The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

Hello, Stranger.

Let's talk about Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven.

The Short of It

Plot: George Orr's dreams have a bad habit of altering reality.

Page Count: 175

Award: 1972 Locus

Worth a read: Yes
Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
Bechdel Test: Fail
Technobabble: Minimal.
Review: A surprising treat. Kept going wondering what would change next - and how things would go wrong. Excellent implementation of the Monkey's Paw. Attention to detail is amazing. Story went in all sorts of directions that I did not see coming - but enjoyed the heck out of it all. Highly recommend - packs quite a punch for so short a tale.

The Medium of It

Spoiler Free!

The simplicity of this book is what makes it so remarkable. Some of George Orr's dreams change reality. 

That's it. That's the plot. It is executed in a no-frills fashion that keeps pace quick and scenes interesting. Every detail of surroundings becomes noteworthy - was that picture on the wall before? Wasn't the apartment smaller last time we saw it? The borders of the "real" world grow blurry. Le Guin doesn't waste time with red herrings or fluff.

Broader world building is good - and fits naturally into the story. It's a believable future (2002) with enough going on to be noteworthy. 

Character work is also top-notch. Traits established at the beginning have major payoff later on, without resorting to a 2D hero and 2D villain. George manages to be a blank-slate character who nonetheless has depth. 

It is hard to write about this one without spoiling anything - the ball gets rolling early, and fast. 

Give it a read.

If this is the book of your dreams, consider using the link below! I'll get a few cents at no additional cost to you.

This is the link here!

The Long of It

Did you read it?

Spoilers Ahead!

Sure, things get pretty wacky at the end. But it's based on dreams! Of course dream logic is strange! I dig the weird. When the aliens showed up, my first thought was, "I didn't know that I'd signed up for this, but I am completely on board!"

My one gripe: the romantic subplot. No reason for it to be there, doesn't add anything (other than a reward for our hero), and there is no chemistry between George and Heather. Oh well. It can't be a perfect book. Let's go back to things that are great.

Perhaps my favorite change is the elimination of race. 

But no brown people went by. No black people, no white, no yellow, no red.

They came from every part of the earth to work at the World Planning Center or to look at it, from Thailand, Argentina, Ghana, China, Ireland, Tasmania, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Honduras, Lichtenstein. But they all wore the same clothes, trousers, tunic, raincape; and underneath the clothes they were all the same color. They were gray.

It's an excellent visual on its own, and it is when we finally hit the true megalomania of Dr. Haber.

Orr had looked down at his own pale-gray hands, with their short gray nails. "I suppose that you suggested that there be no more color problems. No question of race."

"Precisely. And of course I was envisaging a political and ethical solution. Instead of which, your primary thinking processes took the usual short cut, which usually turns out to be a short circuit, but this time they went to the root. Made the change biological and absolute. There never has been a racial problem! You and I are the only two men on earth, George, who know that there ever was a racial problem! Can you conceive of that? Nobody was ever outcaste in India—nobody was ever lynched in Alabama—nobody was massacred in Johannesburg! War's a problem we've outgrown and race is a problem we never even had! Nobody in the entire history of the human race has suffered for the color of his skin. You're learning, George! You'll be the greatest benefactor humanity has ever had in spite of yourself. All the time and energy humans have wasted on trying to find religious solutions to suffering, then you come along and make Buddha and Jesus and the rest of them look like the fakirs they were.

They tried to run away from evil, but we, we're uprooting it—getting rid of it, piece by piece!" 

 A perfect monologue. On some level it's reasonable - they really can solve so many problems. But there's madness as well, and envy. Some part of you wants him to succeed, to make the world better. The world as it starts out - overcrowded, polluted, at war - is awful. This has to be better, doesn't it? And isn't it selfish of him to not use this power?

I also love the twist. The world as we see it from the beginning is already a dreamworld. It's a prefect twist - it deepens the plot but follows all of the rules we've established for how George's powers function.

My single favorite moment, though, is towards the middle. 

Orr stood up, but didn't head for the door. "Did you ever happen to think, Dr. Haber," he said, quietly enough but stuttering a little, "that there, there might be other people who dream the way I do? That reality's being changed out from under us, replaced, renewed, all the tune—only we don't know it? Only the dreamer knows it, and those who know his dream. If that's true, I guess we're lucky not knowing it. This is confusing enough."

That's the thing. We don't know if he's right. What a cool idea. What a good story.

There's also a pretty decent (if a tad dated) 1980 movie by the same name. Consider checking that out as well!

Dream up a better world, Stranger.

And don't forget to read a book!