The Dispossessed

Jenny Jaybles reviewed The dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

I only had one problem with it

4 stars

Content warning Spoliers

I love Ursula but this has been my least liked book of hers so I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5. I enjoyed the heavy intellectual ideas. I enjoyed the romance. I was utterly destroyed that she made this main character who I had thoroughly liked, out of nowhere sexually assault a woman because he experiences alcohol for the first time in his life. The way it's written is really fucking blaming the woman victim character while our main character dude just gets to brush it off and go on with his life as the hero and doesn't even think about this incident for even one goddamn second for the rest of the book. I know Ursula took some serious thoughts about feminism later in life and made some apologies and changes in her writing with the Earthsea series which I thought was wonderful. I really wish she had taken the time to go back and edit or at least write an apology about this. It fucking sucks. The rest of the story is great. This one scene should be deleted. It's fucking horrible. And no it's totally not believable that creating an anarchist communist society would suddenly erase rape and that rape is just an invention of capitalism and greed. Yea no. I can't bite down on that idea at all. The other heavy ideas make sense but only up to a point and then it's just like trying to say capitalism causes humans to rape. Like no fuck you. Rapists are psychopaths. They are the same as murderers. They are born with it in their brain. They cannot feel empathy. They are predators. Society can't make them do it or not do it. They exist in every society through all time. They can't be fixed either. And a man who is absolutely loving to his true love, his little daughters will not just suddenly sexually assault a woman because he got exposed to capitalism and alcohol and "went crazy." Fucking bullshit rape apology sexist bullshit. And then feel absolutely no remorse about it? Cmon!!

b bennett reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Holy fuck

5 stars

Wow. What else is there to say? This book was a buffet of ideas ranging from sexism, capitalism, socialism, the military-industrial complex, and politics. I especially enjoyed Le Guin's writing on women, but anarchist and archist, through the eyes of the anarchist main character. For the first few chapters I was amazed at Le Guin's interpretation at an anarchist utopian, and took it as a blueprint for the work we socialists have to do here on Earth. But as the book progressed we learned more about the so-called utopia and it's possible fault -- one of which being politics and the formation of government--and I finished the book with more questions than answers. This was a delightful and nerdy read.

Wolfgang Wopperer reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (SF masterworks)

One of my all-time favourite books

5 stars

Brilliant, complex and fearless imagination of an anarchist society. Probably one of the best books I've ever read.

Krousti_sarrasin@bookrastinating.com reviewed Les Dépossédés by Ursula K. Le Guin

Anarchist Sci*FI / SF libertaire

5 stars

Le Guin was put the light on the despicable society whom is ours by describing through the eyes of an anarchist.

L'autrice met la lumière sur la méprisable société qui est la notre en décrivant à travers les yeux d'un anarchiste.

Antolius reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (SF masterworks)

Review of 'The Dispossessed' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Good:
Speculative fiction at its finest.
Great society & world building, shown through a lens of a single life.
Two timelines nicely intertwine & support each other.
The scenes of hardship & revolution resonate deeply.
* Evokes the feeling of classic Sci-Fi without any problematic elements often associated with it.

Bad: ∅

For a depiction of a similar theme check out John Kessel's [b:The Moon and the Other|30753686|The Moon and the Other|John Kessel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1491126501l/30753686.SY75.jpg|51302140].

exosferablog reviewed Los desposeídos by Ursula K. Le Guin

Review of 'Los desposeídos' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Una obra que vuelve a usar la ciencia ficción como entrada pero que es un análisis y una reflexión sobre la sociedad, desde la luna Anarres, donde la sociedad se organiza en un modo anarquista/socialissta al planeta Urras, donde tras un conflicto estos últimos fueron expulsados y donde el planeta se organiza en base a oligopolios y un capitalismo salvaje. Como nexo entre ambos mundos el protagonista intenta establecer un diálogo, intentando propiciar el desarrollo de ambas sociedades con la colaboración científica. Un libro que no deja de ser una reflexión y un golpe sobre la mesa sobre la política, la sociedad y el papel de la ciencia y los científicos.

lichen@bookwyrm.social reviewed The dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

best sci-fi book I have ever read

5 stars

very deep personal relationship with this book

Kian Ryan reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Review of 'The Dispossessed' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A story of two worlds, and a traveller, seeking ideas, exposure and attempting to express his own sense of self.

The themes in this book focus on socio-political, the ethics of groups and revolution. Pure revolution, not revolution by fire or oppression. I had very little view of how a genuine anarchist society worked, or even how it would function. To me, the inherent structures of government and law seemed obvious and necessary. In the current social climax, the ability to present true anarchy feels important, to show that ownership need not be the end and all, whilst still having sense of the self.

The narrative takes the form of two liner timelines of the protagonist, interwoven to provide an understanding of the journey he is taking. The physics of the book is represented by this timeline, but I feel the science is largely irrelevant, the importance of the story …

A story of two worlds, and a traveller, seeking ideas, exposure and attempting to express his own sense of self.

The themes in this book focus on socio-political, the ethics of groups and revolution. Pure revolution, not revolution by fire or oppression. I had very little view of how a genuine anarchist society worked, or even how it would function. To me, the inherent structures of government and law seemed obvious and necessary. In the current social climax, the ability to present true anarchy feels important, to show that ownership need not be the end and all, whilst still having sense of the self.

The narrative takes the form of two liner timelines of the protagonist, interwoven to provide an understanding of the journey he is taking. The physics of the book is represented by this timeline, but I feel the science is largely irrelevant, the importance of the story is sociological.