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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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Suicide, and Gun violence
Minor: Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Mental illness
jiangslore's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
[4/5]
Desde quando li “Aqueles que Abandonam Omelas”, tive vontade de ler mais da Úrsula K. Le Guin. Não estava planejando que minha próxima leitura da autora fosse “A Mão Esquerda da Escuridão”, mas, como surgiu a oportunidade de participar de uma leitura coletiva dele, acabei resolvendo ler. E fico feliz em dizer que não me arrependi, pois gostei bastante do livro. Apesar de a questão do gênero ser colocada como um ponto central na sinopse, não foi o que mais gostei do livro; mesmo pensando que a abordagem da autora teve muitos aspectos positivos.
Como é dito na introdução escrita pela a autora, a ideia da ficção científica é mostrar certos aspectos já existentes no ser humano e em nossa sociedade. Ou seja, a intenção não é dizer como as coisas deveriam ser; e não há, necessariamente, a vontade de criticar ou transformar algo. Acredito que ter essa noção é importante para não esperar do livro algo que ele não se propõe a entregar — é importante entender que, embora a perspectiva de gênero apresentada no livro seja interessante e gere reflexões, ela não parece ser formulada com uma finalidade primordial de criticar a estrutura de gênero da nossa sociedade.
Além disso, há uma questão que não tenho certeza se deve ser atribuída à escrita original ou à tradução: são usados muitos termos que podem gerar um desconforto compreensível em leitores dos dias atuais. Eu não diria que elas possuem uma intenção pejorativa dentro da própria obra, até porque são palavras usadas para descrever criaturas que não são da mesma espécie que nós. E, claro, para o mainstream da época da publicação de “A Mão Esquerda da Escuridão” — para o mainstream, mas não para algumas subculturas, visto que a publicação foi no mesmo ano das manifestações de Stonewall — a perspectiva apresentada no livro é quase revolucionária. Mas é normal que, décadas depois, alguns termos não sejam mais considerados tão adequados. Essa questão não fez com que eu não gostasse da leitura, mas acredito que ela deve ser mencionada, especialmente considerando o tipo de público que a sinopse da obra atrai.
Nesse contexto, também é importante mencionar que um dos narradores, Genly Ai, muitas vezes associa o feminino com características negativas. No início da leitura, pensei que tal fato era atribuído ao preconceito do próprio personagem, nascido e criado em uma sociedade binária. Entretanto, esse aspecto não foi completamente revertido até o final do livro, apesar de se tornar bem menos frequente.
Acredito que o que mais gostei em “A Mão Esquerda da Escuridão” foi a construção de mundo, rapidamente seguida pelo desenvolvimento dos dois protagonistas e pela escrita. A construção de mundo é ótima, pois, ao mesmo tempo em que são apresentados aspectos relevantes do planeta Gethen para a missão de Genly Ai, também são mencionadas e desenvolvidas coisas que parecem ser parte da rotina; algo natural do planeta.
Há vários aspectos do planeta que, ao se entrelaçarem com o enredo, tomam a forma de alegorias. Para algumas pessoas, isso pode consistir em uma “falta de desenvolvimento”, mas eu não concordo com essa perspectiva. Como disse anteriormente, o objetivo da autora não era criticar ou mudar aquela sociedade fictícia. O que ela pretendia era mostrar o seu funcionamento, tanto em coisas positivas quanto em coisas negativas. Por isso, acredito que mostrar certas questões na obra não trazia, consigo, uma necessidade de crítica ou desconstrução desse tipo de local.
Um dos temas abordados no livro é a ambivalência, ou a necessidade do humano de viver nela, e, ao mesmo tempo em que o livro aborda esse assunto, ele é narrado por dois pontos de vista, por duas pessoas que são, simultaneamente, humanos e alienígenas: Genly Ai e Estraven. Eu adorei ver as diferenças entre os pontos de vista, que, muitas vezes, se encaixavam, em outras, se contradiziam. No início, vemos que os personagens observam suas interações de formas muito diferentes, o que cria problemas de comunicação que são muito bem desenvolvidos, porque nós, como leitores, temos acesso aos pensamentos e preconceitos que levaram determinado personagem a pensar ou agir de certa forma.
