The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin || Book review (some spoilers)

[@samwight]

As someone who's read a truckload of theory, Le Guin truly understands how capitalism and anarchism works. This is one of the best depictions of it I've ever seen in a book. There are little hints and easter eggs throughout the book to other books of theory like Marx's Capital, Kropotkin's A Conquest for Bread, and more. She's sorta being like "Hahah yep, I had to struggle through that too, I understand what I'm doing :)" Le Guin's depiction of capitalism is not flawed, it's capitalism with the gloves off. What Le Guin presents is exactly what capitalism given enough time, what we have centuries of evidence and theory and research showing it does. And she presents this masterfully, following the theory and what we've seen in history, and presenting it in a way that feels realistically flawed but also just perfect.

[@ongemakkelijkegladjakker]

Agreed. The reviewer is trying way too hard to take the political sting out of the book. LeGuin was an outspoken leftist and although the book is truly nuanced in its portrayal of these hypothetical societies its politicw definitely slanted to the left. Which greatly works to its benefit imo, both as a story and as a vehicle for communicating why resisting capitalism is necessary.

[@gabriellachaviva]

Just finished this book today. The conversation between Shevek and the Terran ambassador Keng at the end made me tear up. Nuts how this was written nearly 40 years ago and still feels as relevant, maybe even moreso, today.

[@martinstent5339]

Me too! When keng asks herself what kind of society could make such a personality, she is putting the whole thing in plain sight! That the society makes the man and not the other way around. I always get chocked up at that point too.

[@teodoras9611]

I finished the book yesterday. This scene followed a beautiful sunset scene on Anares, that I read whilst watching a sunset from an astronomical observatory in a sea of mountains on... our Earth. Then I went inside and read till I finished the book. The scene with the Terran ambassador made me sob. It was one of the three times I cried during this book. The other two- During Shevek's speech about suffering and the revolution was one of them. The other was at the beginning of Shevek and Takver's love story when they discussed love, wholeness and connection. All of these themes are mightily different. But I feel understood on every level, as if everything I ever thought meaningful and felt close to heart in this book is held in one place. As if someone else KNOWS and sees it all. And when I see people love the book as much it makes me happy, to know that.

[@andreasxanthros5853]

This book remains my favourite Le Guin novel. I first read it way back when I was 16. I became aware of it while taking a course on the Theory of Revolution which was pretty unusual for secondary school. Of course, this prompted me to read everything by her I could find! Good choice for a review, Darrel, it helps keep her spirit alive.

[@netwicks1126]

I read it this year at age 17, it has become one of my favorite novels of all time. I may like it more than dune which has been my all time favorite book for the past like 2 years lol

[@SciFiFantasyReadAlong]

Ursula K. Le Guin is getting a postage stamp here in the US, just a few days from now

[@xavierseventeen1110]

I finished the book recently and wanted to wallow in the feelings and impressions the experience gave me a bit more. Thanks for allowing us to linger. Very good review ^_^

[@snovid3306]

Awesome book, must-read for all, and, a thorough review, as always. You're a fresh breeze on BookTube, I wish you success. 👍🏾

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Thanks 😀

[@jemayeljuma2534]

Thank you for this review. I found this book amazing, the most intelligent (and therefore best) sci-fi book I have ever read. I recommend it to all sci-fi fans

[@kingj282]

This book so dense with meaning. The characters are nuanced, the locations feel real, and yet the highs and lows of each locale is extreme. The writing is also excellent: you can flip to a random lage and (most likely) get a profound or poetic quote. This one is a 10/10, and I'm surprised at the final score given the lack of explicit criticism.

[@DaBlackRose]

Where the heck do you get these photos? They go so well with your explanations. Also like your content.

[@unstopitable]

I would very much like to hear someone do a comparison between this novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Lathe of Heaven. She was one of the Greats.

[@davidunderwood326]

I bought and read The Left Hand of Darkness after it was featured in one of your videos. You may be influencing me again! Nice t-shirt btw

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

🤣🤣🤣 I’m dead.

[@peterconway6584]

It's been a long time since I read "The Dispossessed." What stands out in my memory is the way that Shevek's society barely supported his quest for discovery, and in fact its collectivist set-up often hindered him.

