Booklog 33/2023: Ursula LeGuin: The Lathe of Heaven - Audiobook

[jacey]

Audiobook read by Adam Sims
Spoilers ahead...
George Orr is a dreamer. Unfortunately (for him) when he dreams his dreams come true. Reality, past and present, changes. Scared of what he can do, he takes to drugs to suppress his dreams and is caught out. Rather than go to jail, he has to undertake therapy sessions with a psychiatrist, Dr Haber, who is, at first sceptical about George's claims that his dreams are 'effective', but experiences those changes for himself when George dreams during a therapy session. Haber begins to use George's dreams to change the world for the better, but though he makes suggestions to Geirge (under hypnosis) he finds that George's dreams achieve the ends he was hoping for, but in a variety of terrible ways. Habers suggestion that George alters the worlds overpopulation problem results in a (past) plague which eliminated billions of humans. Peace on Earth results in all nations uniting to battle against aliens on the moon. Despite this, Haber continues, gradually upgrading his own position until eventually he's the de facto ruler of the world. Meanwhile George goes to lawyer Heather Lelache for help in getting away from Haber and in various realities the two become friends, then lovers until, in one reality-change, Heather never existed. Dreams and reality become very confused. George experiences too many past lives to know what's real and what's not, but eventually succeeds in losing the ability to dream effectively. Unfortunately, Dr Haber does not fare so well. The book ends where Heather - a different Heather but still recognisable - comes back into George's life. Written in 1971, this was Hugo and Nebula nominated and won the Locus Award for Best Novel. I wasn't sure about it at first but I got drawn in gradually as George's dreams progressed. The story questions the nature of reality, and the dangers (use and abuse) of power. It's been republished in the Gollancz Materworks series.