It’s a slightly click-baity title, but as we’re still generating more content for our magazines, this one included, why not?
My Sci-fi unpopular opinion is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is nothing but pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. I’ve tried watching it multiple times and each time I have absolutely no patience for the pointless little scenes which contain little to no depth or meaningful plot, all coalescing towards that 15 minute “journey” through space and series of hallucinations or whatever that are supposed to be deep, shake you to your foundations, and make you re-think the whole human condition.
But it doesn’t. Because it’s just pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. Planet of the Apes was released in the same year and is, on every level, a better Sci-fi movie. It offers mystery, a consistent and engaging plot, relatable characters you actually care about, and asks a lot more questions about the world and our place in it.
This should make some people mad… I thought The Dispossessed was an awful book. The characters were flat and the way Le Guin explored the themes had all the nuance and subtlety of a Garfield comic. It’s the only book of hers that I’ve read, put me off exploring the rest of her work.
hottest take, and written with poignant scorn
I really liked it when I was a teenager, but I’m forced to agree, I re-read it a couple years back while I still enjoyed it overall, there were a few aspects I found didn’t age super well.
“Left Hand of Darkness” was way, way better. “Earthsea” too, actually (here’s a bonus fantasy hot take: LOTR is at least as good as Earthsea). “The Dispossessed” gets hyped because left-anarchists like the depiction of anything close to what they’re into, but in many ways it’s not actual a very strong novel for the reasons you mention.
My point is, some of her other books are much better if you ever feel inclined to give her another try. IMO She developed a lot both as a writer and in terms of the depth of her personal philosophy. “Always Coming Home” is an extremely ambitious scifi project that is IMO underappreciated in expanding the idea of “worldbuilding” as a thing that authors share with audiences rather than do behind the scenes. It’s less of a novel and more of an anthropological survey of a fictional future culture. Also it’s the only scifi novel I know of that comes with a bangin soundtrack.
Haha, I once mentioned on reddit that I thought I would’ve liked it if I’d read it as a teenager and got downvoted to hell. The setting was interesting, and I appreciated the ideas, I just thought the actual writing was very clunky. No judgement on anyone who liked it is intended, I’ve certainly enjoyed some poorly written books just because the ideas explored were new to me.
Thanks for the recs, I may give another book a try once the memory has faded more.
I love “The Dispossessed”, but thats an interesting perspective! Ive had most of these books on my reading list for some time, guess i have to move them further up. Thanks!