Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

La mano izquierda de la oscuridad by Ursula K. Le Guin

35 reviews

arcturus_b's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, War, Grief, Police brutality, and Misogyny

waxwwing's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book is so complicated, man. (Yes, I understand how ironic the use of the word 'man' is here). I'm very grumpy about

Estraven's death

but I think the ending of the novel is, ultimately, very fitting. This is the sort of novel that I believe I would enjoy much more if I was studying it - there's so many layers to this text and what is has to say about gender, and I'm particularly interested in the role

incest (god)

plays into the narrative. TLDR; Ursula Le Guin would be massively fascinated by modern ABO fanfic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Incest, and Violence

citrine's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Deportation, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Racism and Incest

purechaos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It did take a while for me to be able to start this book, and at times I found it incredibly slow, complex or tedious.

I did keep reading it because there was a small interest as to what would happen, even though this book is following what could be considered a 'usual every day life'.

Towards the end, I found the final 3 or 4 chapters actually quite interesting. Not something I'd read again, but glad I finished it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Violence, Body shaming, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Child death, War, Chronic illness, Deportation, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Rape, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Confinement

ka_cam's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

While I liked this less than others by Le Guin, it was still a thought provoking read with themes on intercultural communication, time, friendship and relationships, gender and sexuality, faith, patriotism, and politics set on a distant in time and space, very cold, planet populated by humans who have different sexual organs and cycles than on Earth/terra. The gender analysis is a bit sideways to the modern reader due to the narrator, Genly Ai, using exclusively he/him pronouns for folks and  being pretty openly misogynist.  Still lots to chew on, I read this in a book group and I think having people to discuss with added a lot to the reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pregnancy

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, Physical abuse, and Incest

Minor: Kidnapping, Torture, Misogyny, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexism, Suicide, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, and Death

aurora_noriealis's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.5

the book epitomizes le guins' anarchist ideas toward states and solidarity and freedom in a loving way. it toys with trust and relationship building, and plays heavily with Themes (recognizing trust, building trusting and supportive relationships). I love it for this.

the pacing varies quite a bit throughout.

that said, some of the depictions of cultures and gender are dated, discomforting at times. noting this less as a deterrent and more to bear in mind going into reading.

as someone who doesn't typically read fiction, I greatly enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual content

Minor: War

much of the imagery parallels pieces of the cold war - era states. collectivization, imprisonment, and exile are presented in ways reminiscent of Stalinist and McCarthyist states.

one particular chapter (chapter 13) has graphic depictions relating to imprisonment, starvation, and general dehumanization/abandonment

coolfijiwater's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide, Misogyny, and Incest

tigger89's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I'm ashamed to say that it took me many years and two false starts to get around to reading this. I knew it was going to be good, but it was very much a case of "right book, wrong time" for me. I very nearly had to return the copy unread this time as well, but decided I could marathon it over the weekend instead. I'm glad I did, because this book is a classic for a reason.

What everyone knows about this story is that it's the one where the aliens are gender-neutral, except for once a month when they become either male or female — varying from month to month — in order to engage in sexual intercourse. Frankly, in 2023, that's not the most interesting part of this story. I don't know if it's because Seinfeld is Unfunny(tvtropes) or because of our conversations around and understanding of gender evolving, but it doesn't feel terribly groundbreaking. At times, the binary themes even felt regressive, though I understand that they had a different cultural significance in 1969. Rather, what I found to be far more timeless were the cultural misunderstandings and Genly's struggle, first to salvage his mission and then to survive.

Le Guin's descriptions of the various landscapes were incredible. Let me tell you, I felt the wind on that glacier! And her explorations of the cultural institutions — such as Shifgrethor, Kemmer, and the Foretellers — were SF/F at its best. I'd never heard this book praised for its world before and that's a shame, because those who read to experience fantastical lands and cultures unlike our own(hi!) will find plenty to dig into here.

Something that I really struggled with was the extensive use of male-as-neuter language throughout the text. I found it very difficult to remember that the characters were meant to be androgynous when all the pronouns were he/him. Yes, I know the language is a 1969 thing(see also: "bisexual society", which is way less of a party than it sounds). But that doesn't make it any easier on the reader. The edition I read had an afterword by Charlie Jane Anders, in which she proposed the idea that Genly himself is an unreliable narrator of sorts, expressing his own misogyny through his use of male pronouns for the Gethenians. I really liked that idea, and have adopted it as my own headcanon.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Suicide, and Gun violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Mental illness

imrereads's review against another edition

adventurous reflective

4.0

Usually I try to not think about which books I "should" read, but sometimes it pays off. This book is an example of that. It was written in 1969, and is considered to kickstart the feminist sci-fi genre. It took me a hot minute to get into this book, but once I did I found not only a good story, but also a very interesting conversation of the effect sex and gender has on culture and society. The setting of the story if the planet of Gethen, were people don't have a fixed sex, and our narrator is from a different planet where they do, so it's very much an outsiders perspective which brings up a lot of interesting conversations. 

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Incest, Blood, and Death