Reviews with content warning for Ableism - The Lathe of Heaven

The quote on the cover of the edition I'm borrowing reads, “When I read The Lathe of Heaven as a young man, my mind was boggled; now when I read it, more than twenty-five years later, it breaks my heart” (Michael Chabon). I somehow feel younger and older at the same time, feeling my mind boggled and my heart broken at the same time. Since this book deals with multiple realities and multiple selves, I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised by that, but I am surprised by how much it affected me. I think I stayed up past 3am to finish it.

Representation:
- one of the three PoV characters is biracial (black)
- one of the three PoV characters is bisexual or a (closeted?) gay man

George Orr, an average man by all accounts, discovers his dreams are affecting reality and that he’s the only one who knows it’s happening. He goes to dream psychiatrist William Haber for help but soon finds himself manipulated by Haber and his desire to play god.

As always with Le Guin, the prose is gorgeous. I love the way she distinguishes her characters, both through the prose and the characters’ voices. Heather Lelache, the love interest, especially. She's described in almost a menacing way with how her brass bracelets and buckles snap and clack when she moves. It fits her character wonderfully, too. As sort of an armor plating.

Though the story ends up being a little frustrating, because George technically could have ended the story halfway through and saved everyone a whole lot of trouble, it’s also fun to understand that it’s exactly his nature that prevents him from doing it. Just like it’s Haber’s nature that ultimately makes him the antagonist of the story, even though his desire is to do good. You have to love (or at least appreciate) stories like that.

I hear there was a film made of this in the 80s ... I know what I'll be doing this coming weekend. In the meantime, on to the next Le Guin novel(la)!

Content Warnings

lipka's review against another edition

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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

satanicangel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

tenar's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

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