The Dispossesed - LeGuin

This is a science fiction novel but the science part is all in the setting. It could easily have been placed on two separate pieces of the Earth in a modern setting. 'The Dispossessed' is about two philosophies and the people that live by them. One is a capitalistic society on a planet called Urras, and the other it's discontents who live in exile on the main planet's moon, Annares.
The story takes place nearly two hundred years after the schism. The non-capitalists live in a very harsh environment and (happily!) live in accord to the needs of the community. The protagonist is a man named Shevek who is an experimental physicist. We follow his life on Annares and also, at a later point, on Urras. This serves to show a comparison of the two societies.
Shevek is a full believer in his community but is somehow not quite happy. Even though custom forbids it, he finds himself blocked from pursuing the research that he wants. Custom suggests that monogamous relationships are inherently selfish but he only finds happiness within one. But circumstances and the community block long term happiness. Out of intellectual loneliness he leaves for Urras. There he finds inequality and poverty. But also a vibrancy that the desolate Annaes lacks.
I liked 'The Dispossessed' but I wasn't thrilled by it. The sections in communitarian Urras could be swapped with portions of Rand's 'Anthem' without any trouble. They show how the impulse to surrender to the community's needs can make one a slave. This was an unexpected viewpoint from LeGuin (though that probably says more about my ignorance than anything). I found the message and ideas interesting. But the storytelling was very dense and joyless. The book often felt like a slog. A worthwhile one but a slog nonetheless.