Grabbed this on the 8th; got started on the 12th; finished last night.
Once I got going, I blasted right through.
The Lathe Of Heaven (1971)
Antwerp!!! 😉
Okay, Lathe is one of those books/movies where you can't describe much of it it without spoiling...
Elevator pitch version...
A random guy randomly evolves into a Q. He thinks he's going insane.
An evil shrink tries to steal his powers with Cerebro.
Hi-jinks ensue!
George Orr is Q-guy.
Doctor Haber is bad-shrink.
Kelly Link, who writes the intro, says "if you've ever had a bad therapist, this is an uncomfortable novel".
Ho boy....
Nothing but!! Never had a good one!
I just assumed therapists were everyone's villain.
Like the universal fear of clowns.
Haber's totally Magneto with Rogue.
Hmm, y'know, speaking of X-Men, "Legion" is kind of a ripoff of Lathe.
Lot of things are. Arcane arc in Swamp Thing. John Dee in Sandman.
I could go on....
Third character; Heather Lelache.
Romantic interest.
Another interracial relationship. Huge payoff.
(See "Planet Of Exile")
That's about all I can reveal without spoiling, and even all that feels spoiler-y.
How to rank this against the Hainish-es?
Between "Dispossessed" and LHOD.
If I didn't personally love TD so much, and it didn't resonate for me so perfectly, Lathe would be the tippy top of the pyramid. But, I'm biased, we're all biased, I love TD a sand grain more.
Much as I love LHOD, Lathe is way better.
Yep, in-between.
Now!! The movie!!!!!!!!!!
The Lathe Of Heaven (1980)
Loved it.
I remembered about 90% of it once I saw it again.
The movie was the only adaptation Le Guin ever liked.
George Orr is played by Bruce Davison in the movie.
Davison was on Star Trek: Enterprise, so there's the direct line Le Guin to Trek connection.
Yeah, it pretty much nailed the book.
Effects were PBS cheesy, but they got the job done.
They inevitably skipped over some things, and made some teensy substitutions, but it was pretty much all there.
Only PBS, and only 80's PBS could have made this.
Hollywood of today would fuck it up.
PBS of today wallows in Downton Abbey type shit.
They won't even play Blackadder and Red Dwarf anymore.
A&E did a Lathe remake in the 00's, because 00's A&E aspired to be 80's PBS.
To mixed results.
Le Guin hated the 00's one, so I'm not gonna touch it.
Now 20's A&E is all wrestling horseshit.
All the nerd channels die off, and get eaten by wrestling.
And paranormal. And true crime.
It's a fucking drag.
Anyway!!
You can see 80's Lathe for free online at Archive.org ad-free, or on Youtube if you're willing to grind your teeth through ads.
This experience was fucking incredible.
Both Lathe specifically, and this whole Ursula K. Le Guin journey.
I'll try to get the Earthsea collection this winter.
Brick-and-mortar in Maine isn't being helpful, so I'll make it my Amazon Christmas.
Stay tuned!
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