It’s also quite sexist, relegating women to lesser roles and objectification. Meanwhile Urras is a world of haves and have nots, where there is great beauty and opulence amongst the elites, more open-mindedness to scientific advances, but great poverty amongst the masses. Conditions are often very hard as they are without a lot of natural resources, but generally the people accept the fact that they have to work for the greater good, including in menial agricultural jobs. Anarres was founded by idealists who instituted a form of communism much improved over the Earthly implementations – it is non-authoritarian and in some ways utopian – but it is not without its flaws, having built up a bureaucracy over the years and dangerously conformist. Most interesting to me is that through the people of this planet (Urras) and its moon (Anarres), Le Guin holds a mirror up to America and the Soviet Union of 1974, when she wrote the novel. The customs, geography, politics, and philosophy are all well fleshed out, and there is a small tie-in to Earth fictionally too (as well as Hain from her other novels). The worlds Le Guin created here are also simply fantastic. Very intelligent science-fiction, and with a social conscious. But the ambitious scientist's gift is soon seen as a threat, and in the profound conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs even as he ignites the fires of change. To visit Urras-to learn, to teach, to share-will require great sacrifice and risks, which Shevek willingly accepts.

He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to reunite the two planets, which have been divided by centuries of distrust.

Le Guin comes a classic tale of two planets torn apart by conflict and mistrust - and the man who risks everything to reunite them.Ī bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras-a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth.

“One of the greats….Not just a science fiction writer a literary icon.” – Stephen Kingįrom the brilliant and award-winning author Ursula K.

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin