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ekgranstro's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
I unironically think this book has changed me.
Content Warnings
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
astrangewind's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
In my continuing search for Science Fiction That I Like, I was recommended The Left Hand of Darkness - a highly celebrated book written by a highly celebrated science fiction author.
By all means, I should have really liked this one. It has the things I really enjoy reading about: a unique civilization (which is written here very well); a planet on the edge of the human habitable zone; a bit of survivalism; a strong focus on characterization; and world-building that adds richness without being overly complex. It was simply fine.
The Left Hand of Darkness simply has too many pieces that don't fit together quite right. The primary plot - of Genly Ai attempting to convince Gethen to join the Ekumen - is, frankly, boring. I liked the plotline with Genly and Estraven well enough(but imo they should have kissed) . The overarching metaphor of the book - the central question of what human society would look like if men and women were on a level playing field - is initially fascinating from a cultural perspective, but it's ruined when Le Guin inserts a meta-chapter explaining the entire metaphor. If you have to explain the metaphor, then maybe it's not a very good one. Additionally, it has cisgender feminism written all over it. From a cis-feminist perspective, sure, it's fine. From a transgender perspective - which I naturally use, given that I am, myself, transgender - it's limiting and quite unimaginative. (And given how much emphasis Ai puts on his differing biology, and how often he's naked in front of any number of Gethenians, it really should've come up more often that he has external genitalia, which makes him weird.)
It was well-written but the plot was clumsy. The setting seemed to matter not at all; there was no reason this had to have happened on a different planet at all, as opposed to some fantasy setting, or even on Earth in the far north, say Siberia. Parts of it read like Lord of the Rings, for example, except occasionally someone mentions a car or a radio or a spaceship.
Maybe I'm too slow, or not well-read enough on the relevant feminist literature of the 1970s, but The Left Hand of Darkness just didn't really click for me.
By all means, I should have really liked this one. It has the things I really enjoy reading about: a unique civilization (which is written here very well); a planet on the edge of the human habitable zone; a bit of survivalism; a strong focus on characterization; and world-building that adds richness without being overly complex. It was simply fine.
The Left Hand of Darkness simply has too many pieces that don't fit together quite right. The primary plot - of Genly Ai attempting to convince Gethen to join the Ekumen - is, frankly, boring. I liked the plotline with Genly and Estraven well enough
It was well-written but the plot was clumsy. The setting seemed to matter not at all; there was no reason this had to have happened on a different planet at all, as opposed to some fantasy setting, or even on Earth in the far north, say Siberia. Parts of it read like Lord of the Rings, for example, except occasionally someone mentions a car or a radio or a spaceship.
Maybe I'm too slow, or not well-read enough on the relevant feminist literature of the 1970s, but The Left Hand of Darkness just didn't really click for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest, Suicide, Torture, and Pregnancy
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Religious bigotry
gilnean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
acemummerz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, and Deportation
Minor: Child death, Incest, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail
kmhst25's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
3.5
The positives:
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Sexism and Torture
Minor: Blood, Excrement, and Vomit
kaziaroo's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- 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
Synopsis: an envoy is sent from a vast, interplanetary alliance to a wintery planet to recruit its inhabitants, a people of no gender whose bodies instead develop sexual organs for just a few days each month; in his quest, the envoy becomes embroiled in the politics both within and between two feuding countries, while being drawn to one figure in particular.
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 and yet by the end he is in the beginnings of what I would tentatively call a queerplatonic relationship with no sex and no gender roles .
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
madamenovelist's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, and Confinement
idajoh's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- 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
5.0
At some point I thought it contained somewhat of an internalised mysoginistic tone, however, I think it was mostly the voice of the main character, rather than the authors opinion
Overall, a very good read where you are taken to a vast world in outer space
Overall, a very good read where you are taken to a vast world in outer space
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Excrement, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
pastelkerstin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book took a while to get interesting, but once it did, I found it hard to put down.
