lots to think about myself, my life... what would have happened if I had the privillege to read her books in my 20s?

I loved how this was engrossing and entertaining but also extremely thoughtful in a way where it made me really think as well about social systems and what is possible, not possible, inevitable, etc. This was my first Le Guin book and I’m very excited to read more. 

Jessica Gagliardi

it is honest in its writing but it lacks the subtlety that i appreciated in left hand at times

visuwesh

A philosophical and political treatise, wrapped in an original and engaging story. With some minor pacing issues.

Frederik De Bosschere

Patrick Book

Le Guin is an unimpeachably fantastic writer. But I think I might hate hard sci-fi world building?

Sarah Sammis

The full title of Ursula K. Le Guin's award winning novel is The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia. It's part of along tradition of ambiguous utopian novels that are thinly dressed critiques of contemporary society. In the case of The Dispossessed the two societies in question are the United States and the Soviet Union.

What makes Le Guin's utopia all the more ambiguous is her refusal to take sides. Both societies are flawed in a number of ways and yet both have supporters and detractors. Like so many of these novels, the story is told from the perspective of a traveler, Shevek, a physicist who has left Anarres (USSR) to continue his research on Urras (USA). It is through a combination of flashbacks to Anarres and his social faux pas that Le Guin reveals the good and bad of both societies.

The Dispossessed exists in the same universe as Left-Hand of Darkness (1969) and the other Hainish cycle books. In terms of the story timeline, it's comes first in the series but was the fifth published. The details linking it to the other Hainish books are sparse and the novel works well as a stand alone.

Along with The Dispossessed I also recommend:

 * Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726, 1735)
 * The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (1895)
 * Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang (1927)
 * Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
 * The Left-Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)
 * The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)

This book will be 50 next year, the concepts in this book are so far from modern thinking it speaks volumes for how little development of social consciousness there has been in those years. 

The world building is wonderful and inspiring, both the political landscape and the physical landscapes are vivid and easily invisioned when reading the book.

I found The Dispossessed very thought provoking; it shows a different approach to life and society without presenting it as a perfect utopia, but another (admittedly in my opinion better) way of living that still has its own difficulties and struggles. Maybe there is no perfect approach, but the people first (and anti-capitalist) approach on Annares struck a chord with me. 

Liam Richardson

This book will be 50 next year, the concepts in this book are so far from modern thinking it speaks volumes for how little development of social consciousness there has been in those years. 

The world building is wonderful and inspiring, both the political landscape and the physical landscapes are vivid and easily invisioned when reading the book.

I found The Dispossessed very thought provoking; it shows a different approach to life and society without presenting it as a perfect utopia, but another (admittedly in my opinion better) way of living that still has its own difficulties and struggles. Maybe there is no perfect approach, but the people first (and anti-capitalist) approach on Annares struck a chord with me. 

Michael Springer

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.

Gavin

Pompous. Lots of tragic ellipsis. A rare misstep of style, even though the world and its issues are still great, and the progress of a great mind burgeoning amongst strict collectivism is done well. It reads like a debut novel or a draft - good but rough. I suppose I will hail her versatility anyway.

Her characteristic ambiguity and fairness are still here though. The sexist, rankist, capitalist ("propertarian") Urrasites are still inventive, tasteful, and ambitious; the anarchist, egalitarian, promiscuous Odonians are still given to egotism, tribalism and petty brutality. They can be relied on, like all of us to tolerate anything except the outgroup:

 'You can only crush [ideas] by ignoring them. By refusing to think — refusing to change. And that's precisely what our society is doing! Sabul uses you where he can, and where he can't, he prevents you from publishing, from teaching, even from working. Right? In other words 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. The unadmitted, inadmissible government that rules Odonian society by stifling the individual mind.'

 Shevek leaned his hands on the window sill, looking through the dim reflections on the pane into the darkness outside. He said at last 'Crazy talk, Dap.'

 'No, brother, I’m sane. What drives people crazy is trying to live outside reality. Reality is terrible. It can kill you. Given time, it certainly will kill you. But it’s the lies that make you want to kill yourself.'

 Shevek turned around to face him. 'But you can’t seriously talk of a government, here!'

 'Tomar’s Definition: ‘Government: the legal use of power to maintain and extend power.’ Replace ‘legal’ with ‘customary’... Shev, did you ever think that what the analogic mode calls ‘disease,’ social disaffection, discontent, alienation, that this might analogically also be called pain – what you meant when you talked about pain, suffering? And that, like pain, it serves a function in the organism?... I speak of spiritual suffering! Of people seeing their talent, their work, their lives wasted. Of good minds submitting to stupid ones. Of strength and courage strangled by envy, greed for power, fear of change. Change is freedom, change is life – is anything more basic to Odonian thought than that? But nothing changes any more! ... On Urras they have government by the minority. Here we have government by the majority. But it is government!' 


I don't think her Anarres economy would work even as well as it is depicted as doing, but she has at least thought about it (admits that there would need to be a centralised computer, admits all kinds of shortages). This is not polemic, then; it just doesn't manage her usual grace when dealing with huge dilemmas. A great book by anyone else.

Frequently reissued with the same ISBN, but with slightly differing bibliographical details.

i understand why many people call this their favorite book 

ryan page

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.

Ri Liu

Struggled with her writing in parts as I found some of the interactions between characters a bit flat, the moments of insight well made up for that though.

Sheaves is attempting to find a new theory of time — but there are those who are jealous of his work, and will do anything to block him. So he leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Sheaves soon finds himself begin used as a pawing a deadly political game.

i think it takes a writer of the skill of le guin to truly bring a book like this together. it delves into ideas and concepts - of politics, of society, of the individual - and makes them the main focus of the novel over linear traditional plot.

before this and fairly recently i read 'the left hand of darkness'. forgive me for speaking about a different book but in the introduction of 'the left hand...', le guin states the following on science fiction:

"Science fiction is often described, and even defined, as extrapolative. The science fiction writer is supposed to take a trend or phenomenon of the here-and-now, purify and intensify it for dramatic effect, and extend it into the future. "If this goes on, this is what will happen." A prediction is made. (...)

This book is not extrapolative. If you like you can read it, and a lot of other science fiction, as a thought-experiment. (...)

The purpose of a thought-experiment, as the term was used by Schrodinger and other physicists, is not to predict the future—indeed Schrodinger's most famous thought-experiment goes to show that the ‘future,’ on the quantum level, cannot be predicted—but to describe reality, the present world.

Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive."

this introduction, i could not stop thinking about while reading 'the dispossessed' as i felt that it, too, illustrates the principles behind le guin's science fiction work. it is a thought-experiment that holds up a mirror to us and our societies and asks us to examine them.

le guin is intelligent enough to be able to represent two opposing societies without exalting one over the other (per se). rather she inquires the complexities of the applications of different political ideologies and prompts the reader to question and explore them alongside her and drawn their own conclusions (though, i do believe her preference is quite clear).

it is the kind of book, i think, that could truly truly reshape a person's world view.

The Dispossessed An Ambiguous Utopia

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club