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Ursula K. Le Guin

Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973-11-08) Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01N03GTJ3

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Ursula K. Le Guin

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Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (US /ˈɜːrsələ ˈkroʊbər ləˈɡwɪn/; born October 21, 1929) is an American author of novels, children's books, and short stories, mainly in the genres of fantasy and science fiction. She has also written poetry and essays. First published in the 1960s, her work has often depicted futuristic or imaginary alternative worlds in politics, the natural environment, gender, religion, sexuality and ethnography.

She influenced such Booker Prize winners and other writers as Salman Rushdie and David Mitchell – and notable science fiction and fantasy writers including Neil Gaiman and Iain Banks. She has won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award, each more than once. In 2014, she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Le Guin has resided in Portland, Oregon since 1959.

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Josh Mauthe

Overtly a tribute to Philip K. Dick, but no less rich, imaginative, and thoughtful for that

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2018

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Even before her recent passing, I've known that my lack of experience with the works of Ursula K. Le Guin was a shortcoming I needed to rectify. The only book of hers I've read was The Dispossessed, a book I admired a lot while ultimately finding a bit dry and didactic. (It's also a book I plan on revisiting soon, ideally after reading some more Le Guin and now that I know what to expect, to see if I feel differently about it.) And, as authors paid tribute to the legendary author in the wake of her passing, one novel that I saw mentioned again and again was The Lathe of Heaven, which I knew nothing about.

And, man, am I glad I checked it out. Often viewed as Le Guin's tribute to the works of Philip K. Dick, The Lathe of Heaven undeniably feels a lot like a Dick novel, with a surreal hook used to explore philosophical questions about reality and who we really are. But as you'd expect from Le Guin, there's no shortage of more social questions raised here, from the nature of peace to the dangers of global warming, all done within a great narrative that twists and turns underneath you.

The hook is simple enough: there's a man named George Orr (yes, the half allusion is probably intentional) who is scared to dream, because his dreams become real. But what makes this hard to prove is that his dreams don't just create reality; they rewrite it, making whatever he dreams not only true, but making it always have been true, so that no one remembers the change but him. That's true until George goes to court-mandated therapy, where his therapist seems to be aware of the change - and his ability to possibly control George's ability.

Like she did in The Dispossessed, Le Guin explores any number of ideas about utopias, the role of the individual in society, the question of the greater good, and her concerns about utilitarianism. At what point should the individual give way for society? Where is the cutoff between acceptable sacrifice for the greater good and too much? And what is the responsibility of one person to give it all for the world? But whereas The Dispossessed engaged with these ideas in the forms of detailed discussions, The Lathe of Heaven lets them remain more subtextual, unfolding as a battle of wills between George, his therapist, and a lawyer George brings in to help him. More than that, The Lathe of Heaven unfolds as a bizarre thriller of sorts, with reality constantly bending and shifting underneath us, and Le Guin able to explore the ramifications of so many changes, and what it would take to fix some of the problems in our world.

It all adds up to a great book, one that I really enjoyed. And if it's a bit derivative of PKD, well, that's okay, because Le Guin makes it her own, following the political and social ramifications of her conceit, not just the philosophical ones. It's a book I really enjoyed and absolutely couldn't put down, and has me eager to dive into more of an author I don't feel like I ever properly appreciated in her lifetime.

79 people found this helpful

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Bernie GourleyTop Contributor: Fantasy Books

What if your dreams changed the present, and, retroactively, the past?

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2018

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This book’s lead character, George Orr, runs afoul of the law for borrowing the prescription cards of friends and acquaintances. But Orr isn’t a run-of-the-mill junky out to get prescription painkillers. Instead, he’s taking medications to keep from dreaming, because Orr’s dreams change reality—sometimes in subtle, and sometimes in drastic, ways. Of course, the world would be chaotic if the dreams only changed the present, but they also retroactively change the past to be consistent with the new present. Orr is the only one who remembers both the new and old timelines, but he’s not happy with these god-like powers--especially given the chaotic and unpredictable possibilities that arise from the subconscious mind. Not unexpectedly, Orr is reluctant to tell anyone this because they will think he’s mad.

Orr gets assigned to voluntary therapy with a psychologist who specializes in sleep disorders. Orr tells Dr. William Haber about his unique condition, but, once the doctor recognizes Orr is telling the truth, Haber draws the opposite conclusion from Orr. Haber thinks that Orr should be using his “power” to make the world a better place, rather than being scared of it and trying to avoid it. Haber presents the classic example of good intentions gone awry. While the doctor does use the hypnotically-induced sessions to improve his own career situation, the worst outcomes result from the doctor’s attempts to help Orr (without Orr’s approval or prior knowledge) to improve the world. The law of unintended consequences is ever-present, and the dreams guided by Haber often result in “out of the frying pan and into the fire” situations.

