The Dispossessed (1974)

I am on a Le Guin's streak, diving deeper into the Hainish universe. The more I read of her work, the more I appreciate her writing style. Some might find it too heavy on descriptions. As for me, I love how she describes things as they are seen by the protagonist, until his perception suddenly shifts — creating mini-twists throughout the novel.

Just like in The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed uses this science fiction world as an excuse to explore different social realities.^[1] In the case of this book: an isolated and successful community based on (a type of) communism is confronted to capitalism.

In her novels, she often writes through the eyes of people who encounter worlds, cultures, and values that are completely alien to them. We cannot entirely trust these narrators, as they fail to understand a context that is unintuitive to them. Through this sense of unfamiliarity, Le Guin consistently takes us on surprising journeys into the unknown. And I won't stop traveling with her anytime soon.