Anarchism probably isn’t what you think it is.

I’ve been rereading some of Le Guin’s novels and I just finished this beautiful gem of a book. The first time I read this I was in High School, and I had an Economics senior year. Reading this book rendered the hazy dry hypotheticals we were unstitching in class into the clarity of living color. I always learn something new or arrive at new conclusions every time I dip back into The Hainish Cycle. If you’ve not read ‘The Dispossessed’, It’s a huge story told through a series of tiny lenses, it’s true to Le Guin’s style and does both broad sketches and deep cuts into the nature and essence of humanity and the lengths we go to exert our ideals and principles upon the world and the people around us. It’s a meatier read but worth every page. If you’re a sci fi fan with a love of well written social sci-fi featuring believable and interesting characters, inventive alien races and their cultures, then this book is a must, especially if you prefer a sounder scientific backbone for your reads. Le Guin pulls all the stops for this one. Five Stars every time.

This is a really bad book. A chore and a bore to read. Absolutely no action or purpose. Absent of a protagonist and void of purpose.

This novel is a good study of how one person can change, not one, but two civilizations.

Sorry to say, Le Guin’s The Dipossessed just didn’t engage me. It presented two dimensional characters existing in two dimensional landscapes. I got about 1/3 of the way through and just put it down. Now its just sitting on my nightstand, probably never to be finished. Disappointing.

I write these words as a warning to the reader who thinks their favorite author a genius and to authors who publish their philosophical ramblings when their story telling talents have gone flat. A few years ago I read Jean Auel's last book about caves and it made me so sad that one of my most loved writers had turned into an old person telling the same story over and over as if it were new. I can't say that Le Guin has always been a favorite of mine but I have always admired her bold presence in a male dominated genre. This is one of the dreariest books I've ever tried to read. It's filled with dry dogma and lofty intellectual dialogue with about as much drama as burnt baked potato. When I'm ready to curl up with a good book, I can read only a few pages before lose all interest in the story line. Not to say that the book doesn't have a point. (This author is one intelligent woman) but I probably won't ever get to it. I'm half way through the book and have better things to do with my life, and much better books to read.

Le Guin is known for rich detailed background. That’s what I found, except the societies in this novel are so … blah. It all comes across as too symbolic; sci-fi as moral template of current politics. Like Rand-lite for geeks. Oh, she dives into the nuts and bolts of each world. Yet there’s no passion. No intrigue. It’s all laid out like a thesis, when it should be more of a fiery sermon. I only made it halfway through this novel, until I simply avoided opening it again. I love the detail, but I am pushed away by the sterility.

A classic that everyone should read!

A classic science fiction novel that won Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. The publisher needs to spend more time proof reading this eBook. It is riddled with errors and not worth purchasing.

This book is Le Guin's best, a unique exploration of social and political anthropology in the guise of a science fiction novel. It shows all forms of human political organization at both their best and worst, and is a fascinating thought experiments of how an anarchist society would work (and not work) In practice.