The Disposessed by Ursula K.Le Guin

My feelings towards this book are very ambiguous. This was the first real science fiction that I can remember reading and I am not sure what I think about it. There are a lot of things I liked about the book and a lot of things I really did not enjoy.


I loved watching Shevek learn about Urras, about the differences between the two worlds and Shevek's difficulty in reconciling the two. Personally although Anarres is portrayed as a free world, I dont think the people are free at all, certainly no more free than those on Urras. Although people of Anarres are supposed to be free because of the lack of posessions it seems like that freedom is in very strict boundaries. The moment you do, say or think anything which doesnt fit in with societies rather rigid boundaries then you are outcast. I personally didnt see much freedom in Anarres, Urras of course is much more like our own world and so I guess I could identify with it a bit more. This whole aspect of the book definitely made me think though.

What I didnt like was that this book felt like a textbook. It was extremely slow and dry, and it seemed like nothing at all happened until the last few pages, then suddenly there was a bit of action. The book also seemed to end with a lot left undealt with, although maybe this is discussed in another book. I also didnt understand half the discussions that happened in the book, felt like I was wading throug mud, lol, although I consider myself of reasonable intelligence. Maybe they werent supposed to make sense.

All in all, this was not my favourite book, I found it heavy going and despite the fact that there were some enjoyable bits, I really had to push myself to finish it.

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