nuggetworldpeace's review
4.0
4.5ish. A thoughtful, speculative take on what it might be like to reach out to an alien planet in peace, replete with a gamut of difficulties that makes its one major interplanetary friendship all the more striking. Basically one dude from Terra is sent as an Envoy to try to convince at least one government from this planet, Gethen, to join an intergalactic exchange of ideas and communication. One government is led by a mad king and his always-temporary sane adviser, and the other is bureaucratic with a dark underbelly of control.
It’s hard for me to believe this was written in the 60’s; the writing doesn’t seem dated at all, and the ideas about gender and stuff (the planet’s inhabitants are ambisexual) only read with a bit of (pretty forgivable) wooden-ness. It must have been wild for its time. As of now, it’s still thought provoking, if not world-shattering. Pacing was a little slow and bumpy at times but the last stretch makes up for it. I stayed up late to finish this with minimal regret.
It’s hard for me to believe this was written in the 60’s; the writing doesn’t seem dated at all, and the ideas about gender and stuff (the planet’s inhabitants are ambisexual) only read with a bit of (pretty forgivable) wooden-ness. It must have been wild for its time. As of now, it’s still thought provoking, if not world-shattering. Pacing was a little slow and bumpy at times but the last stretch makes up for it. I stayed up late to finish this with minimal regret.
reebeee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest
silodear's review
I'm truly disappointed with myself for not being able to make it through this book. I've wanted to read it forever and really looked forward to taking it with me on my most recent gaycation. But, jeez, I just couldn't get into the world. Maybe some future version of me will pick it up and love it. For now, I have to stop.
alleeme's review
3.0
I am still thinking about this book. I am not really sure what to write about it here. Since the back cover reveals that this story takes place on a planet with an androgynous population of humans, one goes into this book thinking that it will be about gender. However, I don’t think gender issues are examined to as large extent as I expected. The contrast of two societies seems to be a much more important than gender roles, or lack there of. One thing about gender that I found distracting is that the main narrator chose to use the pronoun “he,” basically because it is problematic to refer to a human as “it.” However, this just made all the characters seem like men rather than humans without distinctive gender, which actually seems to be Genly Ai’s take on the society anyway. Although Genly constantly points out so-called “feminine” qualities of Gethen people, the overall impression I was left with is that this is a planet of men regardless of how they are sexually distinguished.
I did notice some similarities between this and The Dispossessed. I hope this is not just a formulaic pattern Le Guin uses in all her novels. She seems to like to place two very different societies in close proximity of each other. I wonder if this is an influence of writing during the Cold War? There is almost as much to say about the differences in the two societies on the plant of Gethen as there is about the presentation of gender. Maybe it is my American arrogance that doesn’t see people on our planet as being so archetypically different as these two societies appear. I can’t help but see this as a construct for dramatic effect.
But despite the above criticism I did like this book. More for its basic story than the larger issues I believe Le Guin is trying to bring up. Her introduction to this novel on the purpose of storytelling and science fiction is excellent and pretty much sums up what her intent seemed to be to me even before hearing it from her explicitly. I liked the character of Estraven a lot, and the focus on the most fundamental human relationship of friendship. So I do think this one is worth your time if you like Le Guin, and I plan to read more of her work in the future.
I did notice some similarities between this and The Dispossessed. I hope this is not just a formulaic pattern Le Guin uses in all her novels. She seems to like to place two very different societies in close proximity of each other. I wonder if this is an influence of writing during the Cold War? There is almost as much to say about the differences in the two societies on the plant of Gethen as there is about the presentation of gender. Maybe it is my American arrogance that doesn’t see people on our planet as being so archetypically different as these two societies appear. I can’t help but see this as a construct for dramatic effect.
But despite the above criticism I did like this book. More for its basic story than the larger issues I believe Le Guin is trying to bring up. Her introduction to this novel on the purpose of storytelling and science fiction is excellent and pretty much sums up what her intent seemed to be to me even before hearing it from her explicitly. I liked the character of Estraven a lot, and the focus on the most fundamental human relationship of friendship. So I do think this one is worth your time if you like Le Guin, and I plan to read more of her work in the future.
ivydionne's review against another edition
4.5
there is a lot to say about two & one.
one is you & all this & two & yet.
one is you & all this & two & yet.
jstamper2022's review against another edition
4.0
I'm noticing a theme in the late 60's/early 70's Sci-Fi, Humans have colonized the universe because Earth is destroyed or some sort of mishap, and they're trying to recruit other planets into a federation. This is no different and adds to the theme with gender fluidity decades before it was cool.
mamamagi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
alannabarras's review
4.0
I've read this twice so far, and I'm sure I'll come back to it again. The action is set on the world of Winter, so named for its icy temperatures year-round. A human ambassador has come to the world to invite its people into the intergalactic civilization. What he finds is a world packed with quiet politics but void of the gender conflicts we are so used to. Where the ambassador finds constant discomfort trying to deal with these androgynous beings, they're repulsed by the fact that he is visibly male every single day.
These two factors play off each other in interesting ways as we follow the main characters through a slow moving but philosophical plot. Neither character can quite bring themselves to fully trust the other, because they can only see each other through the lens of their own lived experiences.
I have no doubt this book was groundbreaking when it was published, although I think language has evolved since to allow authors such as Rebecca Roanhorse or Yoon Ha Lee to go much further with nonbinary characters. As a reader now I enjoy it both as a well written political drama and as a look into what it was to subvert gender norms and expectations in the 60s when this was first published.
The political side is interesting too, as this is basically a world where all past disagreements were solved through lengthy discussions or, at worst, tasers. But recently a new deadly weapon has been introduced and some of the political factions have begun pushing Patriotism at the expense of logic or reason. (Sound familiar?) As the reader you get almost all of your information from the perspective of the human ambassador, so this part of the book I actually enjoyed more the second time through, when I had a better idea of what was happening behind the scenes.
This book is best read on a quiet winter weekend when the snow is falling and you have a mug of tea and nowhere you have to be, but definitely put it on your list to read eventually.
These two factors play off each other in interesting ways as we follow the main characters through a slow moving but philosophical plot. Neither character can quite bring themselves to fully trust the other, because they can only see each other through the lens of their own lived experiences.
I have no doubt this book was groundbreaking when it was published, although I think language has evolved since to allow authors such as Rebecca Roanhorse or Yoon Ha Lee to go much further with nonbinary characters. As a reader now I enjoy it both as a well written political drama and as a look into what it was to subvert gender norms and expectations in the 60s when this was first published.
The political side is interesting too, as this is basically a world where all past disagreements were solved through lengthy discussions or, at worst, tasers. But recently a new deadly weapon has been introduced and some of the political factions have begun pushing Patriotism at the expense of logic or reason. (Sound familiar?) As the reader you get almost all of your information from the perspective of the human ambassador, so this part of the book I actually enjoyed more the second time through, when I had a better idea of what was happening behind the scenes.
This book is best read on a quiet winter weekend when the snow is falling and you have a mug of tea and nowhere you have to be, but definitely put it on your list to read eventually.