This is an interesting premise in a highly readable book. The contrast between Orr and Haber reflects a broader societal tension between those who think they can engineer a utopian future and those who think that one’s attempts will always blow up in ways that one can’t anticipate. It should be noted that the title comes from “The Book of Chuang Tzu” and the virtue of “wu-wei” or “actionless action” in contrast to the corresponding vice of trying to manhandle the world into a desired state is central to the story.

I enjoyed this book. It’s a short novel with a clear theme that is thought-provoking. I’d recommend the book for fiction readers, and highly recommend it for readers of sci-fi and speculative fiction.

46 people found this helpful

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Dave Bradley

big battles etc They are actually good at small scale retail

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2018

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Ursula LeGuin translated the Tao Te Ching late in life and this story has to be seen as a man seeking to follow the Tao. The quotes from Chuang-tze and Lao-tze set the underlying premise for the story. At one point one of the characters watches the hero, George Orr, and wonders: Is it possible for a man to live with no hatred? To not be cross-grained with the universe? To recognize evil and oppose it without being touched by it...to follow the way that cannot be followed without knowing he is following it?
And yet she manages to make her hero compelling because of his struggles. And the Aliens---comic, understated, and wise. No space opera, big battles etc They are actually good at small scale retail! Chuang-tze would roar with laughter.

12 people found this helpful

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The Dancing Banana

This is one of my favorite novels

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2020

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It was required reading in high school and The Lathe Of Heaven became my second most favorite book (the first being Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy). I knew back then that I lived within ten miles of the author but never met her, but over 40 years later my roommate got to know her very well. Before she died she asked me if I could repair her favorite reading lamp. They didn't make mercury bulbs like that anymore but I managed to modernize it without making it look any different. In return she signed my book. I think I got the better deal. She was a fabulous lady, a brilliant writer, and will be sorely missed.

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Amazon Customer

A mind-stretching masterpiece

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2021

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Darker than most Le Guin books, this is a mind-stretching, profound, gorgeously written dystopian masterpiece. What makes The Lathe of Heaven great is that it can tackle some of the biggest issues of the time — overpopulation, environmental destruction, war, racism, the lost soul of the modern world, exploration of the dreaming mind, alternate realities, and the urge to shape society for the better — all in under 200 pages. I really feel that is a lost art in this day of multi-book mega-series and self-indulgent info-dumps.

7 people found this helpful

P. J. Dunn

Do the aliens also dream in the same manner?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2020

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When you strip this story down to its basics it uses the same hoary old format as science fiction tales wherein time travel experiments are repeated to alter the current reality, but each alteration ends up having unintentional consequences that end up making things worse.

However it is not time travel that is the mechanism here but designer dreams, and the dream mechanism isn’t just used as a cop out one for one replacement for time travel. The dynamics are different and engaging, and the actual motivation of, and the impact of events on, the main characters is intriguing.

Even more intriguing are the aliens that pop up. Would those aliens even be in existence if it wasn’t for the dreams? Do they have the same dream powers as they seem to hint at? If so do they refrain from using them or have they used them?

3 people found this helpful

Dan Williams

Still worth a read - 3.5 stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2022

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It's dated but that adds to the quality in a way.

I would have given it 3.5 if I could. 3 wouldn't be fair. I don't usually go for the classics because the ideas often read so twee. In this, they did but not quite as much as I feared.

The story is still well paced even if the characters are a bit poorly built and the dialogue slightly wooden (but I think that was the hard sci-fi style in vogue back then; a sort of austere Blade-Runner voice-over tone). The 'futurism' was more or less in line with recent scifi, even if the social commentary lagged a bit; even so, definitely not to the point of ridiculousness. And even where it did diverge, it was interesting to see what the
author thought the future might hold for society back when she wrote the book.

Not a bad read. Would recommend.

Kay Smillie

Shifting realities

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2018

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I remember the first time I read this thinking how much this reminded me of Philip K Dick, only to discover that it was Ursula Le Guin's tribute to the great man. George Orr is a classic PKD style character in being an ordinary person who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances. Circumstances somehow created by him, where reality is ever shifting. This will most definitely appeal to fans of Philip K Dick.

Ray Smillie

6 people found this helpful

Miss S. A. Munn

A journey through worlds and minds.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2020

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Fascinating, exciting and beautiful. I was totally entranced. Reflective and thought provoking. The kind of story that stays with you and I don't doubt will bear multiple readings.

3 people found this helpful

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Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973-11-08) Mass Market Paperback

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