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The Dispossessed
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
The Principle of Simultaneity is a scientific breakthrough which will revolutionize interstellar civilization by making possible instantaneous communication. It is the life work of Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the arid anarchist world of Anarres. But Shevek's work is being stifled by jealous colleagues, so he travels to Anarres's sister-planet Urras, hoping to find more liberty and tolerance there. But he soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.
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review
Daisey
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Pickpick

I don‘t tend to read a lot of science fiction, so although I enjoyed this, it‘s not something I would generally choose on my own. Following the life of the main character Shevek in his present and through flashbacks to his past, it describes life in two very different political worlds on two different planets. I thought Le Guin did an amazing job of clearly describing the good and bad of both societies.

#AuthorAMonth #1001books #audiobook

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Larkken
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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Hello, June! I‘ll be doing some traveling for work this month, so my kindle is already all loaded up with #aam, #sundaybuddyread, one of the #camplitsy reads, and #roll100 picks 🥰

I can‘t decide if I want to read the tagged for #AuthoraMonth, or if I want to go in the suggested order for the Hainish Cycle and start with Rocannon‘s World… UKLG says there are only loose connection among the books, and I own the tagged novel, sooo…

bnp If I were in your place, I think I'd start with one you own. Rocannon's world is fairly early, and I think it isn't considered one of her best. 4mo
bnp Which one do you have? 4mo
Larkken @bnp I have Dispossessed on kindle, maybe a few others in physical book form, and I‘m getting the “first three” from the cycle on library hold at some point. So I have options, lol! I‘ve read several in the series a long, long time ago, but I‘ve no idea which (except Left Hand, I remember that one!) so I‘m excited to get back into it. 4mo
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bnp @Larkken LeGuin is one of my favorite authors. I think my favorites are Left hand of darkness, Dispossessed, and Lathe of heaven. Or any collection of essays. 4mo
Megabooks Ooo! Enjoy traveling!! Looking forward to having you join us at the CL discussions! 4mo
rwmg @bnp I preferred Semley's Necklace, the short story which was expanded to become Rocannon's World. 4mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 4mo
Larkken @bnp she‘s wonderful ! I usually gravitate to Ged but decided I wanted to get back into Hainish more 😊 4mo
Larkken @rwmg ooo interesting that wasn‘t on my radar. Thanks!! 4mo
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jenniferw88
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 4mo
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Oryx
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Trying to read a few books from my shelves before I buy anything new... let's see how long I can last. This one is proving a strong read so far - we've got communism, captilism, political manoeuvring, a bit of a love story, some physics. It's all going on. Only my second Le Guin (after The Lathe of Heaven, which I really liked).

Caroline2 Oh I‘ve had this on my shelf for yearssss. Be interesting to hear what you think of it. 👍 8mo
bnp Glad you're enjoying it. She's one of my favorite authors. 8mo
TrishB I‘ve only read one- that lists sounds great! 8mo
Follow.my.read I‘m trying to do the same, although I do have some on pre-order, but those don‘t count, right? #SorryNotSorry! 8mo
Oryx @Follow.my.read totally - I have about 3 on pre-order and those definitely don't count 8mo
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quietlycuriouskate
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Pickpick

If you want a damn good story with plenty to think about, Ursula Le Guin is a great choice.
Here are two companion worlds, one much like the contemporary West (declared a paradise by the Terran ambassador, whose Earth was wrecked by our current dominant culture) and the other a breakaway non-authoritarian communist society. Shevek is the scientist caught between them: regardless of ideology, people go on being the best and worst of themselves.

