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A review by mvanhoeck
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.0
So good to read this book of fierce winter beauty during a cold January full of political anxiety.
The Left Hand of Darkness is always introduced by describing the genderless, ambisexual characters but other themes besides gender seemed so much more deeply explored and affecting to me: patriotism/nationalism vs humanity; loneliness and friendship among and between those who are alien to each other. In fact, the thought experiment around androgyny suffered from the dated use of the "generic he" pronoun. It read like a planet of men who occasionally became women for a few days at a time. So little time was spent describing pregnancy and child rearing.
But the landscape! The descriptions of the glacial environment were stunning and the epic prison rescue and escape across the ice were thrilling.
The Left Hand of Darkness is always introduced by describing the genderless, ambisexual characters but other themes besides gender seemed so much more deeply explored and affecting to me: patriotism/nationalism vs humanity; loneliness and friendship among and between those who are alien to each other. In fact, the thought experiment around androgyny suffered from the dated use of the "generic he" pronoun. It read like a planet of men who occasionally became women for a few days at a time. So little time was spent describing pregnancy and child rearing.
But the landscape! The descriptions of the glacial environment were stunning and the epic prison rescue and escape across the ice were thrilling.