À medida que o livro avança, vemos mais casos em que os pontos de vista se complementam — às vezes, o que não era mencionado ou explicado por um, por motivos expressos ou implícitos, era pelo outro. E essas escolhas deles no que revelar ao leitor, além de transformarem a leitura em algo mais dinâmico, serviu muito bem para entendermos os personagens de forma ainda mais profunda. Também há um desenvolvimento profundo do relacionamento entre esses dois personagens, que, em certo ponto, torna-se o foco da narrativa. Penso que é importante mencionar que os personagens coadjuvantes não possuem o mesmo nível de desenvolvimento, mas, como o livro é muito focado nos personagens principais, isso não atrapalhou tanto a leitura.
O enredo do livro é bem interessante. Ele apresenta alguns aspectos bem clássicos, como a presença de uma profecia no início da história — que demonstra que o que é previsto vai ocorrer, mas, com certeza, não será da forma que se espera. Nada que é previsto em uma visão do futuro ocorrerá de forma direta e reta. Apesar de não ser muito inovadora, esse tipo de narrativa é algo que gosto bastante; principalmente quando o desenvolvimento é bom (o que, na minha opinião, foi o caso).
Em suma, “A Mão Esquerda da Escuridão” foi um livro que me agradou bastante, apesar de eu, objetivamente falando, reconhecer que há aspectos negativos nele. Úrsula K. Le Guin tem uma forma extremamente interessante de abordar as contradições e estranhezas que formam um ser humano — algo que só vi ser feito com esse nível de excelência e nessa forma de ficção por uma única pessoa: N. K. Jemisin. Acredito que pessoas que gostam da obra de uma vão gostar dos livros da outra. E, se você não conhece nenhuma delas, definitivamente recomendo ambas.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia and Violence
blazingquill's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-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
4.5
This is an older book written in a classical science fiction style - which is to say, sometimes a slog to get through. In addition, while it takes several meaningful steps to deconstruct the gender binary, it does so in a way which is very accessible, and therefore doesn’t push as far at it perhaps could, as Le Guin herself commented on several times.
That being said, it’s a very profound look into the difference between things that are societally decided and things that are innately human, in a way that thoughtfully offers solutions to the world we currently live in rather than just pointing out the bad. (From what I understand, this is often a core tenant of Le Guin’s work, and makes me excited to read more.) At it’s core, despite the way it sometimes reads, it’s a story about friendship and love. The line, “I do not know if we were right,” inflicted psychic damage upon me, and just barely manages to push the heavy queer coding into explicitly queer.
If you have experience reading dense science fiction, and don’t mind it, I would highly recommend.
That being said, it’s a very profound look into the difference between things that are societally decided and things that are innately human, in a way that thoughtfully offers solutions to the world we currently live in rather than just pointing out the bad. (From what I understand, this is often a core tenant of Le Guin’s work, and makes me excited to read more.) At it’s core, despite the way it sometimes reads, it’s a story about friendship and love. The line, “I do not know if we were right,” inflicted psychic damage upon me, and just barely manages to push the heavy queer coding into explicitly queer.
If you have experience reading dense science fiction, and don’t mind it, I would highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Incest, Misogyny, and Trafficking
Moderate: Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Police brutality
Minor: Murder, Transphobia, and War
bl4m3s's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
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
4.25
I have a very complicated relationship with this book. We are thrown straight into the world of Gethen, with it's own language and terms and weather that is only explained as you read. This made the first half of the story difficult to get through and I had to Google the meaning of several words multiple times in order to understand what was actually happening. However, once I became familiar with the language the second half of the novel was much smoother sailing. It's definitely a read that requires your full attention and focus.
