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The Lathe of Heaven

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In the year 2002, Earth is plagued by war, famine, pollution, overpopulation, etc. George Orr is afraid to go to sleep, because when he wakes, whatever he dreamt the night before has become reality. He is put in a Voluntary Therapeutic Treatment program when he is caught using drugs to avoid sleep. There he meets Dr. Haber, who sees in George a solution to the world's problems and so he starts manipulating George's dreams to create a "better" reality. Haber's delusion's of godhood inevitably lead to unintended consequences & it's up to George, the freak of nature, to stop him.

Ursula K. LeGuin is one of the towering figures in Science Fiction, indeed in all of literature, and this is her finest novel; a brilliant cautionary tale to rival Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

GRADE: A

POSTSCRIPT: I don't know how I missed this angle, unless I'm losing something off of what little fastball I once had, but I just watched the long lost PBS version of this story and the most important aspect of this story became abundantly clear. After they showed the movie, Bill Moyers interviewed the author and it occurred to me that this may well be one of the most conservative novels ever written.

Though she spoke of the story in Taoist terms--George Orr gets along by going along--it is also easy to read the plot in political terms. Dr. Haber can be seen as any intellectual who conceives a better way for society and then seeks to impose it, completely failing to understand the unintended consequences which this action will inevitably have. George Orr, meanwhile, understands that the power to shape reality is too dangerous to entrust to any one man or group of men. It is better to let the future evolve naturally and preserve Man's free will, even if this means not stepping in to "fix" some situations that seem amenable to his personal solutions. This is sort of the novelization of Friedrich Hayek's Road to Serfdom and it is very, very good.

It is a bit more than a quarter of a century since Ursula K. Le Guin's classic novel of the near future was originally penned; a classic science fiction tale that is quite simply, a masterpiece.

Avon Books has re-issued a new trade paperback format of the book, bringing this imaginative fable of power--both uncontrolled and uncontrollable--to a whole new generation of readers. And if you happened to see the WNET movie adaptation done in 1980, please read (or re-read) the book; as with most book to movie translations, the movie was good--but the book is just so much better!

THE LATHE OF HEAVEN is the story of George Orr--a man whose dreams become reality, for better or worse. Against his will, Orr is incarcerated, then sent for psychiatric care to treat his "delusions". After a few experimental sessions, Dr. Haber, Orr's psychiatrist, realizes what is going on and decides to start tinkering with the real world...to make it better--with devastating ramifications.

Like Philip K. Dick at his best, Le Guin truly gets the reader into the inner machinations of the protagonist's head--while taking sly social sideswipes at such matters as geopolitics, race, socialized medicine, and the patient/shrink relationship. And there is a reason that Le Guin has often been referred to as a "writer's writer". Her prose is artfully wrought with vivid imagery in an inimitable style which conveys more in a few sentences than others tell in pages.

It is an allegorical tale in which a "miracle worker" (George Orr) comes under the control of someone wanting to play "master of the universe" (Dr. Haber). It is a dark vision and a warning--a fable of power both uncontrolled and uncontrollable--a truly prescient and startling view of humanity, and the consequences of God-playing. As usual, a brilliant novel from Le Guin, who explores many profound possibilities within the tight story; it is quite simply, a masterpiece.

There have been so many works analyzing Ursula K. Le Guin's works since she vaulted to the vanguard of science fiction since the publication of her first novel in 1966--but the best way to know her work is by reading it. And if you have only read her Hainish or Earthsea novels, you are in for a pleasant change of venue

Warning - I talk about some minor plot points below.

This is a novel whose premise is so outlandish that it begs for a dramatic opening line. Something that catapults the reader into the story and sets a frantic pace. A line like "Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time". Instead we get this: "Current-borne, wave-flung, tugged hugely by the whole might of ocean, the jellyfish drifts in the tidal abyss." With that opening, and throughout the book, Ursula K. Le Guin refuses to cater to readers who want the focus of the story to be fantastic power and unlimited possibilities. Instead she gives us a man, George Orr, who is relentlessly in balance. He is hard to upset, difficult to anger, but easy to coerce. And through some unknown power of the mind, his uncontrolled dreams change the very fabric of reality.

When a well meaning psychiatrist discovers this power and begins to use it to improve the lot of the human race, Orr must struggle to decide how much change is too much. Although he is curiously without judgment in most things, he feels deeply that the integrity of what is should be respected. Nonetheless, he is such a passive man that he bends to the will of his doctor almost until it is too late.

Because Orr believes so deeply in reality and in humans being what we are, his subconscious cannot help but balance each improvement in humanity with a correspondingly harsh but in hindsight perfectly logical setback. When asked to imagine perfect peace on Earth, his subconscious assumes that there is something else to fight against, in this case aliens. When asked to imagine a world without racial strife, he does not imagine good will breaking out across the planet, but a human race where everyone looks the same. These setbacks infuriate the doctor who uses Orr. But it may be that Orr is only capable of one leap of imagination, the original one that he made to dream that the human race might not destroy itself. Almost unnoticed towards the end of the novel, Orr remembers our original reality, the world that held before he began to dream new ones. And in that reality humankind had befouled the planet and dealt it a death blow with war. So even though he is unable to imagine the paradises wished for by his doctor, Orr still finds himself imagining that the whole world is a dream simply because it still exists.