At its core there are some pretty good radical ideas in here about favouring community over patriotism. Genly speaks of a world based on cooperation and without law enforcement out among the stars. What a vision.
Gender and sex is also obviously a big topic in this book. I think it shows the arbitrariness of gender roles well, even though Genly and the other Envoys struggle with understanding this, as they come from a binarist society. Genly often makes sexist comments about manly or womanly qualities he sees in the Gethenians, people who are neither men nor women (or who are both, depending how you want to see it). But I don't think that means that the reader is supposed to agree with Genly. Seeing whatever a main character says as correct is a misguided way of reading fiction, in my opinion.
That's also why when Genly's interior monologue says that sexual desire/attraction is people's driving force (a very Freudian idea) and a requirement for being human, and therefore the Gethenians with their sexual cycle seem strange and inhuman to him, I think we're not supposed to think he's right. After all,Genly learns to see Therem fully, as not fitting into Genly's ideas of sexuality and gender, but as a full human being, despite these differences. There is the implication here that asexuality either doesn't exist on the other planets or that Genly isn't aware of it. So I would put an aphobia warning on this just in case, because reading "no sexual attraction = inhuman" stings even if you know that Genly struggles to see past his own experience of the world.
I think Genly and Therem's relationship is the most interesting part of this book. And it feels very queer to me, even thoughthey are never officially together and Gethen doesn't seem to have a concept of queerness (unlike Genly's homeworld).
Overall, I liked this book, even though it has some elements that are a bit squicky or hard to read for me, like the way incest is tolerated on Gethen under certain circumstances and how this is part of one the main characters' backstories, or the aforementioned sexism and (almost certainly unintentional) asexual erasure from Genly.
At its core there are some pretty good radical ideas in here about favouring community over patriotism. Genly speaks of a world based on cooperation and without law enforcement out among the stars. What a vision.
Gender and sex is also obviously a big topic in this book. I think it shows the arbitrariness of gender roles well, even though Genly and the other Envoys struggle with understanding this, as they come from a binarist society. Genly often makes sexist comments about manly or womanly qualities he sees in the Gethenians, people who are neither men nor women (or who are both, depending how you want to see it). But I don't think that means that the reader is supposed to agree with Genly. Seeing whatever a main character says as correct is a misguided way of reading fiction, in my opinion.
That's also why when Genly's interior monologue says that sexual desire/attraction is people's driving force (a very Freudian idea) and a requirement for being human, and therefore the Gethenians with their sexual cycle seem strange and inhuman to him, I think we're not supposed to think he's right. After all,
I think Genly and Therem's relationship is the most interesting part of this book. And it feels very queer to me, even though
Overall, I liked this book, even though it has some elements that are a bit squicky or hard to read for me, like the way incest is tolerated on Gethen under certain circumstances and how this is part of one the main characters' backstories, or the aforementioned sexism and (almost certainly unintentional) asexual erasure from Genly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Pregnancy
Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, Infertility, and Suicide
zalesbian's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
A very slow start. But once I got to page 120, or so, I couldn't put it down. It was captivating and very tense.
As a gender queer individual myself, I found the first part of the book to be dull I felt like the hero was projecting his gender too strongly on these people. But that was very much the point, and Ursula K Le Guin did an excellent job of altering his, and ours, perception as the story progressed.
Ultimately, it was a love story. It was Broke Back Mountain set on an alien planet and I loved it.
As a gender queer individual myself, I found the first part of the book to be dull I felt like the hero was projecting his gender too strongly on these people. But that was very much the point, and Ursula K Le Guin did an excellent job of altering his, and ours, perception as the story progressed.
Ultimately, it was a love story. It was Broke Back Mountain set on an alien planet and I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Excrement
Moderate: Sexual content
Content warning: graphic descriptions of prisons related to Concentration Camps. Content Warning: moderate description of genitals/gender/sexuality.