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A review by tiredcreature
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-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
5.0
This is my second readthrough, the first having been many years ago now. It's a difficult book, that doesn't only speak of a different world, but is itself from a different world - the country called the past. I've read a fair bit of classical sci-fi, but no other book so far has given me such a keen feeling of its age as The Left Hand Of Darkness. Perhaps because how personal its themes are to me. For all of its difficulty, I found it less frustrating when I reminded myself of that.
And so, Genly Ai, a man from Earth, preoccupied with his masculinity, and passively misogynistic by upbringing, comes to the planet Gethen, where the people are both male and female and also neither, and the duality of the sexes doesn't exist. He is an alien in many senses here, but his journey and the bond he forms with Estraven along the way leave him changed, until he feels more familiar with the Gethenians than with his fellow Earthlings. When the story comes full-circle, the world has, largely, stayed the same; it is Genly who returns a different man.
And so, Genly Ai, a man from Earth, preoccupied with his masculinity, and passively misogynistic by upbringing, comes to the planet Gethen, where the people are both male and female and also neither, and the duality of the sexes doesn't exist. He is an alien in many senses here, but his journey and the bond he forms with Estraven along the way leave him changed, until he feels more familiar with the Gethenians than with his fellow Earthlings. When the story comes full-circle, the world has, largely, stayed the same; it is Genly who returns a different man.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Misogyny and Sexism