BarbaraBB Great review. Encouraging too. I‘ve been postponing reading this for years now. 10mo
bnp What a cover! 10mo
KathyWheeler I loved this book! 10mo
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jen_hayes7
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Keeping cozy tonight with a couple of cats and a new book. It‘s my first foray into Ursula K. Le Guin and I‘m very excited. #lennox #huey #catsoflitsy

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Leniverse
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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📖 The Dispossessed
✍️ Lord Dunsany
📺 Doctor Who
🧑‍🎤 David Bowie
🎶 Dream On (Aerosmith), Don't Fear the Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult)

#ManicMonday #LetterD @CBee

CBee Thanks for playing! My hubby loves LeGuin! 13mo
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faelinwolf
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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Woo hoo! I made a lot of good progress in March & even got a bingo! My second this year! Hoping I can get another bingo in April! #BookSpinBingo

@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Great month!!! 1y
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Leniverse
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin

"I used to want so badly to be different. I wonder why?"
"There's a point, around the age of twenty," Bedap said, "when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities."
"Or at least accept them with resignation," said Shevek.

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Leniverse
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin

"A body-profiteer," Takver called women who used their sexuality as a weapon in a power-struggle with men. To look at her, Vea was the body-profiteer to end them all. (...) She was so elaborately and ostentatiously a female body that she seemed scarcely to be a human being.

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Leniverse
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin

"You can't crush ideas by suppressing them. You can only crush them by ignoring them. By refusing to think - refusing to change."

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Leniverse
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin

"But what," Oiie said abruptly, as if the question, long kept back, burst from him under pressure- "What keeps people in order? Why don't they rob and murder each other?"
"Nobody owns anything to rob. If you want things you take them from the depository. As for violence, well, I don't know, Oiie; would you murder me, ordinarily? And if you felt like it, would a law against it stop you? Coercion is the least efficient means of obtaining order."

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Leniverse
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin

'There were walls around all his thoughts, and he seemed utterly unaware of them though he was perpetually hiding behind them.'

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OutAndAbout
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin

The idea is like grass. It craves light, likes crowds, thrives on cross breeding, grows better for being stepped on.💡

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OutAndAbout
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Today‘s moment of serendipity. The Data Detective was describing how statistics are often presented with too limited information for you to understand context and therefore usefulness.
At the same time, Shevek & friends were discussing whether the other world they see from afar could be different than what they are told in history classes. Not that anyone is lying but only that they know only what they‘ve been told, which could be outdated.

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TheBookHippie
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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🤍

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OutAndAbout
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin

New book for my #tbr. Found through this list:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alliehayes/books-that-changed-lives-reddit

"If you've ever wondered how to reconcile a desire for freedom and a desire to support the common good, look no further."

An author I haven‘t read yet and really should have.

bnp Hope you enjoy. She's been one of my faves for a long time. 3y
Bradleygirl 👍👍👍 also pointing at this one bc #swoon 3y
OutAndAbout @Bradleygirl thanks for suggesting. I noticed a lot of folks preferred that one. Hopefully I enjoy this one enough to try a second! 3y
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BookmarkTavern Le Guin is one of those authors that, if I could develop book amnesia so I could read a book for the first time again, I‘d pick hers. ❤️ I hope you enjoy it! Also, totally seconding the recommendation for Left Hand! 👍🏻 (edited) 3y
OutAndAbout @ozma.of.oz thanks for the tip. That means I need to make sure I have lots of open reading time when I pick it up so I can wallow in the experience! 3y
OutAndAbout @ozma.of.oz by the way, if you haven‘t read The Rose Code and enjoy some historical fiction, there‘s an “Ozma of Oz” reference! 3y
BookmarkTavern Sounds great! I‘ll have to check to see if my library has a copy! 👍🏻 3y
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Moray_Reads
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Pickpick

I didn't love this the way I loved The Left Hand of Darkness but that doesn't mean it isn't brilliant. Le Guin mixes complex philosophical and political ideas with theoretical physics and phenomenal writing to create another story that ultimately asks what makes us human #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

vivastory I really need to read more le Guin. I often think about 3y
Moray_Reads @vivastory also brilliant. I think I've only read the, LHoD, the Dispossessed and Lathe if Heaven. Plus Earthsea many years ago 3y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 3y
Clare-Dragonfly Perfect way to describe this book: not lovable like other Le Guin but brilliant. I should read it again… 3y
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Moray_Reads
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Moray_Reads
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Moray_Reads
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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breadnroses
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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second book of the year takes its place as one of, if not my favorite novel of all time 🙂 there are such strong flashes of benjamin in this story — the overcoming of empty, homogenous time; the messianic revolutionary figure; the pursuit of tikkun olam/olamot — that i wonder if his work was a source of inspiration for le guin?

