Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

42 reviews

thomasdj's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Slavery

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Incest, and Suicide attempt

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

TLDR:  A bit challenging, it needs a closer reading than many first contact sci-fi novels, but is worth the effort for the ideas and the writing. 

 

Clarketech:  Mind speech, near light speed space travel, ftl communications, Chabe stoves, cryosleep or hibernation during space flights. 

 

Context:  I loved what had been published in the Earthsea series in the late 1970’s so tried to read this then. Sadly, my head was too full of wizards and dragons for me to appreciate this gem. I am sorry I didn’t rectify my error before now. 

 

I did have difficulty getting into the novel. The book is written first person singular with short hearth-tales, interspersed for the first quarter of the novel. Then a second voice is added. You then go back and forth between povs with the only indication being the context of the chapter.. 

 

Ms LeGuin does not hold your hand introducing you to this new world. While my edition did have a few helpful footnotes and a Gethenian Calendar and Clock addendum; there are many words are in the native languages with little to no explanation as to what an earth translation might be. It took me awhile to understand that Estraven was writing in a journal and that the strange words were dates. 

 

I have read that there is some controversy over the use of the pronoun he to describe the inhabitants of Gethen. Ms LeGuin has appologized for this. I would point out that he was used instead of they in the US in the 1960’s The author has also acknowledged and apologised for the presumption that all Gethens were heterosexual . So much of the novel being Genly’s report, I don’t think there is enough information to judge how the Gethens actually felt about orientation. I would agree that Genly does appear to be homophobic or perhaps in denial over his own orientation, especially in the middle chapters. 

 

I also wondered at Genly’s statement that very few women were known as mathematicians, composers, or inventors. He seems to be at a loss when talking about women at all and seems to be uncomfortable with what he sees as feminine characteristics. It seemed that the Ekumen would have an equal division of labour on its ships. In fact the first Ekumen off the ship in the last chapter is identified as female. One would also think that their first contact on a planet would be more comfortable with any gender. 

 

There are many thoughtful and beautiful passages in the book and it is a great starting point to discussing gender and orientation. I did not see any passages that would be problematic for a tween to read. I would like to get the collected Hainish Cycle and read the novels and stories in sequence, plus reread this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Incest, Gun violence, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Suicide, Torture, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Death, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol

gender and orientation diversity is complicated

acemummerz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Deportation, Death, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Violence, Torture, Child death, Pregnancy, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Suicide, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Incest

theelbowparade227's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-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 was so very "killing myself to change the trajectory of your lives"....what i mean by that is that it did emotionally destroy me and also it changed my brain chemistry. 20/10 amen, incredibly well constructed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Suicide, and Trafficking

Minor: Incest

jdohman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Torture and Death

luis_vieira's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, and Xenophobia

Minor: Pregnancy and Incest

itsnicholaslashay's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Grief

cdc95's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Kidnapping, Medical content, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Medical trauma

bookishperseus'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

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Plot: 4.75★
Prose: 4.7★
Pace: 4.5★
Concept/Execution: 5★/5★
Characters: 5★
Worldbuilding: 5★
Ending: 4.5★

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Torture, Xenophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Violence, War, Blood, Miscarriage, and Suicide