This is a powerful and thought provoking book, and a quick read to boot. I imagine that different readers could draw different lessons from it, but for me the thing that stood out the most was the desire of the doctor to do good with the power he had found, despite the evilness of his outcomes. It was a potent reminder that those who do the greatest harm are often seeking to do the greatest good.

As a person who learned a little Taoism growing up, I find the book a stunningly authentic and spot-on Taoist-themed story told in the sci-fi format. This story about a passive, ordinary, unheroic, most unlikely hero who is able to dream up reality and an aggressive, progress-minded, megalomanical psychologist who creates disasters for the world by trying to manipulate and control the former's dreams, is more poignant and relevant now than ever. Many accomplishments make this book an exceptional work, including the well-rounded and complex characters, the emotionally rich story, the fluid style, the clever premise. The most astounding success, however, is her precise understanding of the Taoist philosphy and then infusing it in a profoundly human story. After all, Taoism is an observation of the human condition. I have never seen it better illustrated in another story. Le Guin refrained from making the antagoist into a typical bad guy, a mad scientist out to destroy the world. His blindness to his own evil echos Graham Greene's "The Quiet American." The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The novel criticizes not science, but the arrogance of the Western culture, as the hand that leads the world to hell. It must be read as a fable, a reflection of what is really going on in the world, now, every day.

This my favourite book! (and I am not a science fiction fan) I read it in grade eight and now I usually read it every five years so that I never forget its beauty. Many readers like the science fiction aspects but I think what is the real beauty of the novel is to be found in the wonderful relationship that develops between the sensitive main character, George Orr, and the super type A personality lawyer, Miss Lelache. I find the novel to be timeless and not a "70's novel." And if anyone knows the meaning of the alien's term "iahklu" which they associate with George Orr then please e-mail me and advise.

Dreaming implies many things -- it is the involuntary creations of the unconscious mind, it is the quintessence of inaction against conflict, and quite frequently it is the act of wishful thinking. "The Lathe of Heaven" is a successful experiment in reversing these concepts. For George Orr, dreams are not involuntary creations but ideas directly fed to him by a psychologist and a machine; Orr's dreams are the source of action; wishful thinking is not unrequited desires, but rather plausible (if undesired) solutions.

By definition, one does not dream or wish with the hope that it will not come true. Le Guin shares a feeling of sheer psychological terror by allowing the reader to poke around the mind of man who desperately fears his own dreams.

This is a novel about power on many levels. We glimpse the struggle of a man seeking power over his own mind as he attempts to rid himself of dreams. There is the external power of a man attempting to control anothers mind, manifesting in a suspicious doctor-patient relationship (is Le Guin commenting on all relationships of this type?). The power of society against the individual is present from the opening page of the book as Orr's options are limited to therapy or imprisonment. And power is expressed on a grander scale as a man attempts to alter the world for what he claims is the greater good (or is it denied self-interest?).

The result, and the final depressing tone of the novel, implies that these struggles for power always ends in disaster for society as a whole. But it is clear that this does not mean that one should not attempt to make a change for what one feels is right, but rather to always questions motives. Dr. Haber is the example to the reader of someone acting with good intentions but with wrong motives. We can apply this concept to the real world: war is fought to bring justice and promote freedom, but only on the terms of the "forces of good"; laws are made to protect the freedoms of people, but laws in themselves are an expression of power. "The Lathe of Heaven" exhibits the effects of wrong motives towards good intentions, and power is the means.

But in the end we find that world where George Orr ends up is not much worse off than where he started. He has a satisfying job, an agreeable boss, he is released from his awful dreaming, and begins a new relationship with Heather. Power then becomes a fragile force -- there is a hairline difference between what is right for one and what is right for all. With all its consequences for the world at large, maybe for the individual, the effects of power aren't so terrible after all.

Set in Portland, Oregon in the future--several different futures, actually--this sci fi story pits man's mind against his innate moral sense of responsibility for the rest of Society. Referred for Voluntary Therapy as a result of drug abuse, a mild-mannered patient becomes a pawn in his shrink's chess game of power. Seeking a cure for his too effective dreams--which drastically change reality and distort the time continuum-- George Orr realizes with helpless anguish that Dr. Haber is more interested in exploiting his special mental powers than in curing him. He is literally afraid to sleep, for to sleep means to dream, which could affect millions of lives.

Desperate to control his dreams Orr seeks help from a Black lady lawyer, but is this a simple civil rights case or unauthorized scientific experimentation? What will push a milquetoast man over the edge of his own equilibrium? Is he justified to save his own sanity at any price? What is one man's role in the universe, in relation to mankind at large?

Le Guin's mastery of language, devious plotting and human thought processes combine to create a chilling voyage of conflicting ambitions and manipulation, as the doctor violates his patient's rights--another mad scientist gone amuck. But serious moral issues arise which challenge 21st century readers with haunting reminders of our mistakes in the last century. Who has the right to decide the fate of mankind, to orchestrate earth/alien relations? Will absolute power prove too great a temptation? How can the common man survive the battle of titans for mental control? An excellent, soul-searching read. Remember that "Self is Universe."

