About every other week, I’m posting about a project I recently completed. Usually this involves baking, as that’s my favorite project, but it could involve books, home projects, etc. Dads have lots of roles, after all. This week’s project was completing Ursula K. Le Guin’s book The Dispossessed.

And that’s right, there are no pictures for this post. I’m sure Pinterest will survive.

I read a lot of fantasy books, along with horror books. Mix in a little bit of science fiction, a little bit of mystery–yup, that’s good for me. But I will admit I tend to get stuck on the same authors, the same narrow topics sometimes. That’s really not helpful for exploring new concepts, whether from old or new writers.

Into the (Somewhat) Unknown

With that in mind, way back in 2011, I found a list on Amazon of their Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books. There are plenty of “Top 10” or “Top 100” lists to choose from, but this one seemed pretty interesting, so I grabbed a copy and said, I’m going to read these books.

Quite a few of the books on the list I’d already read–things like Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and some of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. There were books and authors I’d never heard of though–Larry Niven, Brandon Sanderon’s The Mistborn Series, Timothy Zahn, Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, etc., etc. Enough to push me out of my comfort zone and explore.

Oh No, Not This Author

One author that I’d read before and had not enjoyed was Ursula K. Le Guin. There, I said it–I don’t like her writing. I’d read A Wizard of Earthsea and was very hopeful, but it just didn’t do it for me. Then, I found that there were not one but two other books by her on my list.

Now, here I am trying to expand my horizons, and I did the exact wrong thing–avoided reading those two books. Finally, I forced myself to read the first one, The Left Hand of Darkness. It was alright, and definitely led to some thinking afterward (particularly in regards to the conversations at the very end), but I still wasn’t a fan.

The Dispossessed: Third Time’s a Charm?

Finally, after completing The Left Hand of Darkness, reading several other books, and practicing avoidance of the final Le Guin book, I decided to tackle it. This one, The Dispossessed, talks about a man traveling from his home world to an Urrastas, which is the moon for his planet and vice versa.

There’s a lot of culture shock with the travel: Anarres, the home planet of Shevek, the main character, has aspects of socialism and communism that make for a world where everyone is provided. Everyone has to work, though, in order to survive in their minimalist, non-ownership culture. Urrastas, on the other hand, is like a utopia, a paradise, where so much is available so easily if you are willing to pay. Or, as is the case with Shevek’s hosts, have people pay for you.

Going through Shevek’s early time on Urrastas, and his history on Anarres, takes up the first half of the book. Here is where my complaint comes in–it is a long slog through that first half. Yes, yes, the plot and backstories and intrigues build through it, but it’s not riveting reading.

Fortunately, the second part of the book really does pick up speed and breadth (a tiny bit of a spoiler here). Shevek begins to see the bad that goes along with the good. He learns that his knowledge of temporal physics is what really drove his hosts to bring him to the planet. As expected, it guides him into looking at what is good and bad between Anarres and Urastas. There’s even more, including eventual introduction of other alien species, but I won’t spoil the good parts.

Finishing the Book

I did, of course, finish The Dispossessed–I have a hard time stopping a book once I start. As I mentioned already the overall second half wasn’t bad, and the ending was quite well done.

So was this third book the charm that will drive me to like Le Guin’s books? No. I just don’t enjoy her writing style. She seems to want to drive to a point and sometimes, as with this book, it takes her a very long time to get there. I do appreciate that her books give you something to think about, in this book as with The Left Hand of Darkness. That’s not enough to draw me in for more, though.

Final Thoughts

Ursula K. Le Guin’s book The Dispossessed has previously won the Hugo and Nebula awards. The Left Hand of Darkness, published earlier? The same. Each of those books also won several other awards, and Le Guin won a myriad of awards during her career. So, while I might not like her books, plenty of people did. She passed away in 2018 after writing an extensive number of series, standalone novels, collections, and poetry.

For more information about Ms. Le Guin, you can check out this web page.