Other reviews have mentioned that this is much more of a speculative fiction novel than a science fiction one, and while this is true I don't believe it is a bad thing. The weather, politics and species being something we can relate back to earth and the human race allows greater focus to be placed on what does differentiate humans from gethenians. The societies on Winter are very similar to that on earth: with Orgoreyn having a communist government similar to that of the USSR in the 60s, and Karhide having a government closely resembling a monarchy. The benefits and drawbacks of both nations are discussed throughout the novel, which in term is a criticism of earthly governments.
Other reviews have mentioned that this is much more of a speculative fiction novel than a science fiction one, and while this is true I don't believe it is a bad thing. The weather, politics and species being something we can relate back to earth and the human race allows greater focus to be placed on what does differentiate humans from gethenians. The societies on Winter are very similar to that on earth: with Orgoreyn having a communist government similar to that of the USSR in the 60s, and Karhide having a government closely resembling a monarchy. The benefits and drawbacks of both nations are discussed throughout the novel, which in term is a criticism of earthly governments.
What I find most interesting is the discussion of gender. Gethenians are androgynous people and only present with male or female genitals for 6 days each month. Anyone can become pregnant and anyone can impregnate - the father of one child can be the mother of another. This then means that all Gethenian societies are not influenced by gender. No one is expected to be the stay at home house wife, and no one is expected to be the breadwinner. Connotations such as "strength, courage, assertiveness = masculinity" and "sensitivity, gentleness, fragility = femininity" simply do not exist on Gethen. Most intriguingly, this has led to a world that has never once experienced war, as there is no pride or greed that is associated with male dominance. Gethenians are also very in touch with their emotions and experience no shame in outwardly expressing grief, anger and joy. It's very entertaining to watch Gently Ai, our male human protagonist, come to terms with and understand Gethenian biology and how he desperately tries to relate each person back to what is traditionally masculine and femine throughout the story.
"My efforts took the form of self-consciously seeing a Gethenian first as a man, then as a woman, forcing him into those categories so irrelevant to his nature and so essential to my own"
These notions are gradually broken down as the story progresses and eventually Ai reaches a point where seeing men and women of his own race is more alien and off-putting than the gethenians - the real aliens to him.
While the writing is strange and the pacing somewhat hard to make sense of, the messages and topics discussed in this novel are compelling and reflective. While there are some parts that have perhaps not aged so well, to say this novel was written in the 60s it is relatively progressive and innovative for its age, and the ideas put forward within it are topics still widely discussed and relevant to this day. I'd absolutely recommend reading this novel, especially as a queer person. Incredibly insightful and has left me with much to think about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Slavery, Grief, and Transphobia
Moderate: Incest and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death and Suicide
erikwmj's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Police brutality
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Xenophobia and Sexism
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: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Body shaming, Child death, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
Minor: Infertility, Suicide, Ableism, and Homophobia
laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A classic, and one of few books I'll re-read. The Left Hand of Darkness is brilliant, and it brings me joy every time. What this book does so well, I think, is ask questions: what happens when something fundamental that we've mostly taken for granted our entire lives is all of a sudden exposed as being totally contingent, as something that could be otherwise? How can one reorient oneself? It is also, at its heart, a book about connection across difference, the erosion of preconceptions, learning to see the world differently and, in the process, emerging changed. As always, Le Guin's writing is beautiful, every line deliberate.
Le Guin, in her wonderful introduction, points out that the book is a thought experiment, not a blueprint; as such, it does not leave the reader with easy answers or a straightforward idea of how things should be. Rather, it is much more demanding than that.
Le Guin, in her wonderful introduction, points out that the book is a thought experiment, not a blueprint; as such, it does not leave the reader with easy answers or a straightforward idea of how things should be. Rather, it is much more demanding than that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Confinement, and Death
Minor: Gun violence
troisha's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Death
Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Pregnancy, and Suicide
maria_s's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Police brutality, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Grief and Incest
Minor: Addiction and Miscarriage
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