Books for Prep | |
 - Still a classicRe-read the Lathe of Heaven after many years -- and it's still a classic. Great quote from Michael Chabon prefaces this edition. A must read. Rating:  - Not a book to be read before bedtimeA coworker recommended I read some of Le Guin's work, and with how many books I recommend, I feel generally compelled to read recommendations. This novel started out following my normal fiction interests-dystopias. It seemed like this was going to be a good psychiatrist dystopia, which was great because aside from 12 Monkeys, I don't think I've ever seen or read a psychiatric dystopia. Haber was an interesting character, a typical researcher who convinces himself that what he's doing is fo the good of all. And the entire book, I was wondering along-is this bad to happen-aside from the self-serving things Herber did...is it really that bad? And it was a very good internal conflict. I was glad Orr was never completely certain about it either. The plot was good enough for me to ignore the awful grammar (she dangles quite a few participles in her novels, which is kind of distracting after a day of proofreading papers). Then came the aliens. Aliens, really? But I paused, reminded myself that one of my favorite books (Ender's Game), also has aliens and it was a great book despite them (in case you hadn't noticed-I don't like aliens in books-I think they are a lazy plot device either used to indicate xenophobia or to ameliorate guilt of slaughtering a bunch of them). This was also a good book despite the aliens-though not great. It is an interesting concept and an interesting book, though it's best NOT to read it with the intention of reading a couple of chapters each night before bed. I had to read the whole thing in one night, hoping that my dreams would be a little more normal than Orr's. Rating: - Sci-fi with a humanistic purposeA someone who claims to not be a fan of sci-fi, Le Guin manages to keep me in the fold. Having read Walking Away from Omelas in grad school and more recently The New Atlantis, I was intrigued by Le Guin's approach to writing. She infuses sci-fi with a strong literary syle and an interest in ethics and humanism. The result in The Lathe of Heaven is a book that offers a sci-fi, dystopian theme as well as an intelligent comment on the human condition. Fans of the genre, as well as others, will be entertained and provoked. If you enjoy Ray Bradbury or Phillip K. Dick, Le guin seems a good synthesis of the two (albeit in a way all her own). The plot points where George Orr's dreams effect reality are so striking, they leave the reader equally effected and induce the same dream-like feeling of helplessness Orr experiences. The Lathe of heaven is a fun, intelligent read and now one of my favorites. You might also enjoy Athem by Ayn Rand if you are looking for something leaning more towards the philisohical. Rating: - Accessible, wide-ranging, and opens the doors to many new topics and genres. Very highly recommendedGeorge Orr has the ability to dream things into being, changing reality smoothly and seamlessly into what he creates in his dreams. Scared by this power, he takes drugs to stop his dreams and soon ends up in mandatory sessions with a dream-specialist therapist who promises to help him--yet reveals that he has his own plans for George and his effective dreams. Unlike George, who did not want to change reality, the psychiatrist Haber has no qualms changing reality to serve what he views as the greatest good. A well-developed science-fiction text in its own right, Lathe of Heaven also delves into the realm of dystopic societies, utilitarian philosophy, and issues ranging from race to socialized medicine to human natures. The text is skilled, accessible, well-paced, and both thought-provoking and essentially satisfying as a book. I greatly enjoyed it and highly recommend it. I was impressed by how much ground and how many topics Le Guinn covers in such a short book, and how accessible the topics remain throughout. It is a very readable text, but not because Le Guin dumbs down or oversimplifies topics. Rather, she carefully juggles plot, characterization, and theory such that the book moves at a good pace without becoming rushed and the various factors combine in a way that brings out the best and most useful (to the reader and the story) in all of them. Therefore, I would recommend this book to all readers, including those that don't generally read science-fiction. The topics which Le Guin investigates are wide-ranging and, though she doesn't investigate any in extensive depth, the text does provide a lot of food for thought. Covering everything from healthcare to the patient/doctor relationship, from utilitarianism to human nature, to race and war and the unconscious mind, she really does touch on a wide range of subjects in the series of dystopic realities that span the book. The topics are covered in enough detail to be realistically realized, but are kept open so that the book keeps moving at a good pace and the reader is never given a clear, absolute answer to any one topic. My only complaint with the novel is this level of brevity and indecisiveness, but I believe it is necessary. It would be impossible to delve into all of these topics in depth without completely changing the purpose and content of the novel, and it would also make for a lengthy, tiresome read. As it is, the book opens a lot of doors and closes none of them, providing apt food for thought and introducing more topics (such as human nature) that are only accessible because it is able to cover so many. I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It read quickly, kept me interested, but never became simplistic or shallow. I highly recommend this text to all readers, and I think it has the potential to open up pathways to all sorts of new thoughts and genres for the reader. This is a wonderful book. Rating:  - Superlative conception; inadequate execution...Like its protagonist (Dr. Haber), this novel ultimately fails due to the paucity of imaginative means that are brought to bear in pursuit of its conceptually magnificent ends. And, unfortunately, in art, as one of the characters puts it: "All we have is means." In any case, a very charming meditation on the nature of reality and the mind's place in it - announced by the jellyfish/ocean allegory in the opening paragraphs - disintegrates, like Dr. Haber's attempts at remaking the World, into an incoherent and unsatisfactory welter of unnecessary characters (e.g. Heather Laleche) and events. Le Guin should have given herself a lot more time writing this one. In association with Amazon.com | |