Reviews with content warning for Incest - The Left Hand of Darkness

i love le guin’s intro to this book so much, i love sci-fi

fave quote: “it is a terrible thing, this kindness that human beings do not lose. terrible, because when we are finally naked in the dark and cold, it is all we have. we who are so rich, so full of strength, end up with that small change. we have nothing else to give.”

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turing_tested's review

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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nexelle's review against another edition

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challenging emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

It's a great story that really picks up in the latter half when we can finally emotionally connect to the characters. Worldbuilding is great and societies are very intricate.

However, it is dated and so many opinions are problematic.
The main character Genly is extremely sexist, as well as some other characters that came before him whose records we glimpse. I find it hard to discern if these were authors' thoughts or thoughts of a shitty man character (if later why send some1 like that to build peace between nations, especially for an idealised sci-fi futuristic society).
I also found it very insulting that societally amongst winter residents incest is allowed, why would you write that in (people who don't obey normal rules of the human race and sex also participate in incest) like??? So unnecessary.

I know that I read this through a queer lens in 2023, but I just found it very sad that Le Guin who fought for representation of minorities (having black man as a protag in '69 was bold) could still spew so many hateful and inaccurate ideas towards women and queers.

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subrosian's review

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challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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pomegranatepanacea's review

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mysterious reflective 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

This book is one of the best I've ever read and is a fascinating examination of gender through the eyes of a cisgender man on a planet with no concept of gender—essentially 300 pages of culture shock. It is also a critique of bigotry, bureaucracy, and monarchy. Beautifully written and unexpectedly down-to-earth (lol). I think cis allies should read this and I think nonbinary people like myself would love it.

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jaan's review

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-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

4.5

UKLG is a master storyteller. This story is utterly unique in that one cannot take any of the people in it out of it, and one cannot put someone else back into it. It’s fanfiction-resistant, and that causes me glee. I love the ways that Handdara and Yomeshta philosophies underwrite fables, folktales, and the substance of the actual story. I love that the book starts when Genly says he will tell us a story and that the book ends when Therem’s son asks Genly for a story.

I don’t like that UKLG does not examine, in the book itself, the fact that Genly is supposedly an envoy from an enlightened, civilized confederation sent to bring a primitive universe—geographically remote, sexually singular, and meteorologically cold/desolate/unforgiving—into its fold. I especially find it puzzling that she does not delve into this clusterfuck when the story she writes concerns itself with jingoism and Machiavellian governance. I know that there are other books and short stories set in the same world, though, so I am waiting to read them all before I make any strong conclusions based on my feelings.

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kaziaroo's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Synopsis: an envoy is sent from a vast, interplanetary alliance to a wintery planet to recruit its inhabitants, a people of no gender whose bodies instead develop sexual organs for just a few days each month; in his quest, the envoy becomes embroiled in the politics both within and between two feuding countries, while being drawn to one figure in particular.

This was very interesting to read, especially from a 21st century perspective where we are accustomed to the boundaries of the gender binary being pushed, twisted, and ignored in wonderful diversity. We are also mostly familiar with, and accepting of, the gender neutral pronoun "they" being used exclusively to refer to a particular person.

In The Left Hand of Darkness, the main character, Genly Ai, is a poor representative of planet Earth in this respect; he is frequently disgusted by the Gethenians' bodies and attitudes towards sex and constantly tries to fit them and their characteristics into gendered boxes. He refers to the Gethenians using masculine pronouns, and seems to reject their femininity; it is only when one of them cries, or flirts, or is distressed, that he thinks "Ah ha! There is his femininity!" when it has been there all along. Genly's awkwardness around the Gethenians' sex and even his own fumbling description of what defines a woman, paired with the fact that he is the minority, the alien, on this planet, betray the notion that perhaps it is us earthlings who are the silly ones, forcing divides and highlighting differences between genders where there are none, and believing ourselves superior because of it. The Gethenians have no gender, yet they also have so far had no testosterone-fueled war or sexism (although they are not perfect; some parts of the book had strong echoes of 1984). On the other hand, the society of Earth that we see glimpses of is cisnormative and allonormative; at the beginning of the book, Genly cannot fathom a sexless and genderless society

and yet by the end he is in the beginnings of what I would tentatively call a queerplatonic relationship with no sex and no gender roles

.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and although I would have liked an earlier explanation of certain concepts (mostly kemmer), once I understood them I could fully immerse myself in the world. The Gethenians' societies and customs felt incredibly detailed and well thought out for such a short novel. It was interesting reading from the perspective of both the alien visitor and the visited, except this time it's us earthlings who are the visitors. I particularly loved the scenes journeying across the icy landscape. I highly recommend this book, but it's important to remember the publication date before complaining about the intricacies of gender politics – it was ahead of its time.

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