** Yearning for Anarchy **
- “Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think.” *
It took two attempts to get through The Dispossessed. To be honest, the pacing drags, and switching between narrative arcs across chapters is jarring—especially in audio. But beneath the uneven rhythm lies something rare in science fiction: an attempt to realize in narrative form a society organized on different moral terms.
Le Guin teases apart the contradictions of non-authoritarian communism without turning it into utopia or dystopia. Anarchists of Anarres are fallible, proud, but human. Their view of the “propertarians” of Urras—those who need the system, the hierarchy, the boot of capitalism to stay motivated—is one of pity more than anger.
The book toys with the idea of purpose as both personal engine and social glue. It made me think, and, unexpectedly, it made me yearn—for an anarchy somewhere, for a social structure more different from ours, and maybe just a little better. That’s a rare feat for any novel.
** 1st readthrough **
dnf @ 15%. I think if I weren’t reading utopian books like Republic and histories of Communism at the same time this would be more interesting. Instead feels like philosophy wrapped in slow moving fiction which I’m just having trouble getting into. Maybe I’ll check back in 5 years since I seem to be clearly in the minority on this book.