[@tomitiustritus6672]

I think one of the great themes is the reflection upon the collectivist:individualist dichotomy. Is it really a false dichotomy? Do we need to reconcile both concepts in each other in order for any of them to make sense? What good is a collective thats not made out of individuals and what use is being an individual without being part of a collective? The "freedom from" without the "freedom to" is just as unfree as the "freedom to" without the "freedom from". They can only be found in each other.

[@andrewtalbott2539]

@@tomitiustritus6672 That's an incredible point. I reread your comment several times and am beginning to understand it. You've just created an entirely new, intensely interesting discourse for me to work through in my head. Thank you.

[@Boggart85]

Read the book a few years ago and very much liked to concepts but didn't finish as I couldn't get into the writing style. It only later dawned on me that as I was reading a translation, I should pick it up again in the original English.

[@catalinb8446]

Great SF book ! Must read book for sure ! I loved it!

[@thecarrotclarinet]

I have trouble with this reviewer equivocating the opressions between Anarris and Urras because they are not nearly similiar in intensity or even in execution. It is emphasized multiple times just how awful Urras is on the wrong side of the gun but on Anarris even if you are reviled, hated to the point of being beaten you are still seen and treated as a human being.

[@tishardnatthaniel8047]

Great video man

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Thanks.

[@martinstent5339]

Would anyone else here like to buy a copy of Odo's "Analogy" or "Prison Letters"? I don't have one of course, but I would love for someone to write them!

[@shevekanarres2926]

Good review

[@s.ekin.]

Which Ursula book would you recommend to read after this one? Does her other book give the same taste? By the way your voice is relaxing.

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Thanks! If you haven’t read either the Left Hand of Darkness or the Lathe of Heaven I’d pick these up next… and probably in that order 😊

[@s.ekin.]

@@Sci-FiOdyssey Thank you so much, i appreciate your help. ♡

[@martinstent5339]

Please please, go back through the video and replace every mention of communism with anarchism. There is a world of difference between the 2. One could almost say that communism is anti-anarchism. The correct term for the kind of society pictured on Annares is a federated anarcho-syndicalism. Or anarchism for short.

[@teodoras9611]

Hm, yes, this was the only thing that bugged me in the video, good to note^^

[@wasfuerkeksigkeit]

Oh my fucking god this channel is like made for me

[@stevespain6445]

A great novel including as an introduction to what problems an anarchic society might face? I love how she set the anarchists on a resource poor moon. I have always taken the left leaning "bias" claims as just the strengths of anarchism.

[@tomitiustritus6672]

You could say people try to blame a left wing author of writing a book with a left wing perspective. Everybody writes a book from their perspective in some way. Thats the thing about being a human. Every "unpolitical" author writes out of their own ideology. LeGuin is just aware of it and reflects critically upon it on the page. Its not her fault that a anachist philosophy, no matter how you think of its practicality, is pretty compelling if communicated in a way that the addressant understands. I rarely met someone who would discard it by saying: "Oh god, that sounds horrible." Its almost always:"That sounds really nice, but i don't believe it would work." And thats something i've never, or very rarely, encountered in conversations about any other ideology. Most people seem to be on the page that it "should" work, but disagree on if it "would" work.

[@stevespain6445]

@@tomitiustritus6672 Well said. I too hear a lot of people say "It sounds nice, but it could never work." And then I point out the numerous times it did work, and then it becomes something along the lines of "It would never work in this situation, now."

[@psikeyhackr6914]

I read The Dispossessed for the first time back in the 70s. Maybe 2 or 3 times since then. I found her depiction of Capitalism stereotypical and anecdotal. An interesting story to compare The Dispossessed to is Voyage from Yesteryear (1982) by James P Hogan. LeGuin is a better writer than Hogan but her book came out just before microcomputers hit the scene and Hogan worked for Digital Equipment Corporation, DEC. Hogan had a clearer vision of possible futures that most people still don't have. An even more recent study is Daemon & Freedom by Daniel Suarez. But in this capitalist, communist, left, right, BS do you ever notice that no one advocates that 700 year old double-entry accounting be mandatory in the schools? Do you suppose our smartphones can't handle it? They are more powerful than 1970s mainframes. LOL

[@Sir-Cyr_Rill-Nil-Mill]

gwin not gooin. & I'm over 50 years old. Embarrassed!

[@gemmel3197]

Mate like your content but your doing something wrong. Very few people watch vids till the end where you have you like and subscribe message. Move it to the middle, you will notice an improvement. Cheers.