You can read all the other reviews to learn why this is a great and enduring SF classic. I'm among the novel's many passionate fans, both for LeGuin's introduction of a powerful concept, her engrossing plot development, and her brilliantly right-sized characterization.

Others have abundantly commented on the conflict between George Orr and Dr. Haber, and they are generally on target. So I'll confine my remarks to the novel's third principal character, so disregarded that only one or two reviewers even mention her name.

"Well."

(As bangle-clashing, web-crouching, chronically caustic Heather LeLache would say.)

Heather is an appealing character, and absolutely essential to the plot, providing a badly needed positive focal point in the struggle between two neutral, static characters. Between them, passively resistant George Orr & manipulatively dependent Dr. Haber create an energy vacuum of monumental proportions. Heather is like a bolt of lightning in a lowering sky - when she appears, she discharges the leaden atmosphere of the Orr / Haber confrontation, bringing movement and change.

And where can we find a more weirdly charming character than Heather? Introduced to us in her chosen persona as a malevolent spider waiting for unwary "flies" to wander into her gasoline-redolent, converted car park office, she's contemptuous, dismissive, skeptical. She's also practical, persistent, honest, courageous, and absolutely loyal and it's impossible to imagine an emotionally intact Orr getting through the disorienting sessions with Haber without her support and validation.

George loses Heather to the universally grey world he creates at Haber's command - a world in which her "essential quality of brownness" and defensive belligerence cannot exist. A shadow Heather is restored to him through alien intervention (involving a Beatles 45) but she is meek and unconvincing, and the novel never fully recovers its impetus. Fortunately the apocalyptic crisis the story has been building toward is close at hand at this point.

In addition to the three Principal Humans the novel also includes a fourth principal character or characters - the alien(s). They don't get a lot of airplay (so to speak) but these are perhaps the goofiest, hippest aliens ever to grace the SF page. If you haven't read the book yet, I'll let you be surprised & delighted.

This book is a perfect gem. I strongly disagree with the last reviewer who called the ending "weak." Possibly she or he failed to understand it. Suffice it to say that, in this book, there is a character whose dreams occasionally come true--retroactively! That is, he dreams that certain things have ALREADY happened, and then he wakes up and indeed they have. He is frightened of this "power" and tries to narcotize it away, and he subsequently falls into the hands of an unscrupulous psychiatrist who tries to control reality by manipulating his dreams. I won't give away any more than that, except to say that the book ultimately depicts a remarkable cosmology which can incorporate such things as "dreams" coming true--and it is all done with great warmth and poetry. This book is not only a riveting, well-characterized page turner, it's metaphysically visionary, and I love it as much as I've ever loved a book. And for those of you that care about arcane literary matters, it also makes masterful use of the omniscient point of view.

Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven was first published in 1971, but its message is still relevant today. Le Guin's stable of work has included space opera (the Hainish books), fantasy (the Earthsea stories), as well as science fiction (The Left Hand of Darkness). All of her works possess the familiar sense of didactic about them, however. The Lathe of Heaven falls more in the science fiction realm but is probably more accurately described as psychological fiction.

The story is set in the near future and revolves around one man, George Orr, who's dreams can affect reality. He is greatly troubled by this because he cannot control his dreams, thus he tries to stop himself from dreaming through misuse of prescription drugs. He is sent to counseling with a dream therapist, Dr. William Haber, who quickly learns the truth about George's "effective" dreaming. George just wants to be cured of this ability, but Haber sees its potential and decides to manipulate it to turn their troubled world into a better place. As Haber tries harder and harder to manipulate George's uncooperative dreams he becomes the victim of his own good intentions. This leads him down a dark road where he eventually discovers the truth of "the world after April".

The Lathe of Heaven works on many levels. Simply as a story of a man wrestling with his therapist to find a cure to his ills it is an engaging tale. But it is more interesting as a parable of how one person's attempts to do good can go awry. Dr. Haber sees the power that George Orr possesses and understands the good it can do. The world they live in is plagued by war and overpopulation and he believes that he can use George's power to rid the world of its ills. The problems with this become apparent early on, however. When Haber has George dream of a less crowded world, he conjures up a plague that wipes out billions. Thus the problem of overpopulation is solved, but with terrible consequences. It is important to understand that Haber has only the best of intentions: "The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number" is his motto. The stumbling block comes in his inability to control George's subconscious mind. Every time he tries to do good in one place, he inadvertently conjures evil in another. And this is the strength of the story. It is not about an evil character causing evil in the world, but a good person bringing evil through his inability to control the power he possesses. This should be required reading for all politicians.

At only 175 pages, this is a quick read. Le Guin's writing is accessible and fast paced. There are only three main characters in the story, George Orr, Dr. Haber, and the social worker Heather Lelache, so she does a good job of developing each of them fully. This book is considered a science fiction classic, rightfully so, but also has broader appeal because of its social and political implications. I give The Lathe of Heaven the highest of recommendations.