“The first half of this short book blew my mind! Then, at roughly page 100, it took a nose dive.
George Orr lives in a dystopian Portland, Oregon. The world population is at 7 billion, the world is on the brink of nuclear war, water is scarce, food is scarcer, and the most extreme scenarios of global climate change have proven true. But, these pale in comparison to George's primary concern: his dreams alter reality. And he is the only one who can remember how things had been before. Everyone else only remembers the new reality and have new memories of how their life has always been. George seeks voluntary therapy and is assigned to Dr. Haber, but when the Doctor starts manipulating the dreams there are unexpected consequences and George knows he must get out.
Slight spoilers ahead
As I said, the first part of this book was amazing! I thought Le Guin did a masterful job of making subtle changes to reality so that as you read you felt like there was a new detail but perhaps couldn't quite put your finger on it - much like how I envisioned the non-George people of the story felt when their realities shifted.
I also relished in attempting to wrap my brain around the thought that George was not the only person who could alter reality with his dreams. Because the dreamer is the only person who remembers both sets of realities and only the new reality remains for everyone else, George would have no idea if someone else was out there altering the things that George himself just dreamt! And, then I started thinking about something like that in my life: what if 5 minutes ago I lived in Missouri and was a teacher, but the 5 minutes before that I was homeless on the streets of LA, but all I can remember is my life now as a graduate student working for a Senator. MIND. BLOWING.
Then, the author had me wondering if George was really more Inception/Fight Club-like, living in reality but having such strong dreams that he believed them to be true but really they weren't. I truly thought for a while that the story would possibly go in that direction but was okay when it didn't.
Oh, and did I mention this book was written in the early 70's?!? The environmental aspects were eerily spot on from 40 years out, and, before looking, I couldn't have told you if it was written in the 70's, 90's, or just this year. That also added to my enjoyment of the story.
And then....enter the aliens. Seriously?!? Granted, I am NOT a sci-fi fan. Aliens, intergalactic battles, and humans living on other planets do not do it for me. At all. So, when this aspect was introduced - even thought it was introduced in a fascinating manner - I instantly became disenchanted. The second part of the book seemed to spiral out of control as the author struggled to deal with these rogue characters she introduced that didn't really fit. I wish she would have simply stuck to the reality altering dreams, the evil scientist, and the main overall moral of the story sans the aliens.
End Spoilers
So, the first half of the book earned 5 stars, the second half earned 3, and I also figured in the negative aspect of some long-winded speeches by Dr. Haber (which I think is a cop-out by the author for relaying information to a reader) and my positive view of the over-arching theme and moral of the story plus a small heart-felt twist at the end landed this book solidly in the mid 3 star range. However, it is a book that I will be recommending with caveats to friends I know like sci-fi!”
Nicole R wrote this review Friday, December 23, 2011.
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