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BestDogDad
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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Pickpick


This novel is classic science fiction at its best. It checks all the boxes: great world building, interesting characters, fascinating social commentary, two concurrent plots that never lag or get boring, and on and on. The technology may have seemed advanced when this was written in the mid-1970s but we've since passed most of what is portrayed. I stayed up past my bedtime often to read this, it was hard to put down.

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Exbrarian
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Pickpick

Barely a pick. Just finished this one for a virtual book club that I host for some IRL friends. This book has won ALL the awards and I am very well versed in anarchist philosophy but the book barely moved my interest meter. Plenty worth discussing for a book club so that's a win, but it's just a very lukewarm entertainment experience.

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rwmg
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
Pickpick

Shavek, a physicist working on a grand unified theory of time, leaves the anarcho-socialist not-quite utopia of Anarres for the “propertarian“, “archist“ societies of its sister planet Urras hoping to find a more intellectually stimulating environment so that he can complete his work and to act as a bridge between the Anarresti and their Urrasti origins in order to continue the revolution. 👎

rwmg The chapters alternate between Shavek's experiences once he arrives on Urras and his life on Anarres up to his departure, perhaps a literary demonstration of the unification of Simultaneity and Sequentiality in his work. 👎 3y
rwmg The descriptions of the two ways of life are engrossing even if the anarcho-socialists on Anarres seem quite dated now, very 60s-ish. Or is that just my age? Somehow it's much easier to accept dated views of technology in SF than dated views of social change. Having said that, the way Le Guin follows the ideas to their logical conclusion and explores how human nature would or would not change is well worth reading and thinking about. 3y
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rwmg
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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rwmg
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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rwmg
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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kgriffith
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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“Dead anarchists make martyrs, you know, and keep living for centuries. But absent ones can be forgotten.”

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kgriffith
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Even pain counts.

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kgriffith
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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“It is hard to swear when sex is not dirty and blasphemy does not exist.”

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kgriffith
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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I slept until 10 because I was up until 4 so I‘m counting the hour of reading I did before bed but after midnight 😁 reading this for my Writing Utopias class and am going to be cranky when I get to the halfway point and have to stop so I don‘t spoil anything for others if I read on 😬 But, I have all of Rubyfruit Jungle to read by 11:30 tomorrow for book club. #readathon @DeweysReadathon #24HourReadathon

nanuska_153 I love Ursula Le Guin so much, but haven't read this one yet 3y
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RamsFan1963
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description or reason for wanting to read the book. Some are old and some will be new. Don't judge me - I have a lot of books.
Day 100

#tbrmountain #bookbuyingdiet

KathyWheeler I really liked this book. 3y
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Mitch
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Wow - that‘s a stunner!

saresmoore Well, shoot! My budget is only $3.5 mil! 3y
AmyG I just took a virtual tour. It‘s stunning. Must like wood. https://lithub.com/take-a-virtual-tour-through-ursula-k-le-guins-gorgeous-califo... (edited) 3y
Ruthiella @saresmoore 😂😂😂 3y
Mitch @saresmoore ahh - you just missed out! 🤣 3y
Mitch @AmyG it‘s gorgeous! 3y
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Settings
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Pickpick

Still good but my high expectations for this author made me a bit disappointed.

