The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
22 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Dispossessed

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Narrator: Roddy Doyle, Tim Treloar

Unabridged: 12 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Gateway

Published: 10/03/2019

Synopsis

One of the very best must-read novels of all time - with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle

'There was a wall. It did not look important - even a child could climb it. But the idea was real. Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on...'

Shevek is brilliant scientist who is attempting to find a new theory of time - but there are those who are jealous of his work, and will do anything to block him. So he leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Shevek soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.

With powerful themes of freedom, society and the natural world's influence on competition and co-operation, THE DISPOSSESSED is a true classic of the 20th century.

Featuring a new introduction written and read by Roddy Doyle

(p) The Orion Publishing Group Ltd 2019

About Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was a celebrated author whose body of work includes 23 novels, 12 volumes of short stories, 11 volumes of poetry, 13 children's books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. The breadth and imagination of her work earned her six Nebula Awards, seven Hugo Awards, and SFWA's Grand Master, along with the PEN/Malamud and many other awards. In 2014 she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Manny on September 24, 2014

First of all: if you haven't already read The Dispossessed, then do so. Somehow, probably because it comes with an SF sticker, it isn't yet officially labeled as one of the great novels of the 20th century. They're going to fix that eventually, so why not get in ahead of the crowd? It's not just a t......more

Goodreads review by mark on April 07, 2015

Why America Is Full of Toxic Bullshit and Why Ambiguous Utopias Need to Check Themselves Before They Wreck Themselves Going Down the Same Fucked-Up Path by Ursula K. Le Guin. this excellent novel-cum-political treatise-cum-extended metaphor for the States lays its thesis out in parallel narratives. i......more

Goodreads review by Eric on March 18, 2014

This discourse on dystopias won Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and National Book awards, and almost every single one of my Goodreads friends that has read it has it tagged with a 4 or 5 star rating. So clearly, the problem here is with me, because I really hated this book -- and it isn't becaus......more

Goodreads review by Jeffrey on May 04, 2016

When I started this novel I was a little worried because the prose seemed clunky and I was having a hard time settling into the novel. After a few pages that all changed, either I adjusted to her writing style or the writing smoothed out. If you experience this, hang in there, it is well worth stick......more

Quotes

The book I wish I had written ... It's so far away from my own imagination, I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin THE TIMES

The Dispossessed paints a hopeful; and complex portrait of a society rooted in collectivism

An extraordinary work ... [Le Guin] created a working society in exquisite detail ... a fully realised hypothetical culture [as well as] living breathing characters who are inevitable products of that culture

This remains a challenging and urgent book Guardian

A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again THE TIMES

Le Guin's book ... is so persuasive that it ought to put a stop to the writing of prescriptive Utopias for at least 10 years NEW YORK TIMES

Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power OBSERVER

A seamless creation: everything is made up, nothing seems arbitrary New York Times Book Review

[Le Guin had] the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

One of our finest projectionists of brave old and other worlds Kirkus Reviews

Awards

  • John W. Campbell Memorial Award
Add to Cart
Add to Wish List