The Dispossessed

By: Ursula K. Le Guin

Narrated by: Roddy Doyle, Tim Treloar

Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the very best must-listen 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

©2019 Ursula K. Le Guin (P)2019 Orion Publishing Group

Critic reviews

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 (Roddy Doyle)

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 (Baird Searles)

Wow. So relevant to today. An insightful foretelling, hopeful and yet depressing future for mankind.

Better than Orwell’s 1984. I wish this was a standard text studied in all high schools.
A very detailed and insightful observation of man’s inhumanity to man, even if most have an inner wish to do the right thing by all.
I have no answers to the problems of humanity, I think Annares have solved a lot of problems in society.
However it is apparent that whichever societal structure one lives in the individuals desire to control or rise above their fellow human may creep back in... so although it fills me with hope it’s left me with with some despair.
I can only wish all good men and women step up to be counted - and not presume the right thing will be done if we don’t keep our ‘democratic’ governments on the straight and narrow.
Highly recommended sci-fi that comments on society today.

Not for me I guess

I’ve read a number of books by this author, Ursula K. LeGuin and I enjoyed them all. Except for this one. This one maybe just wasn’t for me. Everyone’s taste is different so don’t let me put you off, you might enjoy it.

Insightful and Modern beyond its time.

Conceptually as pertinent today as in the 70s. Le Guin astutely delves into possible societies, at once improbable and yet completely belivable. My criticism is only that the plot does not have the adventurous dynamic of Left Hand of Darkness, and Shevaks interpersonal relationships are not as revealing as Genly Ai's. At times sections feel like scifi text book of the planets socio systems, and Shevaks personal story is just a little less compelling.
Still, passages are so pertinent that it must embarrass a 21st century reader that we, our governments and our systems have adhered so thoroughly to the worst of Le Guin's societies and aspired so little to the best of them.
The reading performance is solid, not detracting from the book, though I would suggest regional british accents do not lend well to Le Guins goals to extract readers from our world and our stereotypes. Perhaps not as thoroughly engrossing as The Left Hand of Darkness.