Review: The Lathe of Heaven

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved the writing which struck me as profoundly genuine at some points and was never once too shiny or polished but still naturally beautiful. I'm not sure how I feel about the overall direction of the story, I'm not even sure if the main message is anything other than to be careful what you wish for, but I certainly enjoyed the read which explored many themes along the way.

Orr believes that when he dreams the world changes so that when he wakes up reality suddenly matches whatever he had dreamed. Paranoid of causing more harm and guilt-ridden for changes that he believes he has inadvertently brought about Orr had been abusing sleep/dream suppressant drugs until he was busted by the authorities and sent to therapy.

"Orr had a tendency to assume that people knew what they were doing, perhaps because he generally assumed that he did not."

I liked this bit about trying to trust your doctor even when you're not entirely convinced by the treatment. Wanting to follow the advice of an expert but feeling that something is out of place is an awkward and anxious position to be in. (Please don't associate this comment with #AntiVax or #BigPharma nonsense.)

"Anyway, so what if he was crazy? What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?"

Orr is seeing a psychiatrist about his unwanted ability to affect the world through his dreams. Part of the therapy is using hypnotic suggestion to trigger the dreams. Unfortunately, after he exits the dream the doctor has no memory of the previous unaffected history. Or does he?

Orr gets suss on his doctor, thinking that the treatment is being used by the doctor to affect changes on the world against Orr's will. He goes to a lawyer who strongly advises against the crazy case but agrees to look into it for him. Imagine telling a lawyer, or anyone, that you can control the world when you're dreaming and that you think your doctor is taking advantage of that ability under hypnosis.

Anyway she comes along to a session, witnesses reality morphing before her very eyes and manages to convince herself that it didn't happen.

There's only so much pretending it didn't happen that a reader can swallow. I guess it's fair enough given that reality, history and memory all change automatically with any physical changes witnessed but when you set out specifically to see if the change will occur then surely seeing is believing.

Also, if the Doc really didn't want the lawyer to witness anything then perhaps rather than trying to subtly suggest such a significant change in her presence, he might have just avoided any suggestion at all on the occasion of her visit.

"He wanted to make the world better for humanity. The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means. Orr lay back on the couch and shut his eyes."

In order to achieve some good with his unwanted talent, Orr resolves to try to manipulate the doctor who he believes is manipulating himself into unwittingly manipulating reality. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!

It's a bit like magic fantasy, dreams that inexplicably alter reality, but with the psychiatric focus, the dystopian setting and the arrival of aliens it's scifi enough for me. And the consequences of the ability are a lot like those you'd read about in a time travel conundrum.

"He could not face his grief, his bereavement. Dream-grief. The loss of a woman who had never existed. He tried to taste his food, to watch other people. But the food had no taste and the people were all gray."

Overall a recommendable read.

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