The Dispossessed

• The subversion of linear time works brilliantly, and the different timelines in the past converge at the end in a poignant, thought-provoking way. This book kept me company through many sleepless nights and changed how I see the world. It is an exercise in imagining alternative worlds and a critical reflection on who we are as a society (and as individuals).

• Anyone who thinks this is just a science fiction book is mistaken. It is that and much more: sociological and philosophical questions overlap, with the clash between two cultures, nonconformity, anarchism, and politics taking center stage in this novel.

• A perfect utopia exists nowhere, and who is right and who is wrong cannot be neatly decided. Even so, there are people who strive to live by what they believe, and I'm truly grateful to an author like Le Guin for bringing such a character to life on the page.

• If Ursula K. Le Guin didn't exist, she would have to be invented. I loved it. The message may be less subtle than in some of her other books, but no matter—it's a pure joy to read, wonderfully developed, and tightly crafted.

• Wonderfully written! I loved everything from the core philosophy to the prose style, and the structure is exquisitely crafted. I've come to think that science fiction in an era of rapid progress should lean closer to anthropology than natural science, and Le Guin is a prime example. Her vision of different peoples and institutions shows tremendous empathy and understanding, expressed with natural, unpretentious elegance.

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