The Dispossessed

I had high hopes that I would like this more on a reread – after all, I'm much more politically-savvy now! And I can engage with hard things! And so many people I like have been saying how this is their favorite Le Guin book!

I tried so hard, but you know what, no, two stars is where it stays. The ideas are interesting, sure. And the writing can be very evocative – I mean, it's Le Guin, after all.

But I'm not sure it actually works as a novel. It just. Drags. Every character in it is unlikeable (and, moreover, feels more like an embodiment of a philosophy than an actual human being). The plot is a lot of not much happening and thinly-veiled excuses to debate political philosophy. Every time I picked it up I just felt, I dunno, tired. It's an exhausting book and it remains the only Le Guin work I've read that I don't really care for.

I do like the overall structure and how it echoes the circular idea of Simultaneity. I just wish the story itself held more emotional resonance for me.