This gripping science fiction novel from Ursula K. LeGuin tells the story of George Orr, a man cursed with the unwanted ability to make some of his dreams become reality. Because George is terrified by the massive changes his dreams can produce in the world, he is afraid to sleep. He contacts Dr. Hader, a psychiatrist specializing in dreams who, instead of helping him, tries to direct George's dreams for his own purposes.

The beginning of the story is confusing, reflecting George's own uncertainty about what is happening to himself. After a few chapters things become more clear and the book turns into a real page-turner. ( )

this is more the kind of science fiction that is up my alley - it's more philosophical thought experiment and moral argument than anything else. and she (of course) does it well. it's not a quick fun read, but it's thoughtful and smart and it was first published in 1971 but she's warning us about the climate crisis and she predicts rising oceans and battery powered cars and a plague event and the opening of protected lands for building. (she even predicts one of the cascade mountains visible from portland erupting, although she chose mt hood instead of mt st helens. it was strange to see it described as cone shaped a few times in the book. it was really fun to be in portland and to know portland when reading this, to see where she made changes, where she kept true. i bet no one not from here would think she didn't make up the towns of zig zag and rhododendron. to see each iterations changes and modifications, and to really be able to feel how different the city would be with each track she created.)

the real question she's addressing here is about playing god. even if you think you're benevolent and have the best interests of everyone in mind, what gives you the right to make those decisions, and how can you be sure that even a "positive" change doesn't have far reaching unforeseen negative consequences that you didn't predict? this is a book about science and eugenics and racism and overpopulation and eastern and/or native ways of thinking and climate change and power. and how if too much power is given to only a few people, it can so easily get out of control and turn into something unexpected and unwanted. and against the greater good. this is a really interesting read.

i do wish that heather was still a lawyer in the last iteration and i'm not sure why she demoted her. that felt decidedly un-leguin like.

"What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?"

"Are there really people without resentment, without hate? she wondered. People who never go cross-grained to the universe? Who recognize evil, and resist evil, and yet are utterly unaffected by it?" ( )

Főhősünk George Orr ( először azt hittem, hogy csak a magyar fordításban ez a neve, de nem, angolul is ez ) akinek az álmai valóra válnak. Ez nyilván okoz nehézségeket, egy pszichiáter próbál rajta segíteni, vagy inkább csak ki akarja használni a helyzetet.

A könyv elején van némi technoblabla arról, hogy miként működik ez az álom és a pszichiáter berendezését is megismerhetjük ami ezt próbálja felerősíteni, de ez a rész teljesen felesleges. Igazából újabb és újabb valóságokat ismerünk meg, ahol rosszabb esetben önző érdekből változtattunk valamin, de gyakran láthatjuk azt is, hogy vajon a jó szándékú változásoknak lehet-e negatív következménye. Ez a rész időnként elgondolkodtató, érdekes morális kérdések merülnek fel, de nem éreztem, hogy annyival több lenne ez mint a szokásos időutazásos bemutatása ugyanennek a problémának. Ráadásul a könnyen megváltoztatható világ miatt súlytalannak éreztem a történéseket. Miért izguljak bárkiért, ha egy következő álom teljesen megváltoztathat mindent?

A könyv végén elvileg kapunk valami lezárást, de őszintén szólva nekem csak kuszább lett az egész történet. ( )

A man who can change reality through 'effective dreaming' under the influence of a psychologist who wants to fix everything? Recipe for a absorbing but very short read. Written in the early 70s but set approximately around the early 2000s, recommended for fans of dystopian examinations into can humans really fix things/should we have the power to do so/etc. ( )

Dark, enigmatic, nightmarish, with hope and love at its heart. Le Guin's writing is beautiful, the characters are vivid.
It is fascinating to read books in which the fabric of reality gets ripped apart, stitched back together, ripped apart again... A few pages in, I began thinking about Philip K. Dick (I've only read Ubik, though), dreams altering reality seems to be his kind of theme.
Speaking of themes, Le Guin skilfully packs so much into ca 185 pages: playing God, the tricks our subconscious plays on us, inaction and responsibility, dystopia of climate change and overpopulation... etc.
To summarise, this is excellent classic sci-fi.

P.S. Just for the record, "my favourite Le Guin" spot is still occupied by The Left Hand of Darkness. ( )