Ursula K. LeGuin is one of the very few science fiction or fantasy writers whose work regularly is praised in the world of mainstream "literary" fiction. While this prejudice is unfair to the genres of science fiction and fantasy, the fact that her work escapes it demonstrates just how good LeGuin's writing is, and in my opinion, The Dispossessed stands as her crowning achievement. When you consider that she also wrote The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea series (one book of which won the National Book Award), you can see how much I really like this book.

The Dispossessed does what is rare in fiction today (whether science fiction or otherwise): it goes beyond just telling a story to asking basic questions about what it means to be a human being. How do we balance between our social natures and our individuality? Can a utopia really be achieved given the fluid, changing nature of human behavior, our wants and needs and imperfections included? What makes great literature is not that it answers these questions, but that it poses them and demands that the reader wrestle with them. We care about the characters, about Shevek and Takver and Pilun and the rest, but to gain the full benefit of reading The Dispossessed requires that we engage the ideas of the book. Here I mean not just the anarchist philosophy of Odo or the fascinating ideas about physics but the deeper human questions that motivated LeGuin to create them.

Another wonderful book from Le Guin. My only advice is don't give up on it too early. The book is a bit hard to follow at first because it takes place in two separate time lines that interchange from one chapter to the next (which is a great little technique, since the main character is a physicist studying the nature of time and space).

Once you reach the end, it all makes sense....and if you read it carefully, it will almost certainly lead you to ask some serious questions about whether our society makes very much sense. I highly recommend this book.

Science fiction has often described libertarian societies and ideals. Think of such works as Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land," Russell's ". . .and Then There Were None," and Williamson's "The Equalizer," among others. One of the most explicit of science fiction works on a society characterized by freedom is Ursula LeGuin's "The Dispossessed."

At one point in the history of the planet Urras, a feisty woman named Odo led a movement for freedom, for liberty, for anarchism. Finally, Urras ceded the moon, Anarres, to her movement. Here an "ambiguous utopia" developed, as per the subtitle of this book.

The primary character in this novel is Shevek, a physicist on Anarres. As the novel proceeds, he becomes concerned that the original promise of the libertarian society is being lost. Over time, something like "a tyranny of the majority" is creeping into society. Nonconformists are subtly (and not so subtly) penalized. Obviously, this undermines the concept of a libertarian society. His friend, who starts him thinking along these lines, Bedap, Says: "You can't crush ideas by suppressing them. You can only crush them by ignoring them." He goes on to point out that Odo herself had mentioned this as a threat.

The society on Anarres is a kind of amalgam of a Kropotkin anarcho-communist society (in terms of the production and distribution of goods and services) and a Stirnerite individualist society. At one point, Shevek decided to visit the home planet, Anarres. He comes to understand the promise of Anarres--and the threat to the vision of freedom.

Upon his return, he begins an effort to organize in such a manner as to renew the ideals that Odo had raised and advocated for. As he said later on in the novel: "That the Odonian society on Anarres had fallen short of the ideal did not, in his eyes, lessen his responsibility to it; just the contrary." Later, he argues that ". . .we didn't come to Anarres for safety, but for freedom."

The novel sometimes drags a little, as discussion and debate might slow the action. But, in the end, this novel works very nicely. And it raises issues that all of us need to think about. What are our country's ideals? How far should we go to undermine those just to have "security" (whatever that means)? In many respects, this novel speaks to American ideals after 9/11. Do we turn our back on those ideals for security? Where is the fine line between undermining the ideals of the Founding Fathers to maintain security or to demand freedom and undermine the need for security? Such questions are raised in this work, indicating that it addresses critical issues of relevance to all of us, long after its original publication.

Two inhabited worlds, each with a claim at being a perfect utopia: Urras is a wealthy planet, full of haves and have-nots, warring nations and vast resources and Anarres is its almost barren moon. Anarres is populated by anarchist rebels who fled Urras generations ago to try to create a perfect society where everything is shared.

This is the story of a brilliant physicist, Shevek, born on Anarres. He grows up with the political ideals of his society, but it seems as if his own culture and people have no use for his theories of physics. His academic adviser proves to be corrupt and plagiarizes his work. Eventually he loses his academic post, and is sent to toil at physical labor far from his family. Eventually he and a group of childhood friends start their own publishing company and begin corresponding with scientists on Urras.

This arouses strong feelings. Shevek's own mother accuses him of betraying his society. Eventually he decides he must risk everything to go to Urras. Only there will he find the resources and the time to complete his great labor of physics. So he goes, not knowing if he will ever be able to return. But once he is there he discovers that he can not let the secrets of his work fall into the hands of those who would use them only to gain more wealth and power over the poor and oppressed.

How does a man chose between the ideals of his heart and his life's work?

This is a work of classic science fiction, where ideas clash instead of spaceships blowing each other up. Real philosophical questions are posed. Instead of good versus evil, LeGuin has poised a question of good versus good. This book is only for the thoughtful. The richness of its meaning will sink in deeper with every reading. Not for stupid people, but worthy of the highest recommendation all the same.

Overall, a good book. The book isn't action pack but it does bring up a lot of questions about morality, humanity, and the idealist vs realistic forms of government.