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ekgranstro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Abandonment
libellumartinae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
But gods! the whole architecture and meaning of this is utterly fabolous, alongside the knowledge that everything written is somehow already happened and you can see the echoes of it throughout the writing. An enchanting scifi reads.
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Blood, Grief, Dysphoria, War, Classism, and Deportation
gilnean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
shiveryteacup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Blood, and Medical content
scifi_rat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Prose: 4.7★
Pace: 4.5★
Concept/Execution: 5★/5★
Characters: 5★
Worldbuilding: 5★
Ending: 4.5★
Moderate: Death, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and War
kmhst25's review against another edition
3.5
I couldn’t put it down, it contains some wisdom and interesting philosophical thought, and it perfectly depicts the conflicts that arise between people with different ideas of politeness and social norms.
The negatives:
In the intro, Le Guin says that sci-fi tells us nothing about the future and a lot about the present. And this book, written in the 60s, is a great example of that. The narrator disdains women, and his notions about men and women are dated and grating. And even knowing that the content is reflective of the time, it is still displeasing to me to read of a future where very few women are mathematicians or abstract thinkers, and a man, when asked if women are mentally deficient, says, “I don’t know.” It’s a blocker for me; it detracts from the experience.
Additionally, the impact of a man trying to understand gender in an ambisexual society is completely undercut by the narrative using “he” pronouns for everyone; your brain reads “he” as “man”, in much the same way that the narrator reads the locals as men, which I’m sure is at least half the point, but completely dulls the effect.
Finally, the second half of the book contains an absurd number of descriptions of snow and ice that don’t really add anything to the experience.
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Sexism and Torture
Minor: Blood, Excrement, and Vomit
kaziaroo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This was very interesting to read, especially from a 21st century perspective where we are accustomed to the boundaries of the gender binary being pushed, twisted, and ignored in wonderful diversity. We are also mostly familiar with, and accepting of, the gender neutral pronoun "they" being used exclusively to refer to a particular person.
In The Left Hand of Darkness, the main character, Genly Ai, is a poor representative of planet Earth in this respect; he is frequently disgusted by the Gethenians' bodies and attitudes towards sex and constantly tries to fit them and their characteristics into gendered boxes. He refers to the Gethenians using masculine pronouns, and seems to reject their femininity; it is only when one of them cries, or flirts, or is distressed, that he thinks "Ah ha! There is his femininity!" when it has been there all along. Genly's awkwardness around the Gethenians' sex and even his own fumbling description of what defines a woman, paired with the fact that he is the minority, the alien, on this planet, betray the notion that perhaps it is us earthlings who are the silly ones, forcing divides and highlighting differences between genders where there are none, and believing ourselves superior because of it. The Gethenians have no gender, yet they also have so far had no testosterone-fueled war or sexism (although they are not perfect; some parts of the book had strong echoes of 1984). On the other hand, the society of Earth that we see glimpses of is cisnormative and allonormative; at the beginning of the book, Genly cannot fathom a sexless and genderless society
I enjoyed this book a lot, and although I would have liked an earlier explanation of certain concepts (mostly kemmer), once I understood them I could fully immerse myself in the world. The Gethenians' societies and customs felt incredibly detailed and well thought out for such a short novel. It was interesting reading from the perspective of both the alien visitor and the visited, except this time it's us earthlings who are the visitors. I particularly loved the scenes journeying across the icy landscape. I highly recommend this book, but it's important to remember the publication date before complaining about the intricacies of gender politics – it was ahead of its time.
Graphic: Death, Incest, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death, Rape, Pregnancy, and War
knerys's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Minor: Incest and Blood
imrereads's review against another edition
4.0
There are certain things I wish were done differently, particularly the use of he/him pronouns on the Getheran people, and I've since read that Le Guin regretted that decision herself. I think a neutral pronoun would have been a better decision, but I will admit that he/him does tell us something about our narrator and it does make some sense.
All in all I'm very glad I read this book. Not only does it give me some insight into the history of the genre, but it was also a genuinely good reading experience.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Incest, Blood, and Grief
smolren's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, and Vomit