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samdalefox's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I enjoyed the concept and found the the book easy to read. It's short enough to get through in one sitting if you enjoy a full evening of reading. I think many important moral and philosophical points were raised, but I did find that the pacing of the story weighed things down for me, especially around 50-80% of the way through, the pace slowed and the storyline seemed repetitive.
However, pacing aside, this is a solid classic scifi book where a simple concept is continually escalated until we see its natural (disastrous) conclusion. Both lead characters, Haber and Orr, are imbued with heavy symbolism. And the tertiary character Heather Lelache has particular significance with respect to identity. I would like to have seen more exploration of the Aldebaranian aliens I found their characterisation interesting, their interactions with Orr moving, and their potential insights into 'iahklu' and 'Er' perrehne' fascinating. It's a short read but packed with meaning, symbols and emotions. It shows us that the world is complicated, maybe meaningless, there are no easy solutions. We should embrace the constraints and learn to live within them.
It wasn't until page 149 that I understood the title of the book 'The Lathe of Heaven'... A lathe is a machine for shaping wood. Orr is consistenly described throughout the book as been a solid block of wood. Haber sees him as an inert insignficant lump, while Lelache sees him as a pillar of immovable strength. Haber can be interpretted as the lathe trying to shape Orr, the block of wood, by using Orr's effective dreams as a way to intentionally change reality. Haber explicity says his goal on pg 149 as "then this world will be like heaven, and the men will be like gods.".
Haber and Orr represent opposites in the extreme. Haber - Selfish benevolence. Disrepect, or at least misunderstanding, of nature. God ego. Insatiable will/ambition. Individualism. Ultimately his perfectionist tinkering led to eugenics, and the climate changes issues persisted throughout all his changes. Who did he really help? Did the means of achieving the desired ends, justify them? e.g., by removing the existance of concepts of race and ethnicity can one really say he solved racism and white supremacy? No, he simply stripped people of their idividuality and cultures and homogenised them. It is a blunt tool that made a short cut through a nuanced problem... Whereas Orr - passive. Acceptance of nature. No desire to impose his will upon the existing order. Desires harmony and just 'to be'.
Quotes:
However, pacing aside, this is a solid classic scifi book where a simple concept is continually escalated until we see its natural (disastrous) conclusion. Both lead characters, Haber and Orr, are imbued with heavy symbolism. And the tertiary character
It wasn't until page 149 that I understood the title of the book 'The Lathe of Heaven'...
Haber and Orr represent opposites in the extreme. Haber - Selfish benevolence. Disrepect, or at least misunderstanding, of nature. God ego. Insatiable will/ambition. Individualism. Ultimately his perfectionist tinkering led to eugenics, and the climate changes issues persisted throughout all his changes. Who did he really help? Did the means of achieving the desired ends, justify them? e.g.,
Quotes:
"Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.
"Things don't have purposes, as if the universe were a machine, where every part has a useful function. What's the function of a galaxy? I don't know if our life has a purpose and I don't see that it matters. What does matter is that we're a part. Like a thread in a cloth or a grass-blade in a field. It is and we are. What we do is like wind blowing on the grass."
"But the big man was like an onion, slip off layer after layer of personality, belief, response, infinite layers, no end to them, no center to him. Nowhere that he ever stopped, had to stop, had to say Here I stay! No being, only layers."
"He had gone into sleep research and oneirology in the first place to find therapeutic applications. He was not interested in detached knowledge, science for science' sake: there was no use in learning anything if it was of no use. Relevance was his touchstone..
"A person is defined solely by the extent of his influence over other people, by the sphere of his interrelationships; and morality is an utter meaningless term unless defined as the good one does to others, the fufiling of one's function in the sociopolitical whole."
"Orr was not a fast reasoner. In fact, he was not a reasonor. Hi arrived at idas the slow way, never skating over the clear, hard ice fo logic, nor soaring on the slipstreams of imagination, but slogging, plodding along on the heavy ground of existence. He did not see connections, which is said to be a hallmark of intellect. He felt connections - like a plumber."
“We're in the world, not against it. It doesn't work to try to stand outside things and run them, that way. It just doesn't work, it goes against life. There is a way but you have to follow it. The world is, no matter how we think it ought to be. You have to be with it. You have to let it be.”
“The quality of the will to power is, precisely, growth. Achievement is its cancellation. To be, the will to power must increase with each fulfillment, making the fulfillment only a step to a further one. The vaster the power gained, the vaster the appetite for more. As there was no visible limit to the power Haber wielded through Orr’s dreams, so there was no end to his determination to improve the world.”
"It's not that he's evil. He's right, one ought ot try and help other people. But that analogy with snakebite serum is false. He was talknig about one person meeting another person in pain... You have to help the other person. But it's not right to play god with masses of people. To be God you have to know what you're doing. And to do any good at all, just believing you're right and your motives are good isn't enough. You have to... be in touch. He isn't in touch... He sees the world only as a means to his end. It doesn't make any difference if his end is good; means are all we got... He can't accept, he can't let be, he can't let go."
"He seemed not to know the uses fo silence."
"... a machine is more blameless, more sinless even than any animal. It has no intentions whatsoever but our own."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Gaslighting, and War
The book focuses on the relationship between a patient and his psychiatrist, who abuses his power in various ways.mkdjr's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I cannot recommend this book enough. I found certain feelings and experiences of mine to be so powerfully and elegantly conveyed in ways I did not even begin to expect. I read this book while listening to some of my favorite instrumental songs and was alltogether absorbed, amazed, overjoyed, and heartbroken.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and War
Minor: Homophobia
lettucelaugh's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Medical trauma
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
chrisljm's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“Things don’t have purposes, as if the universe were a machine, where every part has a useful function. What’s the function of a galaxy? I don’t know if our life has a purpose and I don’t see that it matters. What does matter is that we’re a part. Like a thread in a cloth or a grass-blade in a field. It is and we are. What we do is like wind blowing on the grass.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and War
Moderate: Genocide
Minor: Racism and Pandemic/Epidemic
lipka's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I am deeply attached to the person holding the center, and the person embracing him. The sky-sea space-time matter-energy self-universe center-edge is at stake; the pages too few to cradle all of the implications thereof. But it's as sweet as it is small. And sanguine. And blue. If I dream any dream, I'd be glad of it being a dream as kind as this one was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Ableism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Toxic relationship, Murder, and War
Minor: Sexual assault, Car accident, and Sexual harassment
keen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts