Ruth A. reviewed on + 43 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
The Dispossessed was about twin planets--one rich in natural resources, and the other possessing a harsh climate and some minerals. Revolutionaries from the rich planet had colonized the poorer one, and at the outset of the novel had been there 150 years or so. Their social experiment was in the main successful, though like revolutions in the author's present, the anarchists had conflict over fostering talent and difference in a society that depended for justice on the enforcement of social approval. The protagonist, Shevek, is an unusual person, a genius, in a society that is about equality. The book follows his struggles to figure out his place.
LeGuin published The Dispossessed, which is apparently part of the same universe as The Left Hand of Darkness, in 1974. I am also reading some of her later books, and it's clear that she better able later in her career to express ideas in the context of the plot, without having to plant long speeches in her character's mouths. On the other hand, in 1974 she was still in the process of feeling her way toward a new political position, and that is very exciting to witness. I was 8 in 1974 and I remember in a vague way some of the political realities that shaped this book.
The Hainish series, of which The Dispossed is one novel, is not one I read in order. I read The Left Hand of Darkness first, which was the fourth she published, and The Telling, the last book in the cycle to date. I think they each stand up well to being read out of the context of the series.
LeGuin published The Dispossessed, which is apparently part of the same universe as The Left Hand of Darkness, in 1974. I am also reading some of her later books, and it's clear that she better able later in her career to express ideas in the context of the plot, without having to plant long speeches in her character's mouths. On the other hand, in 1974 she was still in the process of feeling her way toward a new political position, and that is very exciting to witness. I was 8 in 1974 and I remember in a vague way some of the political realities that shaped this book.
The Hainish series, of which The Dispossed is one novel, is not one I read in order. I read The Left Hand of Darkness first, which was the fourth she published, and The Telling, the last book in the cycle to date. I think they each stand up well to being read out of the context of the series.
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