AutumnRLS I have that exact copy. Still haven't read Left Hand of Darkness. Thinking I may need to bump that one up my TBR pile! 3y
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hilded
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Pickpick

The book centers around Shevek,a physicist from Anarres.Anarres was settled by a group of anarchists who left Urras,a place probably similar to earth,in search of Utopia.Le Guin explores the advantages and weaknesses of both societies,and does so very well without idealizing one over the other.She addressees important political issues such as anarchy,gender roles,feminism and homosexuality and that utopia isn‘t always what we imagine it to be.👇🏻

hilded
I found the premise very intriguing, but I wish I had read it instead of listening to it through Audible. The reader was a bit monotonic, and since there was a lot of information to keep track on, it was a a rather difficult listening. I suspect I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it myself. Nevertheless, a good book, no doubt! 4⭐️
(edited) 4y
hilded Read for my #TBRchallenge in #Reading1001 at GR and #AtY2020 week 8; two worded title starting with The. #1001books (edited) 4y
hilded Decided to also use this for #Booked2020 for prompt 22 (Book Club Worthy), as I think this would be a good choice to read for a bookclub. @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft 4y
Cinfhen Fabulous review 🤓definitely seems like plenty to talk about! 4y
hilded @Cinfhen Thanks! :) 4y
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alessandrafn
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Reading an actual book. A physical one.
It's been a while.

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llwheeler
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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"No distinction was drawn between the arts and the crafts; art was not considered as having a place in life, but as being a basic technique of life, like speech."

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llwheeler
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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I'm back! Lots I want to catch up on, but today will be a quiet day. I'm babying the remnants of a bad headache so it doesn't flare up again. Tea and the last 50 pages of this book. Then probably more tea and a different book 🙂

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llwheeler
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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#bookreport #weeklyforecast

Checked everything off my forecast this week and started two others.

Not making a forecast for this week, as I probably won't be online next weekend, but my tentative plan for the next 2 weeks:
Finish The Dispossessed, Genji, Emma, Broken Stars
Start and finish Christmas Days, and probably The Bollywood Affair
Continue with Literary Women and The Hobbit

Settings Good luck with Genji 4y
Daisey You‘re getting close to the end of Genji! I look forward to seeing your final thoughts. 4y
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llwheeler
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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"He was borne off to the waiting limousine, eminently photographic to the last because of his height, his long hair, and the strange look of grief and recognition on his face."

(Le Guin's sentences get me every time.)

Come-read-with-me @llwheeler Wow - breathtaking! 4y
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T.S.McLellan
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
Pickpick

Another LeGuin masterwork. This story unraveled in multiple timelines, telling a bleak and sobering tale of an anarchist from an anarchic society who was welcomed back into the fold of free market bureaucracy.

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underthebelljar
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Just started. Highly praised by my fiancé who had to read it for a political science literature class.

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broughtyoubooks
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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Mehso-so

I genuinely liked this novel a lot, but the time lapses were too confusing a lot of the time. Everything was made to be pretty readable despite the content surrounding physics philosophy (?) The characters were fulfilling and the story of anarchism (beyond time theory) was something I'd love to read more of.

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rretzler
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
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Pickpick

A Sci-Fi classic, this book is the story of Shevek, a brilliant physicist who has grown up on the anarchist utopia of Anarres. Hoping to find more freedom for his work and to leave behind jealous colleagues, he leaves his wife and children and moves to the planet Urras. Urras has two main states fighting for dominance-one capitalist and patriarchal, and the other proletariat. He is soon in the middle of a revolution and longing for home. 4⭐️ #2019

LeeRHarry I much preferred this to Left Hand of Darkness 😊 4y
rretzler @LeeRHarry I think I may be the opposite. If memory serves, I liked the plot of LHOD a little better. This one seemed to be more of a social/political commentary IMO. 😄 4y
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catiewithac
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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After a year of wanting to read this book, it‘s finally time. I think this novel is one that is perpetually timely.

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Pedrocamacho
The Dispossessed: A Novel | Ursula K. Le Guin
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Mehso-so

This my least favorite Le Guin so far. But it still captured my attention.

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uwasif
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. LeGuin
Pickpick

The anarchist society is a brilliant thought experiment, the entire book is. Very enjoyable read, particularly if you have an interest in political systems.