The Dispossessed

The Dispossessed is a science fiction book by Ursula K. Le Guin. But it is not science fiction as you’d expect. It is about two worlds Anarres and Urras with opposing economic and ideological structures. Science fiction provides the conditions that make this story possible.

When I started reading the book I could hardly finish the first chapter and put the book aside for quite some time. From time to time I would read a few pages, but it always felt disappointing.

I expected sci-fi with action, but got the ramblings of some people about their way of living. I got to learn about the characters in the story, but it never felt meaningful.

But, at some point the reading progress started snowballing. The book stuck to my hands. (Note, that I am not a prolific reader. I can only read a few pages before falling asleep.) As the story unfolded so did my imagination on what a society could look like.

This fictional culture and its characters were as convincing as could be. Maybe because of my anti-authoritarian tendencies, I felt a longing for becoming part of the Odonians society. The story resonated with many ideas and expanded them in subtle ways.

The Odonian society has nothing, but shares everything.

The book does not judge which society is better. Even though the anarchist society is depicted as an Utopia, it does not feel like one. I would give it a chance at any time.

Closing Notes

Only after finishing it I read the Wikipedia article and was flabbergasted by all these facts:

• Originally it was bad short story
• The book is part of the series Hainish Cycle
• Le Guin’s parents were friends with Oppenheimer (the guy who created the bomb)
• Oppenheimer was to model for Shevek, the book’s protagonist
• The book has won all science fiction awards Hugo, Locus, and Nebula
• The title is a reference to Dostoyevsky’s novel about anarchists