Ursula K. Le Guin - The Lathe of Heaven
- Started:
- Finished:
- Open Library
- Shelves:
This novel is about dreams and reality. Usually, these are clearly separated but not in Portland, Oregon, not for George Orr, not in 1971.
The whole story happens in a dystopian “future” where humanity suffers from overpopulation and climate change. Ursula projected the worries of the sixties into this book well: overpopulation, declining environment and the cold war.
Overall, the book was OK but not great. I can’t but help to compare with Recursion - many details in the novel seemed not thought-through.
Details I struggled with (spoilers)
- Orr was portrayed as incredibly stable, thoughtful and down-to-earth, yet he let Dr. Harber take the world to the brink of destruction because he didn’t want to go to prison.
- The way how other people (Harber, Heather) remembered different realities was inconsistent. There was no logic to it.
- The final scene when everything started falling apart in Harber’s dream didn’t make any sense.
Logic has to be the struggle for every time travelling/reality changing story. The fact that the novel is old is likely to be responsible for my lack of enthusiasm. I might have read improved versions of the same type of story. Now I can’t appreciate the first but imperfect book.